Tourism in uzbekistan

Data collecting, materials and methods

For the survey, students (a total of 5 students) of the Tashkent State University of Economics were recruited as interviewers, as well as responsible employees of the Tourism Development Department of the Kashkadarya region (3 people in total) as supervisors. To ensure the quality of research, clarification of the goals and objectives of the survey for interviewers and supervisors training was organized.
The survey was conducted among foreign visitors who traveled to Uzbekistan, who stayed in the Samarkand region for more than one night and less than one month and did not have a goal to work in Uzbekistan. A total of 255 respondents were involved in the survey process. The survey was conducted at the railway stations of the cities of Samarkand.

Analysis of results

An important milestone in the history of tourism in Uzbekistan was the entry of the republic in 1993 into the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The presence of more than seven thousand objects of the material and cultural heritage of different eras and civilizations, including the historical centers of Bukhara, Khiva, Samarkand and Shahrisabz, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List of UNESCO testify to the highest potential of Uzbekistan. The world-famous historical monuments, modern cities, the unique nature of Uzbekistan, the unique national cuisine, as well as the unsurpassed hospitality of the Uzbek people attract travelers.
In the framework of cooperation with the UNWTO in 1994, the Samarkand Declaration on Tourism along the Silk Road was adopted by 19 countries of the world.
In 20.08.1999, the Law No. 831-I “On Tourism” was enacted by the Decree of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The purpose of this Law is the legal regulation of relations in the field of tourism, the development of the market of tourist services, as well as the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of tourists and subjects of tourist activities.
In 1999, the Khiva Declaration on Tourism and the Preservation of Cultural Heritage was adopted, supported by UNWTO, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. In 2002, the Bukhara Declaration on Tourism along the Silk Road, which emphasizes the benefits of sustainable tourism and identifies concrete steps to promote cultural and ecological tourism in this direction. In recognition of the special place of the republic in the global tourism industry in 2004 in Samarkand, a regional UNWTO office was opened to coordinate tourism development on the Silk Road. Today, such an office exists only in two countries - in Japan and Uzbekistan. The main function of the office is to designate directions in the development of not only regional, but also international tourism.
In Uzbekistan, a new stage of significant progress in the field of international tourism began from the beginning of 2017. In 2018, a visa-free regime was established for citizens of Israel, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, Japan, Tajikistan and France. In addition, the procedure for issuing visas to citizens of 39 countries has been simplified.
The efforts of the leadership of the Republic of tourism infrastructure in recent years raised to a fairly high level. The measures taken to support and protect the private sector contributed to the increase in the number of tourist organizations and hotel facilities. There are 1,667 tourist organizations successfully operating in the country, including 989 tour operators and 869 hotel facilities. An extensive network of hotels with more than 25,000 beds meets modern international standards. Thanks to the truly extensive work on the construction and reconstruction of infrastructure facilities in Uzbekistan, 11 airports received the status of international harbors. Modern comfortable airplanes consisting of Boeing and Airbus airliners operate regular flights to more than 40 cities in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and America. Tourists visiting Uzbekistan have the opportunity to get to
the sights of the republic and through railway transport. So, besides the usual and high- speed trains, high-speed trains “Afrosiab” produced by the Spanish company “Talgo” run daily between Tashkent, Samarkand, Shakhrisabz and Bukhara, which significantly improved the quality of guest service and reduced the trip time.
In recent years, major investment projects have been implemented for the development of tourist infrastructure, including the opening of the Lotte City Hotel Tashkent Palace and Hyatt Regency Tashkent brand hotels in Tashkent, the creation of cultural and entertainment parks in Andijan, Urgench, Tashkent, the opening of railway line "Angren-Pap."
In recent years, new types of travel, including ecological tourism, have been actively introduced in Uzbekistan. The presence in the republic of reserves, national parks, nurseries, wildlife reserves, natural monuments, biosphere reserve makes ecotourism in a very promising direction. In Uzbekistan, geotourism, medical tourism, mountaineering and rafting have also developed. Recreation areas and comfortable infrastructure facilities are being built in the regions. In the sports and recreation centers "Chimgan", "Beldersay" and "Charvak" the necessary conditions are created for practicing alpine skiing and other winter sports, where mountain trails of different types are built with a length of 300 to 3 thousand meters. There is a cable car here. In Uzbekistan, the gastronomic direction of tourism is also gaining popularity, the development of which allowed to make pilaf and other national dishes a recognizable brand of the country.
Significant role in ensuring the accelerated development of the tourism sector of Uzbekistan, the formation and maintenance of the country's image on the world market are played by major events regularly held in the country. One of the most important annual events is the Tashkent International Tourism Fair "Tourism on the Silk Road." Today it is the largest forum in Central Asia where industry professionals meet, negotiate in various formats, including business-to-business, the Hosted Buyers program is being implemented for buyers of the national tourist product, and conferences are being held on topical issues of the development of the tourism industry in Uzbekistan and the world generally. Representatives of our country also regularly participate in international fairs and exhibitions held abroad in order to present the tourist potential of the republic. Participation in them allows you to stay abreast of the latest trends in the global tourism market, enter into business contracts, and develop cooperation with foreign partners.
The state policy in this direction is aimed at the development of tourism, so that this area in the future should become one of the drivers for the accelerated integrated development of the regions and their infrastructure, to contribute to the solution of such important socio-economic tasks as the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs, ensuring diversification and accelerated regional development, increasing incomes, the level and quality of life of the population, increasing the volume of foreign exchange earnings, improving the image and investment attractiveness STI country.
The State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the Development of Tourism has been tasked to ensure, together with the relevant ministries and departments, an increase in the number of tourists in all promising areas of tourism and the volume of real export of tourist services at least twice in the next 5 years.
For the period 2015-2017, the export of tourist services grew by 33% and amounted to USD 546.9 million in 2017, and for 9 months of 2018 - USD 773.4 million, exceeding the figures of 2017 in total by 41%.
The result of the measures taken by the state, in the direction of tourism, is an increase in tourists arriving in the republic. Thus, according to the State Committee for the Development of Tourism of the Republic of Uzbekistan, over 2 million people from different parts of the world visit the country annually. The number of arriving foreign visitors to Uzbekistan is growing at a high rate every year. The average annual growth rate of foreign visitors to 2016 over the past five years was 8%. In 2017, 2,690 thousand tourists entered the Republic of Uzbekistan. This figure is 32.7% more compared to 2016, when the number of tourist arrivals was 2,027 thousand people (Source: Analysis by the State Committee of Tourism).
As the data presented in Table 1 for eleven months (January-November) of 2018 shows, the number of foreign tourists was 4,896,397 people and exceeded the figures for the same period in 2017 by almost 2 times - by 94.8% (Table 1).