Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- At the twenty-ninth plenary session of the Senate, a report was heard by the khokim of Bukhara region on the work carried out in the region to raise the tourism sector to a new level and develop the service sector.

It was noted that certain work has been carried out in the region to further develop tourism, protect cultural heritage sites, and improve the quality of service.

In particular, as a result of the fact that the number of countries with visa-free entry to Uzbekistan for foreign citizens reached 90, almost 49 thousand foreign tourists visited the Bukhara region in 2021, and more than 65 thousand in the first quarter of 2022.

After the pandemic, there was an upward trend in domestic tourism, including the number of local tourists in 2021 amounted to 2.5 million, and in the first quarter of 2022 - 698 thousand.

Since 2021, 28 new hotels, 29 hostels, 45 family guest houses have been created in the region, the total number of accommodation facilities has been provided in excess of 430, and the number of places in them has reached almost 11,000.

Over the past year and a half, the export of hotel, restaurant, cultural, entertainment, shopping services provided to tourists in the region amounted to 2 trillion 330 billion soums.

According to the results of the first quarter of 2022, almost 65 percent of over 31.5 thousand enterprises operating in the region were in the service sector, and their share in the gross regional product was 41.5 percent.

At the same time, the senators noted the need to pay attention to the existing shortcomings in the field and their timely elimination.

In particular, the need to open new air routes was emphasized using in full the “open skies” regime introduced at the Bukhara International Airport, for example, establishing direct and charter flights to Bukhara from the cities of Dubai, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Lahore, Dushanbe .

It was said that it is necessary to create, on the basis of the requirements established by law, in most accommodation facilities conditions for living and providing services to persons with disabilities.

In addition, it was emphasized that tourist routes for cultural heritage sites (139 out of 829 cultural heritage sites are included in the tourist route) should be increased in order to effectively use the tourism potential available in the region.

As a result of the discussion at the plenary session, an appropriate resolution was adopted to eliminate problematic issues awaiting their solution.