Seductive Uzbekistan sees increased tourist footfall
By Aditi Bhaduri
Who can resist the lure of bewitching Samarqand? Or medieval Khiva? Or devout Bukhara? Generations have dreamt of visiting them, fables have been woven around them, poetry composed on their beauty? And shrewdly this is what Uzbek authorities are now capitalizing on.
Uzbek authorities are now working hard to develop tourism – something which has become a major policy of the current government of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev – so that tourism can in the future become one of the drivers for the accelerated integrated development of the regions and their infrastructure.
Tourism development, it is envisaged, should contribute to the solution of major social and economic tasks, such as the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs that the country needs, ensuring diversification and accelerated development of the regions, increasing incomes, living standards and quality of life of the population, increasing the volume of foreign exchange earnings, and most importantly improving the image and investment attractiveness of the country.
Not surprisingly, Uzbekistan has seen a fivefold increase in tourist footfall over the past three years.
If Uzbekistan had over one million tourists in 2016, then their number reached 5 million by the end of 2018, as reported by the findings of an international conference on the development of tourism in Uzbekistan.
About 1.4 million tourists visited Uzbekistan in the first quarter of 2019 year. This is 972.3 thousand people more when compared to the same period last year.
This is not surprising as the country offers numerous tourist attractions. There are over 7,000 historical monuments in the country and the country is focusing majorly on the modernization of the tourism industry, the development and improvement of the regulatory framework for the sustainable development of the industry, the organization of services for foreign guests in accordance with international standards.
As a result, Uzbekistan is increasingly noted in international rankings of the best places to travel, popular countries for gastronomic tourism, and safe countries to visit, especially for women.
The concept of development of the tourism industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the period up to 2025 is aimed at achieving increased efficiency of the ongoing reforms to create favorable economic conditions and prerequisites for the development of the national tourism industry.
It also aimed at developing priority goals and objectives for accelerating the development of the tourism industry, increasing its role and contribution to economy, diversification and improvement of the quality of tourist services and improvement of tourist infrastructure.
So, the intensive development of the tourism industry in Uzbekistan, including respect for the historical and cultural heritage, the creation of infrastructure that fully meets international standards, the strengthening of international relations have turned into one of the most visited countries and popular travel destinations in the region.
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