On August 17, Osh hosted the tourism event “Osh Fest-2019” as part of the annual festival “Sulaiman-Too - a symbol of peace and consent”, which was dedicated this year to the role of Osh as the cultural capital of the Turkic world. The festival supplemented several international events of TURKSOY, Osh city administration and the Ministry of Culture, Information and Tourism of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The main goal of one of the most striking events of the year was to promote the development of the tourism potential of Osh and Osh province, cooperation between people to preserve, develop and transmit to the future generations the common cultural monuments of the Turkic peoples.

The festival was opened by Silk Road caravans that passed from Sulaiman-Too Mountain to the entrance of the Alymbek-Datka ethnographic center, where the caravan participants unloaded their goods, spices and souvenirs. The Silk Road caravan included horse riders, camels, yaks, walking artists and actors. Everyone, including invited tourists, could join the caravan.

In the ethnographic complex “Alymbek-Datka”, the participants of the Caravan were met by Mayor of Osh Taalaibek Sarybashov, deputy of the city council Ashim Osmonov, representatives of the United Nations Development Programme in Osh, leaders of the organization “Destination Osh”, heads of various organizations working in the field of tourism, Assemblies of the peoples of Kyrgyzstan, residents of all MTU cities, and the public.

While opening the event, the mayor of Osh emphasized that the initiation and holding of such tourism festivals play a huge role in the development of local tourism and has a beneficial effect on the economy of the city and the region as a whole.

The programme of the festival also included a demonstration of the nomadic culture of the Kyrgyz people, a cultural part, performances by folklore ensembles, theatrical performances, a display of works by local designers, a contest “Dolls in national clothes of Turkic peoples”, and a drawing contest among children.

Craft workshops, as well as a culinary show on cooking traditional dishes of Osh, aroused great interest among the public.

“I always wanted to visit Kyrgyzstan. I heard a lot from various tourist sources about the city of Osh and that it is different from all other cities. I am very glad that it coincided, and I ended up at this festival”- shared the guest from France, Claire.

The festival "Sulaiman-Too - a symbol of peace and consent" has been held annually since 2011 in collaboration with Osh city administration, the UNDP and other organizations working in the field of development and tourism. This year, the main partner in the organization of the festival was PF “Destination Osh”.