It is expected that this will help to attract tourists, who refused to travel to China, Spot said.
As it was earlier reported, in connection with the spread of the coronavirus, flights between Uzbekistan and China has been temporarily suspended, which directly affects the tourism industry.
In 2019, 61.9 thousand Chinese tourists visited Uzbekistan. It was expected that this number would increase to 98 thousand people in 2020.
“It is obvious that the flow of Chinese tourists will decrease due to the epidemic,” Shukhrat Isakulov, head of the Department for Planning and Development of Human Resources in Tourism said, during a press conference at AIMC.
In order to recover losses, the State Tourism Committee intends to strengthen ties with neighboring countries.
In particular, an increase in tourist flow from Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan is expected. The Committee will implement a series of events in neighboring countries in April-May this year with the participation of local representatives of the tourism sector.
In addition, the Tourism Committee intends to promote Uzbekistan as a country free from coronavirus.
“Last year, about 36 million tourists visited China. This flow can be directed to our country with a skillful marketing policy, which we can implement as a country where no cases of coronavirus infection have been detected,” Shukhrat Isakulov said.
According to representatives of the Committee, travel agencies are already reporting on the interest of foreign tourists in Uzbekistan in connection with the cancellation of trips to China, South Korea or Japan.
