Tourism opportunities in Uzbekistan presented in the United Kingdom

The delegation headed by the Chairman of the National Company «Uzbektourism» Mr. Zohidjon Khakimov and including directors of leading Uzbek travel companies «Davr Tour» and «Ferghana Tourist», as well as Health center «Beldersay Oromgohi», visited London on 17-20 March, 2009.

During the visit, on 18 March the presentation on «Tourism opportunities in Uzbekistan» was organized at the Embassy. Over 50 representatives of British tourist companies and organizations, business and academic circles, as well as London diplomatic corps attended the event.

Welcoming participants, Ambassador of Uzbekistan Otabek Akbarov underlined that the territory of modern Uzbekistan has been on the crossroads of Eastern and Western civilizations for centuries, and was the heart of the Great Silk Road during its flourishing times. It was said that expansion of the tourist exchanges is an important component of mutual cultural enrichment and contributes positively into bilateral relations as a whole (the full text is here).

In his speech, Mr. Z.Khakimov spoke about current state and prospects of development of tourism industry in Uzbekistan. He noted that the rich heritage of Uzbek people is characterized by 4 thousand historical and architectural monuments, as well as inclusion of number of sights of Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva and Shakhrisabz into the UNESCO List of World Heritage. Chairman of «Uzbektourism» focused on development perspectives of cooperation in tourism sphere with the United Kingdom, where people have a stable interest towards our country. In this regard, it was proposed to organize a familiarization tour for a group of British tourism operators to Uzbekistan in the nearest future (presentation available here).

Chairman of British-Uzbek Society Dr. Hartley Booth said that development of tourism helps to strengthen friendship and mutual understanding between our countries. Therefore, the Society also contributes to the popularization of Uzbek culture in Britain through organization of series of educational activities. He drew attention to a number of impressive sights in Uzbekistan, as well as hospitality of our people.

The head of «Uzbekistan Airways» representative office in London Mr. Alexey Yaitskiy stated that the national air company is one of the leading air carriers in Central Asia and CIS countries. «Uzbekistan Airways» carries out flights for more than 40 international directions on a continually renewed fleet, which mainly consists of aircrafts of European and American production. Safety and high quality of passengers’ service remain priority for «Uzbekistan Airways». He proposed to British tour operators to cooperate on the basis of flexible prices and already significantly reduced rates.

Important contributions into discussion were made by number of participants, in particular by international consultant Mr. D.Zimmermann, Chairman of Cambridge Forum for Central Asia Dr. S.Saxena, Senior Research Fellow of Cambridge Forum Dr. Sh.Akiner, as well as the heads of British travel companies «Travcour», «Silk Road and Beyond» and «Travelsphere».

In conclusion, the film «Invitation to Uzbekistan», which tells about the sights of Bukhara, Samarkand, Khiva and Surkhandarya region, as well as the nature reserves (can be watched here) was demonstrated to the guests, whereupon a reception on the occasion of Navruz was held.

Title of the presentation		Chairman of “Uzbektourism” Mr. Khakimov
Dr. Booth, Ambassador and Mr. Yaitskiy		Participants of the presentation

 

	www.uzbektourism.uz/en