Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Today, on 29 May, a bilateral open dialogue between entrepreneurs of Uzbekistan and Vietnam took place in Tashkent. The event was organized on the initiative of the tourist company of Uzbekistan "Prestige Travel" together with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

It was attended by employees of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, heads of leading hotel brands and travel companies of the two countries: in particular, the founder of Prestige Travel Oybek Ahmedov, the founder of the Vietnamese corporation VinGroup and the head of the large hotel system VinPearl in Vietnam Alexandra Nguyen, Chairman of Amega Travel Vietnam Ms. Sonia Nguyen.

Today, bilateral trade, economic and investment cooperation between Uzbekistan and Vietnam is expanding. In particular, the flow of tourists between the two countries has also increased dramatically compared to previous years. At the end of 2022, a thousand tourists from Vietnam arrived in Uzbekistan.

For information, from June 2023, regular direct flights between the cities of Uzbekistan and the Vietnamese city of Nha Trang are being established. This, in turn, will create new opportunities and important conditions for entrepreneurs in the tourism sector of the two countries.

“We are working on new projects to develop affordable tour packages for the residents of our country and organize their quality trips, as well as dramatically increase the number of tourists arriving in Uzbekistan from Vietnam. In particular, direct flights between Tashkent and Vietnamese Nha Trang will be launched from June. Last year, Prestige Travel organized trips to Vietnam for about 10,000 Uzbeks. In addition, we brought thousands of Vietnamese to our country as tourists. Let me emphasize once again: the work being done is important for the quality of recreation for the population of the countries. Our company operates on the basis of sufficient experience in this field. “The reason is that in Uzbekistan, for the first time, we launched direct flights to Egypt, Montenegro, Vietnam, as well as to a number of European countries and opened the way for travel,” said Oybek Akhmedov, founder of Prestige Travel.

“In the development of tourism in our country, it is important to promote our potential abroad, increase the number of international flights and attract the attention of foreign tourists in an unconventional way. That is why today’s bilateral open dialogue is the basis for us to implement a number of innovations.

“We appreciate the growing number of Vietnamese entrepreneurs who want to get to know the historical places, rich cultural heritage and beautiful nature of our country, and we will be glad to see them in our country,” Temur Majidov, head of the department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said during an open dialogue.

The role of tourism in the economy of Uzbekistan is growing rapidly. In the first quarter of this year, the number of foreign tourists visiting our country amounted to 2 million. The export of tourist services reached just over US$650 million. A special place in it is occupied by bilateral cooperation with Vietnam in the field of tourism.

During the event, foreign entrepreneurs were provided with detailed information about the opportunities created in the field of tourism in Uzbekistan and recent achievements. After that, the parties entered into a dialogue on reaching mutually beneficial agreements, making the most of the tourism opportunities of the two countries.

Today, there are about 5,000 hotels in our country, and the number of tourist accommodation places in the country has increased to more than 100,000.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, supporting the activities of entrepreneurs working in this area, is working to create opportunities for the activities of new tourist destinations in our country. At the same time, conditions are being created to improve the tourist culture of the population and its quality recreation.

Prestige Travel, which initiated the organization of this event, was founded in 2018, and since then the company has taken significant initiatives in arranging flights to new destinations for Uzbekistan.

In particular, in 2018, Prestige Travel launched direct flights from Tashkent to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt for the first time. Also in May 2021, direct flights were launched to Hurghada, one of the largest tourist centers in Egypt, and this year a new route was launched to the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc. In addition, in the summer of 2022, direct flights were launched to Nha Trang, one of the resort cities in Vietnam. Direct flights to Montenegro started at the beginning of this year.