Turkmen authorities spent over $1 billion to build a resort along Caspian Sea. But so far Ashgabat's dream of creating a regional tourist destination is turning out to be a bust.

According to a report distributed by the opposition website Chrono-tm.org, the resort's guests are mainly Turkmen workers on enforced holidays. For instance, many guests staying recently at the Nebitchi Hotel at the Avaza complex were employees of the Turkmenbashi oil refinery. According to the Chrono-tm.org report, few wanted to spend their vacation at the hotel, but they were told the cost of the holiday would be deducted from their wages regardless.

"I don't need to go there. I actually live by the coast. But [my bosses] wouldn't listen to that so I got a ticket for Avaza and the cost of it kept from my paycheck. [In the end] I had to go, I can't afford to waste money," Chrono-tm.org quoted a worker as saying on December 7.

President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov officially opened the Avaza resort in October, but Turkmenistan's bureaucratic visa regime and low-profile as a tourist destination means luxury hotels are standing empty, the report added.