Number of tourist visas to Uzbekistan increased by 25pct

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

More than 224,000 foreign citizens received Uzbek visas in January-September 2017 with some 96,700 of them were issued to tourists, while 32,800 - to businessmen.

The growth in the total number of issued visas amounted to 21 percent compared to the same period in 2016, while the number of issued tourist visas increased by 24 percent and business visas - by 27 percent, according to the Uzbek Foreign Ministry.

During this period, the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department and Uzbek consular offices abroad carried out only 308,800 consular actions related to issuing visas for foreign citizens to enter Uzbekistan, exchanging and issuing a biometric passport, issuing a certificate of return to their homeland, registering acts of civil status, performing notarial acts etc.

The largest number of consular actions was carried out in Uzbek embassies in Tajikistan - 55,938, Russia - 25,866, Turkmenistan - 17,005, Kazakhstan - 16,381, Korea - 13,874, Germany - 13,376, China - 12,603 ??and India - 11,925.

Uzbekistan, being home to Bukhara, Khiva and Samarkand – three cities considered jewels along the Old Silk Road trade routes that used to connect Europe and Asia, enjoys a large number of tourists. Thousands of tourists visit the cities every year.

There are many types of tourism being offered in Uzbekistan: historical and cultural tourism, ethnic tourism, adventure tourism, ecological tourism and health tourism.

The tourist infrastructure in recent years has been raised to a fairly high level. In particular, 1,176 tourist organizations, including 621 tour operators, 555 hotel farms, successfully operate in Uzbekistan. An extensive network of hotels for more than 25,000 seats meet modern international standards.

Over the past nine months, about 1.8 million tourists have visited Uzbekistan, which is 17 percent more than in the same period of last year. At the same time, exports of tourism services, which reached $1.8 billion, grew by 17 percent.

Uzbekistan expects to host more than 2.5 million tourists, according to the results of 2017.