TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, February 2. Uzbekistan may increase the flow of Russian tourists twofold in 2024 (up to 1.46 million people), Trend reports.
This follows the decree of Uzbekistan's president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
As per official statistics, the number of Russian citizens who visited Uzbekistan for tourist purposes increased by 25.8 percent in 2023 year-on-year, up to 714,200 people.
The decree approved the forecast indicators of attracting foreign tourists in 2024—up to 9.96 million people (+1.5 times compared to 2023). In particular, the tourist flow from Russia is planned to reach 1.46 million people this year. Thus, the growth may be twofold over the year.
Furthermore, the document also approved a program of measures to attract Russian tourists to Uzbekistan. In particular, it is planned to implement the program "Uzbekistan Tourism Year in Russia," hold advertising campaigns "Travel to Uzbekistan" in major Russian cities, and introduce a system of transport discounts for tour operators engaged in attracting tourists from Russia.
According to the data of the Uzbekistan Tourism Committee, the growth of tourist flow from Russia is estimated at about 800,000 in 2023 and up to 1 million people by 2025. According to the department, Russia is a strategic tourism partner for Uzbekistan; the flow of Russian tourists to the country traditionally exceeds the number of guests from non-CIS countries by 1.5–2 times. At the same time, Russian tourists stand fourth in terms of visits to the country, following guests from Uzbekistan's neighboring countries, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
Earlier, the data of the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan showed that the number of Russians in the country decreased by 1.3 percent to 720,300 people in 2017–2020; the share of nationalities living in Uzbekistan has not changed much and is 2.1 percent.