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25ISSN 2223-4047
Вестник магистратуры. 2022. № 3-1 (126)
M.B. Khamroeva
TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN UZBEKISTAN: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS
Tourism has become one of the most important and fast growing sector of the economy today. Tourism provides the country with many opportunities and benefits, since it does not utilize natural resources and can solve the problem with unemployment. It creates millions of jobs with a high proportion of women and youth (UNWTO, 2020). With its excellent geographical position, pleasant climate, rich culture and great history, does Uzbekistan use all its resources for tourism, what measures need to be taken to develop tourism in Uzbekistan and receive much more revenue from tourism. The paper is aimed to explore the challenges in developing tourism in Uzbekistan and find solutions for them. The literature review opens the paper which includes some background information about the tourism sector in Uzbekistan, investigates the challenges that tourists face when visiting the country, then the results are analyzed and concluded.
Key words: tourism in Uzbekistan, tourism development, government support, airlines, airports.
International tourism creates an influx of foreign capital into the economy of the destination country, and this income stream creates business, employment, household income and government revenues (Theobald, (2005).
The government of Uzbekistan is aware of the benefits of tourism for the country and is undertaking many activities to improve this sector. In 1992, the first President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov founded the National Company "Uzbektourism" to coordinate all processes related to tourism in the country. In the same year, the "Uzbekistan Airways" National Airline was founded. From year to year, there has been a rapid growth in tourism.
8 000 000 7 000 000 6 000 000 5 000 000 4 000 000 3 000 000 2 000 000 1 000 000
2005 2017 2018 2019
■ Tourists
Data source: Sputnik (2019)
According to the latest statistics before the Covid-19 pandemic, 6,748,500 tourists visited Uzbekistan in 2019 (5,346,200 in 2018). Of these, 51.3% are persons aged 31 to 55 (52.1% in 2018), 20.2% are aged 55 and older (19.4% in 2018), 19.5% - aged 19-30 (20.4% in 2018) and 9.1% - people in ages 0-18 (8.1% in 2018). Visitors from Central Asia amounted to 5,764,500 people, 495,600 tourists arrived from the CIS countries, and the number of tourists from abroad amounted to 488,400 people. Of these, 81. 8% came to Uzbekistan to visit relatives and friends, 15.5% are leisure tourists, 2.7% for other reasons (business, medical treatment) (Sputnik, 2019).
© M.B. Khamroeva, 2022.
60,00% 50,00% 40,00% 30,00% 20,00% 10,00%
(
0,00%
52,10%
20,40%
,40%
9,10%
II
19,50%
20,20%
0 - 18
19-30 31 - 55
2018 2020
55 and above
Data source: Sputnik (2019)
A new era of tourism in Uzbekistan began in 2017 and there have been many positive changes in the tourism sector. One of them was the abolition of a visa for some countries to enter Uzbekistan. Today 86 countries can enter Uzbekistan without a visa (Norma, 2019), which could have a positive impact on tourism in Uzbekistan. Another important principle in tourism was preparing and training professionals for the tourism industry in Uzbekistan. By order of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the Silk Road International University of Tourism was founded in 2018, which is a unique international university of tourism in Central Asia. University aimed to provide professionals to the tourism sector of Uzbekistan. In addition, in order to improve the tourism industry, the Concept for the Development of the Tourism Industry in Uzbekistan for 2019-2025 was approved in January 2019 (UN, 2019).
Recourses and opportunities of Uzbekistan for tourism development
Uzbekistan has great potential and resources for many types of tourism. There are more than 7000 historical monuments in Uzbekistan. 4 major historical cities of Uzbekistan: Khiva (in 1990) Bukhara (1993), Shahrisabz (2000) and Samarkand (2001), are included to the UNESCO's world heritage list (Zarnews, 2020). These cities include more than 200 historical and archeological monuments (UN, 2019) which can be attracted by cultural tourists. For ecotourism, Uzbekistan has an attractive nature. Its mountains, deserts, rivers and lakes are unique. The country has 6 natural monuments, 2 natural and 1 national park, 8 nature reserves, 11 nature reserves and more than 50 water protection zones that can attract eco tourists (UN, 2019). There are many more opportunities for gastronomic tourism in Uzbekistan, because Uzbek cuisine is very delicious. Each region of the country is famous for its unique national dishes. Tashkent's "norin"; The Kashkadarya's "tandoor", the delicious taste of Samarkand pilaf, can become unforgettable for tourists. Along with such tourism, new types of tourism can successfully develop in Uzbekistan: pilgrimage, rural, ethnographic, sports, health, MICE tourism, industrial and other types of tourism.
The role of airports and airlines in the development of tourism in Uzbekistan
Theobald states that 'tourism has grown significantly since the creation of the commercial airline industry and the advent of jet aircraft in the 1950s' (Theobald, 2005). Research shows that air travel prices have dropped by up to 60% since the 1970s, people began to travel more, as it became accessible (Spot, 2018). According to the UNWTO, 'the share of air travel has increased from 46% in 2000 to 59% in 2019, while land transport has decreased from 49% to 35% in the same period' (UNWTO, 2020).
Aviation plays an important role in the development of tourism in Uzbekistan. Tourism and aviation are very interactive with each other; it is impossible to develop the tourism sector in the country without aviation. Because Uzbekistan, in terms of its geographical position, belongs to a "double landlocked country", since it does not have a direct outlet to the sea. Aviation is the main way for international tourists to arrive in Uzbekistan (Spot, 2018). Uzbekistan visitor Economy Survey 2014 (UNWTO) shows that the most common mode of transport (74%) arriving in Tashkent was aircraft (UNWTO, 2016).
