Eastern fairytale – new travelling direction

Europeans seem to be fed up with their good quality of everyday life. They feel the need for something more magical. So the "eastern fairytale" - Uzbekistan - was ripe to start attracting European tourists.

Uzbekistan was reported to be in the top 10 destinations for French tourists in 2013. Tourism really began to take off in the decades following the end of WWII. At about the same time came about the creation of organized travel tours. With the industry becoming more and more competitive, tourists are forever looking for new destinations and new excitement.

Uzbekistan, a former Soviet Socialist republic in Central Asia is now vying for the chance to become one. It is a country rich with ancient history and unique traditions, with names urging one back to the history and geography books. Name that conjure images of adventures along the Silk Route, from the country's ancient city of Samarqand - the capital of the Tamerlane empire. Or the other famous city off Bukhara, a real city-museum, with about 140 monuments of architectural interest.

Uzbekistan is a good place to go not only for history lovers, gourmets also will find plenty to do. The national dish - Uzbek pilaf with carrot and garlic is known all over the world. Souvenirs fans will find everything they need here, and, as opposed to other countries, most of the souvenirs are made in Uzbekistan. The tradition of Choyxona, a ceremony of Uzbek-style tea drinking, is unique cultural heritage of the country.

So, travellers should definitely visit Uzbekistan to find some exotic, tradition, history, ancient heritage...

But, despite some positive developments, the flow of tourists to this rich and interesting country is still quite weak.

When a country is built on solid and successful governance, it can build its economy on the base of tourism, as is the case with Turkey.

Uzbek official sources say the country intends to develop its tourism industry into an area worth $260 mln. They stress that the year 2013 was rather fruitful for Uzbek tourism - the government approved a program on tourism development, held the first International Uzbek Tourism Exhibition as well as tourism forum, fair and other events in this area.

The chairman of the Uzbek National Tourism Company Farrukh Rizayev in an interview to local media said that the Uzbek government pays special attention to tourism development and this direction is considered to be one of the major priorities of social and economic development of the country.

The government plans to restore infrastructure, create entertainment centers for tourists, build hotels, parks, clubs....Nothing new for the foreign traveller. You can find clubs, entertainment, good roads in many other states - these factors are important but not necessary.

The main thing that can attract tourist to Uzbekistan is national uniqueness and it is better to think how to advertise this existing wealth of the country.

This part of the world was closed off to Western tourists during the Soviet era due to political restriction. Now entry into the country is open, but...many people are still cautious about visiting it due to slightly the government's poor reputation, and due to fresh memory of the USSR...

Anyway, the country is only now starting to realize the potential it can reap from developing a wise tourism policy, the first step is to let the people know that somewhere near them one can find a real eastern fairytale - Uzbekistan.


/AzerNews/