Representatives of Tashkent City’s tourism department revealed the city’s ‘investment potential’ at the Investment Forum of the 25th UNWTO General Assembly on October 17-18.
Whilst Khiva and Samarkand both shared a number of large projects including ‘Al-Bukhari City Project’ and a $20mn 5-star hotel, Tashkent’s tourism plans appeared to focus on business rather than explicitly on tourism.
Investment literature distributed by the tourism department placed Riverside ‘Daryo Bo’yi Business City’ at the forefront of their development initiatives. The business city project is located on the Chirchik River and includes “residential and commercial facilities”, “social infrastructure with leisure areas”, and a “technopark”. The estimated cost of the project is $200mn and is expected to create 10,000 new jobs.
Lacking the historical tourism sites of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva, it could be interpreted that Tashkent wishes to focus on entrepreneurship rather than competing in tourism.
Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during his opening speech on October 16 mentioned the importance of tourism marketing and praised the “selfless creators”. He also said that “it is time to create a Global Media Campus that brings together leading media, journalists, and top travel bloggers.”
Matt Forma, blogger and photographer from whyweseek.com said the following about Tashkent:
“Although Tashkent may not have the same notoriety or number of attractions that Samarkand does, it has potential as a tourism destination for those going to Uzbekistan and Central Asia.
There are still a number of places that are worthy of a visitor's attention and I believe that with some marketing and informational improvements the city would go a long way.
"Perhaps printed pamphlets in English could be distributed to various hotels across the country showing what Tashkent has to offer. Other ideas that come to mind are widely accepting international credit cards, installing more ATMs, and creating tourist-friendly signs in English for the monuments and sites.”
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