Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Government of Uzbekistan adopted a decision to start an active construction of small hotels and hostels based on standard projects with a capacity of 8-50 rooms, Deputy Prime Minister Aziz Abdukhakimov said.

He noted that Uzbekistan plans to construct 345 such accommodation facilities in 41 cities and regions of the country.

Deputy Prime Minister said that 4.4 million visited Uzbekistan in nine months of 2018, which is twice higher compared the same period of 2017. He said that this is connected with introduction of visa free regime with 17 countries and establishment of e-visa system, as well as development of internal tourism.

He added that in 2017 the number of local tourists was 10.6 million people, then in 2018, an increase to 14 million people is projected. At the same time, we continue to expect an increase in the number of travelers, Aziz Abdukhakimov said.

Construction of new small hotels and hostels will help create a comfortable environment for accommodating travelers. In addition, it will contribute to expanding the range of tourism services, diversification and development of hotel services.

Aziz Abdukhakimov emphasized that small hotels are economically less dependent on changes in the market situation of hotel services and have the possibility of a quick price reorientation. In countries with a high level of tourism development, the share of small hotels occupies a significant part of the number of rooms (in Western Europe -60%, Malaysia -70%, New Zealand -80%). In the EU, the number of small hotels with a number of rooms up to 50 rooms is steadily growing and currently stands at 200 thousand. To address the shortage of tourist accommodation facilities, similar measures have been taken to build small and middle class hotels in Turkey. Today, there are more than 2 thousand of these hotels with a room stock of 30-50 beds.

Hotels will be built with the assistance of the State Committee for Tourism Development, and the projects will be developed by Qishloqqurilishloyiha LLC, taking into account the positive foreign experience of design, including first of all Turkey and Korea. Typical projects of small hotels and hostels will be provided to investors - entrepreneurs free of charge.

The Council of Ministers of the Republic of Karakalpakstan and regional khokimiyats will be required to put up at least 5 “attractive” land plots allocated for the construction of small hotels and hostels on standard projects on the electronic trading platform “E-IJRO AUKSION”. At the same time, the total time for conducting an electronic auction as an exception cannot exceed 10 days, including all procedures carried out on the electronic trading platform “E-IJRO AUKSION”.

The State Committee for the Development of Tourism in support of entrepreneurs who have opened new hotels, is implementing a marketing plan to ensure their workload. The plan will include a set of measures to develop their activities, including the introduction of effective reservation systems, the promotion of services provided and personnel training. It is planned to organize press tours to popularize the cities and districts in which hotels will be built among tourists.