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Euromonitor International's Travel And Tourism in Afghanistan report offers a comprehensive guide to the market at a national level. It looks at travel accommodation, transportation, car rental, tourist attractions and retail travel. It identifies the leading companies and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market, including background information on tourism inflows, disposable income, annual leave and holiday taking habits.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - Publication date: Feb-09

New luxury hotels steal market from old players
Safi Landmark and Serena, two new hotels that opened in early 2006, are now leading the market, having largely overtaken established players such as Hotel Intercontinental. They practice two-tier price policies, advertising high rates on their websites and attracting guests from other outlets in Kabul with offers of discounts.

International airlines abandon Kabul
After just a few months, the first airline of international standards to fly to Kabul, Air Arabia, abandoned the market for political and security reasons. Only Air India and Pakistani Airlines continue to fly to Kabul, and both of them have limited attractiveness to international travellers because of the poor standards of service. Other airlines that were trying to enter the market have at least temporarily abandoned their plans.

Adventure travel warms to Afghanistan
Pakistani, British and other tour operators specialising in adventure travels are increasingly including Afghanistan amongst their destinations. Recently, a single tour operator based in Kabul has also emerged. These adventure travellers are still limited to a few thousands each year due to lack of roads to some of the most attractive locations and seasonal weather problems, but in the short term this appears to be the most likely source of inbound travel for Afghanistan.

Big plans to bring tourism to the Afghan countryside
With the launch of an ambitions plan to create 150 guesthouses throughout Afghanistan, the Afghan government is trying to open much of Afghanistan to semi-adventurous travellers who have been deterred by the complete lack of facilities. If the plan succeeds, the face of Afghan travel and tourism will be transformed.