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4 million tourists visited Uzbekistan in 4 months. They provided services worth $1.6 billion
In January-April, 4 million foreign tourists visited Uzbekistan, which is 30% more than the same period last year. Chairman of the Tourism Committee Abdulaziz Akkulov announced this at a press conference on May 15, Gazeta correspondent reports.
According to the head of the department, during this period, services worth $1.6 billion were provided to tourists. Compared to January-April 2025, the increase was 40%.
“The number of tourists from China increased by 3.5 times compared to the same period last year, from Japan - by 1.6 times, from Malaysia - by 2.2 times, from the USA - by 1.4 times, from France, Great Britain, Spain, Turkey and Germany - by 1.2 times. “As part of the “Uzbekiston buylab sayohat kil” (“Travel around Uzbekistan”) program, 6.84 million trips across the regions were organized for local tourists, an increase of 18%,” he said.
Factors of change in tourist flows
Abdulaziz Akkulov said that last week he took part in the next meeting of the European Commission of the World Tourism Organization, where the situation in the tourism market was discussed.
“The participants talked about emerging uncertainties, in particular the impact on tourism of the geopolitical situation of recent months, rising prices for aviation kerosene, the closure of airspaces for flights and other factors that lead to changes in the trends in the formation of tourist flows,” noted the head of the committee.
“Previously, sales for standard tourist groups began a year in advance, and our tour operators enjoyed certain discounts. The situation in the Middle East has shown that, based on current realities, it is necessary to offer cheap tour packages. This, in turn, indicates a change in trends in the tourism market,” Akkulov noted.
Financial support for infrastructure
According to him, 400 billion soums were allocated for the development of tourism infrastructure in Uzbekistan in 2024, and 710 billion soums in 2025. For this year, 1.16 trillion soums have been allocated from the state budget.
“These funds will be used for asphalting roads of tourist importance, installing electrical and water supply networks, installing benches and garbage containers, improving embankments and dozens of other areas. As part of the programs, it is planned to create 40 thousand jobs in 2026-2027 in the field of tourism and related industries. Of these, 24 thousand will be new, another 16 thousand will be formed by removing employment from the shadow sector,” said Abdulaziz Akkulov.
According to the head of the committee, over 4 months of this year, six entrepreneurs who built three- and four-star hotels were allocated subsidies in the amount of 4 billion soums. The number of tourist villages and mahallas has been increased to 44. The number of tour operators and travel agents has exceeded 4,600.
