IUTF was held for the first time in Uzbekistan and it was attended by over 40 companies, including Russia, Croatia, Thailand, Egypt, Turkey, UAE, Israel, Switzerland, China, Maldives, Spain and Ukraine. Uzbekistan was represented by participants from Samarkand and Khorezm region, as well as Karakalpakstan.

Representatives of UNWTO, heads of ministries and departments, diplomatic missions, accredited in Uzbekistan, like Georgia, Germany, Iran, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, France, Turkey, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Tajikistan, UAE, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Russia, Great Britain, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Algeria and Egypt participated at the opening ceremony.

Executive director of Council on tourism of UNWTO Yolanda Perdomo participated at the tourism fair in Tashkent.

About 45 tourism organizations from 12 countries participated at the International Uzbek Tourism Fair “The World of Leisure”. In particular, the fair were attended by Alean Tur (Russia), Enda Tour, Tau Travel (Turkey), Atlantis Travel (Croatia), Open Up (Switzerland, regional tour operators Aznur Travel, Reko Travel and Yasmina Tour and others.

On the first day of the exhibition, participants presented their exclusive programmes, which attracted interest of the visitors. In particular, Yasmina Tour attracted attention of youth to wedding travels to France, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, UAE, India, Indonesia, Malaysia or Thailand.

The exhibition also hosted several events for specialists of the tourism industry. They were aimed at discussing actual problems and issues of the industry, exchanging experience and developing practical solutions.

On 18 April, International seminar “Gastronomic tourism” of the Business Council of UNWTO was held at Uzexpocenter. UNDP also hosted a roundtable “Improving efficiency and sustainability of functioning of Lower Amudarya state biosphere reserve”.

The seminar “Gastronomic tourism – new perspective directions in world tourism industry” was held by UNWTO specialists Dmitry Ilin and Yolanda Perdomo.

The participants discussed current state of tourism infrastructure and development of gastronomic tourism in Uzbekistan, determine priority direction in this area. It was attended by over 100 people, including MPs, ministries and departments, embassies of foreign states in Uzbekistan, international and foreign organizations, etc.

Atlanta Travel and Miran International Hotel acted as a partners of the seminar.

On the second day, Festival of national pilaf “Osh Bayrami” was held. Local cooks prepared various types of pilafs – wedding pilaf, chayhana pilaf, Tashkent pilaf, Asaka pilaf, Samarkand pilaf, Namangan devzira pilaf, Caravan pilaf, etc.

The guests also participated at the master classes on cooking pilaf, tasting, contests and presentations, etc.

The visitors and professional jury rated the pilafs, which were cooked by chiefs. Avazbek Zakirov from Caravan Group claimed the first place. Ismail Umarov won the prize of sympathy of the guests. He represents International Hotel. The participants of the festival received diplomas and gifts.

Festival Osh bayrami should become key event in popularization of gastronomic tourism in Uzbekistan. NESTLE® PURE LIFE® was partner of the festival.

The festival was organized at the support of the Association of victuallers and Tashkent city administration.

The IUTF was organized by Uzbektourism national company and Great Silk Road Advertisement Agency.