New Developments in Promoting Tourism in Uzbekistan

Abstract

In the Republic of Uzbekistan, reforms are presently underway to develop the tourism sector as one of the strategic sectors of the national economy. It is hoped that in the long term this will help to solve many of the important social and economic issues such as job creation, diversification of the economy and accelerated development of regions, as well as increasing incomes and quality of life of the country's population. When developing measures to ensure accelerated development of the tourism industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the main tasks and priorities of the state government policy in the sphere of tourism includes giving tourism the status of a strategic sector of the economy and is making this industry a powerful tool for sustainable development. Presently, most visitors who decide to travel to Uzbekistan are only interested in visiting the cultural and historical attractions and they stay for only a short amount of time. However, if the government wants tourists to come for a longer time period and to encourage repeat visitations, they must promote other niche tourism markets as well as cultural tourism such as adventure tourism, gastronomic and wine tourism and religious tourism.