During the trip to the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Editor-in-Chief of the Online publication “Embassy Life” Marat Shakirzyanov met with the head of the PR Center within the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Uzbekistan Dilfuza Samandarova.
The editor-in-chief asked Dilfuz to tell about the development and promotion of Uzbekistan in the field of tourism and culture both in the Republic and abroad.
In the conversation, the Head of the PR Center noted that over the past 6 years, a modern infrastructure has been created in Uzbekistan to receive a large number of tourists.
“With the arrival of our current President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, everything has changed dramatically. Even 5 years ago, the state of our tourist infrastructure did not allow us to receive many guests. Now our President has chosen the path on which we will be open and he is doing everything possible for the development of tourism, including. The President assigns a big role to the coverage of the tourism potential in the media to attract potential tourists. He began to travel, to establish ties with countries, as part of his visit, promotions about Uzbekistan as a tourist country are being prepared.
In Uzbekistan today, the situation is favorable for the reception of tourists: a large number of roads, hotels, restaurants have been built. The infrastructure is fully ready to receive tourists. As a result, the tourist flow to Uzbekistan has significantly increased, including from Russia,” Dilfuza Samandarova said.
According to her, if earlier Uzbekistan relied on familiarizing tourists with the history and architecture of the republic, now there is a diversification of the national tourist product due to the active development of ethnographic, religious, gastronomic, ski and other types of tourism. These destinations are very popular with tourists, because they allow you to get to know the country better, to get to know it from different sides. Great attention is also paid to investments and exports.
“In addition to tourism, the culture and art of Uzbekistan is popularized and promoted,” said the Head of the PR Center.
For reference.
There are more than seven thousand monuments of great historical, cultural, architectural, and archaeological value in the country. Uzbekistan is the birthplace of great enlighteners and scientists: poet Alisher Navoi, Hamza, Abdullah Kahhar, physician Avicenna (Ibn Sino), astronomer Beruni, encyclopedist Al-Bukhari and Al-Termizi. They have made a significant contribution to the development of world culture and science.
The Great Silk Road played an important role in the development and prosperity of Uzbek culture. For many centuries, the region has been one of the important centers of trade, economic and cultural exchange between Asia and Europe, the main link on the routes of the Great Silk Road. Uzbekistan has a rich, unique heritage that is part of the treasury of world civilization.
Have all the issues been resolved with logistics?
As for logistics, I can add. The Silk Road Samarkand Tourist Center was built in Samarkand, where the summit of the heads of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held in September.
The center is built on an area of more than 260 hectares and is located on both sides of the rowing canal. Eight hotels with a capacity of almost 1.2 thousand rooms have been built here, including the first two five-star hotels in the country, the Eternal City caravanserai and the Congress Hall. Thirteen conference halls with a capacity of up to 3.5 thousand participants are located on the area of the congress center of 18 thousand square meters.
This platform provides a great opportunity for MICE tourism by hosting international events, forums, conferences, exhibitions, fairs and festivals in Uzbekistan. There is a ready-made infrastructure for receiving tourists and guests at a high level.
Uzbekistan is famous for its national cuisine and this is a separate direction of tourism to Uzbekistan as a food tour. Due to this, we attract Russian, Chinese and events from other countries so that Uzbekistan becomes a platform for cooperation around the world.
Can we say that Uzbekistan occupies a leading position in Central Asia in promoting tourism potential?
The Tashkent International Tourism Fair “Tourism on the Silk Road” has been held in Uzbekistan for 27 years. The organizers of the fair are the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Uzbekistan and we, the State Unitary Enterprise “National PR Center”.
Stands from 30 countries were presented at the fair in 2022. There was a lot of activity on the part of the Russian Federation. And this year many regions intend to present themselves with separate stands.
Tourism and souvenir products are closely linked, in Uzbekistan souvenir products are created by artisans who also take part in this major tourist fair.
