Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The results of the study of statistical data show a high rate of growth in the number of foreign tourists, visiting in Uzbekistan. Thus, during the 1st quarter of 2019, the number of foreign tourists reached 1.3 million people. Compared to the same period of last year, this figure is 42% higher (for the 1st quarter of 2018 – 972,200 people).

At the same time, the growth rate of foreign visitors to Uzbekistan shows approximately the same level. Thus, the growth in the number of foreign tourists from CIS countries and far abroad was 38%. The growth in the number of tourists from Central Asia was 44%.

From far-abroad countries and the CIS, the largest number of tourists to Uzbekistan arrive from the Russian Federation, Turkey, Afghanistan, China, Korea, etc.

In terms of months, the largest number of arrivals of foreign tourists accounted for March – 549,500 people. However, compared with the same period of last year, the number of arriving tourists in January and February increased sharply. Thus, in January, the number of arriving tourists increased by 64% compared with the same period of 2018 (from 266,200 to 437,200), in February - by 48% (from 264,900 to 393,500).

If we consider the age category of arriving foreign tourists, we can see the predominance of the category of persons aged 31-55 years, whose number is 53.2% of the total number of tourists. The next are tourists under the age of 30 years - 27.4%, while tourists over 55 are 19.2%.

The bulk - 86.1% of visitors during the 1st quarter of this year, arrived to visit relatives and friends. This figure decreased compared to the same period of 2018 when 90.2% arrived for the purpose of visiting relatives and friends. The share of visitors arriving for the purpose of recreation and entertainment has sharply increased. Thus, this category of visitors amounted to 10.3%, whereas in the same period of 2018, this figure was 4.2%.

Next come the categories of visitors arriving for the purpose of treatment and rehabilitation (1.2%), business goals (1%), shopping, shopping (0.7%) and education (0.7%).

The duration of the stay of foreign tourists can be observed the following situation. The vast majority, 83.5% of the arriving guests remain in Uzbekistan for 1-3 days, which is slightly lower than the same period of 2018 (84.3%). The number of tourists staying in Uzbekistan from 3 days to 10 days is 13.3%, from 10 to 30 days - 2.7%, more than 30 days - 0.5%.

In general, during the II quarter of 2019, 1.47 million tourists is expected to arrive in Uzbekistan, and by the end of 2019 - about 6 million foreign tourists.