TASHKENT (TCA) — Tourism is an important sector of Uzbekistan’s economy and it needs to be improved with the effective use of existing opportunities, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said at a Government meeting on tourism development, the Jahon information agency reported on October 5.
Uzbekistan is an attractive country for traveling and pilgrimage. The necessary infrastructure should be improved for further development of the tourist sector. Firstly, it is transport, and secondly, it is logistics, emphasized the President.
As it was noted at the meeting, about 1 million 800 thousand tourists visited Uzbekistan in the first 9 months of 2017, which is 17% more compared to the same period in 2016. The export of tourism services grew by 17 percent and amounted to $1.086 billion. According to forecasts, by the end of the year the number of tourists arriving in the country would exceed 2.5 million.
Such new tourism activities as mountaineering, horse, camel and bicycle traveling, off-road tours, fishing, rafting, heli-skiing, geotourism, educational tourism, and medical tourism are becoming popular in recent years.
Organizations working in the tourism industry are granted significant tax and customs preferences.
In accordance with instructions of the head of state, programs aimed at improving the tourism infrastructure in Khorezm, Bukhara, Samarkand, Surkhandarya, Kashkadarya, Jizzakh and Fergana regions have been developed, new tourist routes have been organized and the tourism potential of the country’s regions promoted. In particular, work is being done on creation of round-the-clock tourist zones “Ancient Bukhara” and “Samarkand-City” in Bukhara and Samarkand with an area of 10 hectares each.
Measures are being implemented to organize guest houses in new tourism clusters in the Tashkent region.
