Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Between January and October 2019, the influx of foreign tourists to Tashkent increased by 42%. If 350 009 foreign tourists arrived in Tashkent over the same period of 2018, then this year the tourist flow increased to 498 731 people.

If earlier foreign tourists visited Tashkent, mainly during the tourist season, now the situation has changed. “On average, tourists stay in Tashkent for 2 days, but the department works so that foreign guests stay for 3-4 days. For this, the khokimiyat is working on the creation of new tourist routes and every month offers tourist companies and operators of Tashkent to include Tashkent in their routes,” the department for tourism development in Tashkent noted.

What influenced the increase in the influx of tourists to Tashkent?

Recently, many reforms have been carried out that are aimed at optimizing the tourism sector in Uzbekistan. For example, in October of this year, liability for violation of the rules of stay in the Republic of Uzbekistan was retrained from criminal to administrative field. This means that if the established period of stay in Uzbekistan is exceeded, foreigners will no longer be prosecuted, and now this offense is punishable by a fine. An important innovation was the appearance on the streets of the capital of tourist police. The work of the unit is aimed at maintaining public order at tourist facilities and ensuring the safety of city guests.

A ban was also imposed on the sale of things that are not related to traditional national objects near historical sites. Thus, the Chinese "trinkets" will not contrast with the traditional spirit of historical buildings. In addition, the problem of lack of rooms for tourists is being resolved at an accelerated pace.

One of the most important innovations is the replenishment of the list of states whose citizens have the right to visit Uzbekistan without visas. Since 2020, the total number of such countries will reach 86.

Basically, travelers from abroad go to Uzbekistan to visit cities such as Samarkand, Khiva, Bukhara. Nevertheless, due to the fact that many interesting buildings are being built in Tashkent and historically authentic architecture is being recreated, tourists are paying more and more attention to the capital of Uzbekistan.

Recently, many parks, complexes, mosques have been built. If we touch on the authenticity of architecture, then the Navruz park, which embodies traditional architecture and attracts many tourists, and the no less authentic Suzuk-ota complex, which combines the reconstructed mausoleum and mosque, opened in May 2019, can serve as an example. as well as houses for artisans, the khokimiyat of the city of Tashkent reports.