An article dedicated to Uzbekistan titled “Uzbekistan is a tourist pearl of Central Asia” was published on the popular Internet portal in Poland “turystyka.wp.pl”.
The article notes that Uzbekistan is called one of the tourist pearls of Central Asia. In recent years, the country has been paying special attention to the modernization of the tourism industry, including the organization of services for foreign guests traveling to Uzbekistan in accordance with international standards. The new strategy "Uzbekistan-2030" plans to increase the number of foreign tourists to 15 million, and domestic - up to 25 million people.
“Uzbekistan is one of the key countries of the Silk Road. The rich architecture and ancient culture of Uzbekistan attract tourists from all over the world, but the country's authorities want more of them”, the article says. “According to the UN World Tourism Organization, Uzbekistan is currently one of the five countries with the most dynamically developing tourism industry.”
It is reported that more than five million foreign tourists visited Uzbekistan in 2022, and trends in 2023 show that this number will rise to seven million. In addition, more and more large groups of domestic travelers are registered, who are happy to visit various tourist cities across Uzbekistan.
“Uzbekistan authorities expect to increase the mentioned number of travelers in the future. This can be facilitated by an agreement on the launch of direct flights Warsaw-Tashkent-Warsaw, which was concluded by Uzbekistan Airways and the Polish airline LOT. Flights will be operated from February 23, 2024, three times a week,” the source said.
The authors report that the number of hotels in Uzbekistan has already grown to 2.4 thousand, and the number of rooms - up to 50 thousand. In the largest and most popular cities such as Tashkent, Bukhara, Samarkand and Khiva, luxury hotel complexes such as m.in. Marriott, Hampton by Hilton, and Hyatt Regency have opened in recent years. In addition, Tashkent and other major tourist centers of Uzbekistan are connected by modern high-speed trains like Afrosiab.
The article also highlights the progress in simplifying visa procedures in Uzbekistan by offering visa-free entry to Uzbekistan for more than 90 countries today. The list of countries exempted from a visa to Uzbekistan includes EU member states, whose citizens can stay in Uzbekistan without visas for up to 30 days.
Uzbekistan was also described as a country of open-air museums, which has 8.2 thousand cultural heritage sites, some of which are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The diversity of religious beliefs and the pilgrimage heritage sites of Uzbekistan, which encompasses Islamic, Christian and Buddhist holy sites in the territory of Uzbekistan makes it possible for various confessions and religions to travel to Uzbekistan for pilgrimage purposes, as mentioned by the authors of the article.