Source: World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Uzbekistan visitor Economy Survey 2014
According to the UNWTO survey, more than half (56%) of international tourists came to Uzbekistan by
Uzbekistan Airways (UNWTO, 2016).
Total respondents
Number Percentage
1 Uzbekistan Airways 102 56%
2 Turkish Airlines 25 14%
3 Aeroflot 16 9%
4 Air France 7 4%
5 Korean Air 6 3%
6 Czech Airlines 5 3%
7 Air Astana 4 2%
8 Asiana Airlines 3 1%
9 China Southern Airlines 2 1%
10 El Al Israel Airlines 2 1%
11 Scandinavia Air 2 1%
12 Transaero Airlines 2 1%
13 Air India 1%
14 Air Kyrgyzstan 1%
15 Iran Air 1%
16 S7 Airlines 1%
17 Tajik Air 1%
Source: World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Uzbekistan visitor Economy Survey 2014
This safest national airline (Airline Ratings, 2021) of Uzbekistan almost always leads the rating among the airlines of the CIS countries.
Methodology
The necessary data for this paper is collected from relevant sources such as statistics, documents, official websites. The main data was taken from the survey of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) about Uzbekistan's International visitors. The survey was done in popular touristic centers of the country. 281 international tourists who were visiting Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva participated to this survey in 2014. From these 58% men (162) and 42% women (42%) (UNWTO, 2016).
Findings and Result
Although the Uzbek government pays sufficient attention to infrastructure, its position is still remaining unsatisfactory. Many tourists suffer from this, since the transport system within the country does not satisfy not only them, but also local residents. A tourist who wants to visit the rural area in a short time (same-day visit) cannot return to the city after sunset. There are no regular buses or other means of transport. Some places can only be reached by taxi, but there is no fixed cost for it, which may not satisfy tourists. The problem can be solved by providing the region with a regular transport system and controlling the situation. Another solution is to make the
place a tourist attraction and create hostels for tourists to stay overnight, which could increase the tourist's stay in the country and generate more income for the local people and government.
According to UNWTO (2014) much part of the international tourists came to Uzbekistan from Russian Federation (18.2%), then from Turkey (11.9%) and India (10.2%) (UNWTO, 2016). According to Sputnik, in January-October 2019, Russian tourists spent $250 million on tourist trips (export of tourist services) to Uzbekistan which is $50 million more compared to the same period in 2018.
Country of origin
Source: World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Uzbekistan visitor Economy Survey 2014
The number of Russians who have visited Uzbekistan during this period increased by 25.2% and amounted to more than 393 thousand people. (Sputnik, 2019). This means that this tourist making country represents a really big market for tourism in Uzbekistan. They are attracted by the sunny climate, historical and cultural heritage and delicious cuisine of Uzbekistan. They are also interested in the period of the occupation of the country by Russia in the 19-20 centuries. Without a language barrier (most of the inhabitants of Uzbekistan, mainly in cities, speak Russian), every Russian tourist can easily travel around this country. It is also very convenient for them to travel by air, because every day and every time there are direct flights to many cities of Uzbekistan. Airlines such as Uzbekistan Airways, Aeroflot, S7 Airlines, Ural Airlines, UT air, Red Wings, Yakutia airlines have flights in this direction, of which only one belongs to Uzbekistan (Skyscanner, 2021). Such discrimination is not a boon for the economy of Uzbekistan, because the country is not using all its opportunities to generate income from such a large market. Uzbekistan needs more private airlines to avoid monopoly and create a competitive market, which can also benefit customers.
One of the reasons that most tourists chose Uzbekistan Airways is preference of direct flights. Uzbekistan's national airline uses direct flights with Europe, Asia and even USA with its Dreamliner Boeing-787.
Tourists flying with transit flights can have troubles like being late for transit flight (with the reason related to the tourist or airline or airport) or not delivering the baggage at the last destination (sometimes it remains in transit airport). Such situations are sometimes observed in airports of Uzbekistan. (Uzbekistan have 11 airports with International status; among them only 2 of them: Tashkent International Airport and Samarkand International Airport are economic, the other 9 refers to non-economic airports) Unfortunately, there is no good connection between airports and the tourism sector. In a situation where a tourist's luggage remains at a transit airport, upon arrival in Uzbekistan, a tourist may have big problems. The tourist needs to visit the airport several times, if the baggage is sent on another flight, the tourist must come and take the baggage, as there is no delivery to the hotel. The situation of a tourist who arrived at the destination on average for 7-10 days and lost half of the time due to problems with luggage cannot be pleasant. For developing tourism in Uzbekistan, airports and tourism sector must interact with each other. As mentioned above, due to the development of tourism in the country, aviation also will be stimulated, the country's infrastructure will be changed for the better, new roads, transport, stations, airports can be built with the money received from tourism. The lifestyle of local people can also be changed for the better.
Conclusion
Considering all of the above factors and statistics, the tourism industry in Uzbekistan has not improved as much compared to the tourism sector in some other developing countries. But, taking into account the government
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Вестник магистратуры. 2022. № 3-1 (126)
support for the development of tourism in Uzbekistan, it can be predicted that in recent years, tourism can be well developed, and Uzbekistan can become one of the most attractive place of the world for tourists.
References
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KHAMROEVA MUKHAYYO BAKHRILLOEVNA - Master student of the faculty Management(tour-ism,hospitality and events) Silk Road International university of Tourism and Cultural Heritage.
