First deputy mayors of Khorezm to visit Europe for tourism and service training

The First Deputy Governors of all 13 districts and cities in the Khorezm region will be sent to Spain, Italy, and France to study best practices in tourism, services, and environmental management. This decision was announced on May 2 during a meeting chaired by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, focused on the priority tasks for the socio-economic development of Khorezm.

Officials reported that this initiative will later be expanded to all regions in Uzbekistan that specialize in tourism.

Among the key goals set by the government are the launch of 91 projects worth a total of $200 million in Khorezm this year, attracting 2 million foreign and 10 million domestic tourists, increasing tourism exports by $700 million, and creating 100,000 new jobs in the tourism and service sectors.

For context, Uzbekistan’s overall tourism export potential is estimated at $10 billion, with $2 billion attributed to the Khorezm region. However, this potential remains largely untapped. In 2024, only 1.3 million foreign tourists visited Khorezm, and the region's tourism exports failed to reach even $400 million.

As previously reported during the meeting, the primary obstacle to the rapid development of tourism in Khorezm is transportation. While the launch of direct flights to Urgench from Russia, Turkey, Italy, Spain, and France has yielded positive results, thousands of tourists from Germany, China, and Arab countries are being lost due to the absence of regular flights from those countries.