Untamed Borders Launches a Second Virtual Tour Route of Afghanistan

18.09.2023 - 07:19 / breakingtravelnews.com

Afghanistan’s first ever female tour guide is launching a second virtual tour with Untamed Borders, after the success of her first online sessions, showcasing Herat.

Fatima Haidari used to offer in person guiding around the city with the adventure travel company, but had to flee for her safety when the Taliban retook control of the nation in 2021.

Ever since Fatima has offered online tours for tourists from around the world and will soon be launching a new route covering Central Afghanistan.

The new offering, which includes a Q&A session with Fatima, will cover an area spanning from the capital Kabul in the east, to the central Bamian Province, Ghor Province and finishing in Herat, in the west.

Virtual tourism is a fast-growing industry - a report by Fortune Business Insights found the virtual tour software market is expected to grow from $384million in 2023 to $941.3million by 2030.

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In the past year alone the industry grew by around $44million.

The COVID pandemic played an important role in making tourism providers, tourist boards and museums think differently about how they deliver their services or showcase their venues, during the times of restrictions.

This opened many people’s eyes to the benefits of virtual tours, helping transport people to locations, attractions or museums for a fraction of the price of a holiday.

This trend has continued post pandemic, with more people now eco-conscious and the cost-of-living crisis, in places like the UK, having an impact on how much disposal income people have.

Virtual tours allow people to sample corners of the globe, which they may never otherwise have opportunity to travel to, and are an accessible form of tourism, which has little impact on the environment, especially in comparison to flying.

Untamed Borders Founder James Willcox says, “We never envisaged running virtual tours, but when Fatima had to leave Afghanistan, we wanted to find a way to support her.

Fatima has always been an excellent tour guide, and we really enjoyed working with her in Herat, so helping Fatima to continue her work in some way was important to us.

The tours offer a fascinating insight into life in Afghanistan and although virtual tourism will never replace the sensory overload of an actual trip to a country, they offer the next best thing for someone who can’t travel to the nation.”

New virtual tour includes one Afghanistan’s most beautiful regions

For Fatima the new virtual tour, which she will be offering through Untamed Borders, has a particularly special place in her heart.

It includes the stunning Bamian Province, an area of immense natural beauty, which includes the beautiful Band-e-Amir Lakes and National Park, which became Afghanistan’s first national