In an announcement on the media portal Novosti Uzbekistana, Nurbek Yakubov, a senior expert at the Institute of Macroeconomic and Regional Studies of Uzbekistan, revealed plans to boost the country’s tourist industry.
Boasting a unique and exotic cultural heritage, as well as stunning natural landscapes rich in archaeological sites and monuments, Uzbekistan’s inflow of foreign tourists has increased almost 2.5-fold, to 6.6 million over the past six years.
As a result, tourism has become one of the key sources of stable economic growth in the country. In 2017, revenue from related services amounted to $531 million, and in 2023, quadrupled to $2.143 billion.
The industry now aims to further increase its volume of foreign tourists to 15 million, in addition to increasing that of local tourists to 25 million, and pilgrims to 3 million by 2030.
According to Yakubov, Uzbekistan is on course to double the availability of hotel beds, increase the number of tourist mahallas (local communities equipped to receive tourists) to 175, and has set a goal to increase the annual export of tourism services to $5 billion through attracting private investment.
Citizens from 91 countries can currently visit Uzbekistan without a visa.
