The Rotary Club of Pagosa Springs is very excited to announce that it was selected to host six participants from Turkmenistan through the Open World Program and Rotary International. The Club had been previously honored to host a delegation for Kyrgyzstan in June of 2018.
Our Rotary Club had such an exciting experience with Kyrgyzstan Delegation in 2018, when the opportunity to show the Turkmenistan Delegation how Pagosa Springs has developed into a tourism destination we could not wait to get started! This delegation comes from a similar mountainous region in rural Turkmenistan and their purpose for visiting the United States is to develop Tourism Destination Management techniques for their community.
What a perfect fit! We will be hosting these visitors in our homes and showing them the very best that Pagosa and the surrounding area has to offer.
Just some of the opportunities we would like to expose them to include Wolf Creek Ski Area, The Springs, Navajo State Park, Chimney Rock National Monument, our National Forest Service and the They are also interested in learning how our Pagosa Springs Visitor Center, Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Boards function and to see the workings of our hotels and restaurants.
Please put the dates of our guests’ stay with us on your calendars! June 16 through June 20th. Knowing how quickly the summer calendar fills up in Pagosa, we wanted to share this opportunity with you so that you could be thinking about how we can best utilize this opportunity. While we are excited to share our community with these guests, we are also looking forward to the chance to further promote and share Pagosa Springs and our area with the world. On June 21st, we will transport our Delegates to our Clubs in Durango and Bayfield. Once there, they will explore similar but different tourism related venues further west, until the end of there visit and being delivered back to the airport on June 24th.
The Pagosa Springs Rotary and the Durango and Bay Field Rotary Clubs will be leading this adventure, but we are certainly counting on your expertise and input as we develop the itinerary for these exciting guests. If you have thoughts or would like your business to be your organization can participate in this great honor, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. Just select the Contact Us option under the Home page.
The Open World program offers program participants a unique opportunity to truly glimpse the heart of America. While a delegate may spend some time in Washington, DC for orientation, the program does not deprive participants the opportunity to see the local communities of America that comprise the 50 states.
Open World is a full cultural immersion program that offers its participants a window to the “real” America and its people. Completing the 10-day journey is the beginning, rather than the end, of the Open World experience. We encourage our participants to publish articles in their local media, blog, or use social networks to share their experience in the U.S
.
The Open World Leadership Center administers the Open World program, one of the most effective U.S. exchange programs for countries of the post-Soviet era. The program has enabled more than 27,000 current and future leaders from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan to meaningfully engage and interact with Members of Congress, Congressional staff, and thousands of other Americans, many of whom are the delegates’ direct professional counterparts.
The Open World program focuses both on assisting the Congress in its oversight responsibilities and on conducting exchanges that establish lasting professional relationships between the up-and-coming leaders of Open World countries and Americans dedicated to showcasing U.S. values and democratic institutions. The Center’s bipartisan nature and independence from the priorities of any presidential administration is an important asset for the program.
Aimed at establishing mutually beneficial relationships between future leaders of other nations, Open World is a value-added program that permits practical and depoliticized options for engagement. Open World is extremely cost-effective and unencumbered by bureaucracy, and serves the Legislative Branch as a program that offers Members of Congress the opportunity to meet with their colleagues from Eurasia. In this capacity, Open World is an important resource for Members of Congress. Open World Leadership Center enhances U.S. foreign policy objectives in building more secure, democratic, and prosperous societies.