In Uzbekistan there is an association “Hunarmand” of folk craftsmen, artisans and painters. The main goal of the Association is to preserve centuries-old folk art traditions, develop rich and diverse crafts and applied arts of Uzbekistan, support and present it not only on the domestic market, but also promote it on foreign world markets.
TITF is the largest tourism fair in Central Asia, which indicates that Uzbekistan occupies a leading position in Central Asia in this industry.
What are the PR Center’s priority goals, objectives, and missions?
Our mission is to show the whole world the beauty of our country, the originality of its ancient cities and the uniqueness of previously unknown routes!
Our main goal is to direct your attention to the unique tourist opportunities of the country, to discover a new and unexplored Uzbekistan for you.
After all, Uzbekistan is not only the heritage of the Great Silk Road and historical cities included in the UNESCO List, but also the extraordinarily beautiful nature in the foothills of the Tien Shan range and Pamir spurs, desert castles of ancient civilizations, rich culture and history, delicious cuisine and surprisingly hospitable people.
We develop and implement separate programs for each country.
What is interesting to Russia is not interesting to Arab countries, what is interesting to Arab countries is not interesting to China. Therefore, we are doing a lot of work in this direction. We are releasing a travel publication “Uzbekistan Travel” in 12 languages.
We are always ready to cooperate.
What international events, festivals, exhibitions are held outside of Uzbekistan?
In order for the world to learn more about the tourism potential of Uzbekistan, we also hold events outside the Republic, take part in exhibitions and fairs, and hold Festivals.
We hold events in Russia. At the travel forum “Travel!”, which was held in August 2022 at VDNH in Moscow, Uzbekistan acted as a partner country of the forum. The tourism potential, culture, traditions and creativity of the country’s artisans were widely represented at the forum.
From June 17 to 18, a festival of Uzbek national culture will be held in Potters Field Park in central London. The purpose of the event is to promote Uzbek national culture and tourism in the United Kingdom and strengthen diplomatic and cultural ties between our countries.
During the days of Uzbek culture, guests will be presented with a presentation of the tourist and cultural potential of Uzbekistan, a gastronomic festival, a display of national clothes, an exhibition of folk applied art will be held.
Of course, this is not the whole list of events.
We do not compete with established festivals, so we participate in major international exhibitions with the national stand of Uzbekistan in the field of tourism, and in parallel we hold our own events, thereby “accustoming people to ourselves.”
We are already recognized by global companies and we have good ratings.
How do you solve personnel issues? Do you have a big team and who is part of it?
In order to do such a huge job, there must be a well-coordinated team. We have 40 talented and creative specialists in our team, generators of new ideas, who truly love their Homeland and promote its tourist opportunities. The secret of success lies in the fact that we invite young people to work after graduation and grow professionals out of them.
We are developing and a lot has already been done. Of course, it is difficult and difficult, but a long way has been passed from point “A” to point “B”, but we do not stop, we develop and go to new goals and tasks.
“Of course, there are still many tasks to be completed, but the Uzbek people are very hardworking and this does not frighten them,” Dilfuza Samandarova concluded.
Marat Shakirzyanov discussed issues of further information cooperation with the PR Center within the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Uzbekistan and wished prosperity and achievement of all set goals.
The readers of the online publication “Embassy Life” are Embassies of foreign countries in the Russian Federation and diplomatic missions abroad, and this will allow telling about Uzbekistan as a prosperous country, not only to the Russian reader, but also to readers of other countries.
For reference
Official name: Republic of Uzbekistan (Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan)
Capital: Tashkent
Area of the territory: 447.4 thousand square kilometers
Total population: 28, 1 million people
Administrative division: The state is divided into 12 regions and the Republic of Karakalpakstan
Form of government: Republic
Head of State: President
The population is 71.4% Uzbek, 8.3% Russian, 4.7% Tajik, 4.1% Kazakh, 2.4% Tatar, 2.1% Karakalpak
Official language: Uzbek. Tajik and Russian languages are also widely spoken in the country. Many tourism workers speak English
Religion: 88% — Sunni Muslims, 9% — Orthodox
