Uzbekistan sees fivefold increase in tourism industry
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
The state policy of Uzbekistan 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.
Tourism development should contribute to the solution of such major social and economic tasks as the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs, ensuring diversification and accelerated development of regions, increasing incomes, living standards and quality of life of the population, increasing the volume of foreign exchange earnings, improving the image and investment attractiveness of the country.
Uzbekistan has seen a fivefold increase in tourism for over three years, reports Xinhua.
If Uzbekistan had over 1 million tourists in 2016, their number reached 5 million by the end of 2018, according to an international conference on the development of tourism in Uzbekistan.
There are over 7,000 historical monuments in the country. It was noted that the country pays special attention to 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, safe countries to visit.
Meanwhile, as many as 1.11 million foreign tourists visited Tajikistan in 2018, which was held under the slogan Year of Tourism.
At the end of 2018, income from tourism in the economy of Tajikistan amounted to 214 million somonis ($22.7 million).
Intourists, above all, are interested in the nature of Tajikistan: ecological, hunting tourism, mountaineering, travel and recreation in the mountains are the main goals of foreign tourists.
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 in the region.
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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
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