Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 28 April, an international round table was held on the topic "Topical issues of the development of ziyorat tourism". The event was opened by the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Tourism and Sports Aziz Abdukhakimov.

“The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan this year set the task to attract 1.7 million foreign tourists and 7.5 million domestic tourists to the country, while the export of tourism services should amount to US$370 million. It should be noted that the largest share of these numbers is pilgrimage tourism. In our country, there are 784 Islamic sites, 19 Christian and 8 sites of Buddhist cultural heritage. Taking advantage of this opportunity, this year we can attract 700 thousand tourists, and the total volume of tourist services will amount to US$130 million,”said Aziz Abdukhakimov.

Participants of the international round table made reports on such topics as the legislative and institutional framework for the development of tourism in Uzbekistan, the ongoing work on the development of pilgrim tourism in our country, the importance of promoting Uzbekistan as a Center for Islamic civilization, logistics issues in organizing pilgrim tourism and new directions, and conditions.

The participants of the event were greatly interested in the events organized by the International Research Center of Imam Bukhari in 2021, the preparatory work for the international conference dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the formation of the Miri-Arab madrasah, preparatory work for the conference dedicated to the contribution of thinkers-followers of the teachings of at-Termizi to Islamic civilization.

In addition, within the framework of the international forum, specialists from foreign countries, such as France, Malaysia, Russia, Azerbaijan, spoke and expressed their views on foreign experience and the development of tourism in Uzbekistan.

It is worth noting that on 9 December 2020, under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, at a video conference meeting dedicated to discussing the ongoing work in the field of tourism and sports, as well as tasks for the coming year, tasks for the development of Ziyorat tourism were identified.

On 9 February 2021, a presidential decree "On measures for the further development of domestic and pilgrim tourism in the Republic of Uzbekistan" was adopted. Measures were taken to create a favorable environment for the development of domestic and international pilgrimage tourism, promote the tourism potential of our country and strengthen the image of our country as a safe place for travel and recreation.

This year, a total of 1.1 billion soums were spent on promoting pilgrimage sites in the context of regions, and 6 billion soums were spent on promoting the country’s tourism potential in foreign countries. It was also planned to launch air and rail flights on a number of new local and foreign routes.

In addition, since 2020, in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, the private sector has been provided with a number of benefits and preferences for the development of the tourism industry during the pandemic.