Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – On 10 January, a briefing was held at the Poytaht business center in Tashkent with the participation of the leadership of the State Committee for Tourism Development on the effectiveness of reforms in the socio-economic sphere in 2019 and promising tasks for 2020.

The event presented detailed statistics on tourism, as well as information on the work done to promote the industry and the development of certain types of tourism, the development of transport infrastructure, work with the diaspora abroad and attracting investments, the development of tourism infrastructure in the regions and work with entrepreneurs in 2019.

According to statistics, in 2019, 6 748 500 tourists visited Uzbekistan, while in 2018 this figure was 5 346 200 people. Of these, 51.3% were people at the age of 31-55 years (52.1% in 2018), 20.2% - at the age of 55 years and older (19.4% in 2018), 19.5% - at the age of 19-30 years (20.4% in 2018) and 9.1% - persons aged 0-18 years (8.1% in 2018).

The largest number of tourists came from the Central Asian region - 5 764 500 people. 495,600 tourists came from the CIS countries. The number of visitors from non-CIS countries amounted to 488,400 people.

Most tourists came from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, the Russian Federation, Turkey, Afghanistan, China, the Republic of Korea and India.

Of these, 81.8% arrived in Uzbekistan to visit their relatives and friends, and 15.5% for leisure purposes. The proportion of those who arrived for other reasons, including treatment, purchases, participation in business meetings and for study purposes, amounted to 2.7%.

At the end of 2019, the volume of tourism services exports made up US$1,313,032 (US$1,041,089 in 2018).

The total number of accommodation facilities reached 1,188 units, of which 833 hotels, 214 hostels and 141 other types of similar facilities.

The level of utilization of accommodation facilities by region: Republic of Karakalpakstan - 62.6%, Andijan region - 65.0%, Bukhara region - 96.6%, Jizzakh region - 52.5%, Kashkadarya region - 61.0%, Navoi region . - 74.3%, Namangan region - 40.6%, Samarkand region - 82.3%, Syrdarya region - 64.4%, Surkhandarya region - 68.8%, Tashkent region - 76.1%, Ferghana region - 42 , 7%, Khorezm region - 81.5%, the city of Tashkent - 85.7%.

The visits of 160 representatives of 30 media outlets from the USA, Japan, Germany, Italy, China, Indonesia, Russia and other countries were organized for large-scale promotion of the country’s tourism potential among the world community.

Along with traditional methods, modern propaganda methods are also used, including on the famous Shibuya Square in Tokyo (Japan), from December 17 to 21, 2019 a video was shown showing the tourist potential of Uzbekistan.

Taking into account the importance of various social and cultural entertainment events to attract tourists to Uzbekistan, various events have been organized since last year taking into account the specifics of each region. In particular, such major events as the first pilgrimage (Ziyorat) tourism forum (Bukhara region), the Bakhshi art festival, the Archaeological forum (Surkhandarya region), the Game of the Knights (Khorezm region), the Auto rally “Muynak”, the Music Festival “Element” were held (Republic of Karakalpakstan), CIS Tourism Fair. (Samarkand region), Forum of geotourism, Pomegranate festival (Kashkadarya region), Electronic music festival, Gastronomy festival, “World Influencers Congress” (Tashkent).

Within the framework of the MICE tourism development action plan approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, potential sites for conducting MICE events in the regions were studied, a unified register was created and the “Meetings & Events Catalog” catalog was developed. In addition, a Congress and Exhibition Center is being created to coordinate such events in the committee structure.

About 26 investment projects are being implemented in the amount of US$1.1 billion, aimed at the construction of hotels, resorts, health centers and sports and recreation areas.