Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- A delegation of Uzbekistan, which promoted the tourism potential of Uzbekistan among millions of fans, tourists from all over the world at the World Cup in Qatar, returned to Tashkent.

On 29 December, in front of the building of the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Heritage, a welcoming ceremony was held for the delegation, consisting of the honored coach of Uzbekistan Abdurakhman Fazilov, the owner of the Fidoyisi Tourism badge, blogger Asal Saparbaev, autobloggers Ibragim Ikramov, Otabek Juraev and members of the fan club of Uzbekistan.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Tourism and Cultural Heritage Aziz Abdukhakimov noted that at present the head of state pays great attention to the development of the tourism industry in our country. And the fact that the delegation promoted the tourism potential of our country at the World Cup in Qatar, of course, helps to increase the recognition of Uzbekistan in the world, to expand the flow of foreign tourists.

“Projects like this add value to the promotion of our country around the world. The goal is to further develop tourism, increase the number of tourists visiting Uzbekistan,” he added.

Speaking at the ceremony, Abdurakhman Fazilov thanked the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Heritage for the initiative.

“We went to Qatar not only for holidays or travel. So that there are no tourists around the world who do not know and do not know Uzbekistan, it was necessary to make the world even more aware of the delights of our Motherland. It is no coincidence that we set off on a special caravan, reflecting the tourist brand of Uzbekistan. We traveled several countries of the world by car to Qatar. In each country, we presented guidebooks with information about Uzbekistan, clothes with the brand of our country and much more to local and foreign tourists. We have given more detailed information about Uzbekistan. We encouraged them to travel around our country,” said Abdurakhman Fazilov. – We were listened to with great interest in such countries as Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia. There were also those who said that they would definitely add Uzbekistan to their travel list. That was our goal."

Abdurakhman Fazilov noted that fans from all over the world show great interest in Uzbekistan in Qatar.

“Foreigners are interested in clothes with the brand of our country. We introduced our country to those who have not yet heard of Uzbekistan, promoted its opportunities in the field of tourism. We have tried to form a positive impression of Uzbekistan in every foreign tourist. We distributed guidebooks, magazines provided by the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Heritage to fans from different countries, reflecting the tourism brand and potential of our country,” he said. “Even foreign TV channels showed interest in us, prepared programs about Uzbekistan and Uzbek fans.”

Indeed, during the World Cup, the first and oldest national TV channel of France “TF1” prepared a program about Uzbekistan. This was due to the fact that our delegation planted the flag of our country on the visible side of the stadium during the France-Denmark match. Because the famous Frenchman, Kylian Mbappe, who scored a goal in the match, celebrated his goal against the opponent against the background of the flag of Uzbekistan. This particular photo was taken from the player’s Instagram page, which has about 74 million followers, and our flag, hung in a large scale, attracted the attention of fans.

“The French are a curious people,” said Abdurakhman Fazilov. — I once again witnessed this in the comments to the photo of Mbappe. The French, who did not see and did not know our flag, searched for it on the Internet and left comments that this is the flag of Uzbekistan. Consequently, the number of foreigners who know our country has increased.”

After that, the Brazilian edition of Globo also broadcast a program with the participation of our compatriots.

“I was proud when the TV channel staff got in touch and said that we want to make a show about Uzbekistan, about you,” said Abdurakhman Fozilov, talking about his impressions. Because Globo is the world’s first major TV channel broadcasting in Portuguese. We have the opportunity to promote Uzbekistan more widely. In the show, we tried to convey to the whole world that the potential of our country, the level of tourism is high.

During the event, members of the delegation were awarded by the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Heritage for their contribution to the promotion of tourism. Aziz Abdukhakimov presented Abdurakhman Fazilov with the Fidoyisi Tourism badge.

Various matches were played between the fans during the event. Abdurakhman Fazilov also shared footballs brought from Qatar with the most active fans.