Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Experts from the Institute for Forecasting and Macroeconomic Research (IPMI) studied the main results of the reforms implemented in the tourism sector of Uzbekistan in recent years.

In the period from 2017 to 2022, the number of foreign tourists arriving in Uzbekistan almost doubled. If in 2017 our country received 2.7 million tourists, then in 2022 - 5.2 million people.

In 2022, tourists mainly arrived in Uzbekistan: from Kazakhstan - 1551.1 thousand people (1783.8 thousand people in 2017), Tajikistan - 1447.8 thousand people (5.5 times more than in 2017 year) and Kyrgyzstan - 1356.9 thousand people (3.6 times more than in 2017).

The main purpose of trips of foreign citizens to Uzbekistan is "visiting relatives" - 89.1%. Most of this category of tourists came from Kazakhstan (31.8%), Kyrgyzstan (29.2%) and Tajikistan (27.9%).

For the purpose of "rest and leisure", the largest number of tourists came from Russia (37.6%), Kazakhstan (11.2%) and Turkey (6.3%).

Uzbekistan has a visa-free regime for 91 countries of the world. For comparison, in Kazakhstan - for 26 countries, Turkey - for 41 countries, Georgia - for 56 countries.

In 2022, the number of tourists arriving in Uzbekistan increased by 3.4 million compared to last year, i.e. growth was more than 2.8 times. This has led to a significant increase in the export of tourism services. If in 2017 the export of tourism services amounted to US$546.9 million, then in 2022 this figure increased by 2.9 times and amounted to US$1.61 billion.

The share of exports of tourism services in the total volume of exports of services of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2017-2022 increased by 1.8 times. If in 2017 this figure was 22.1%, then in 2022 it reached 40.7%.

The results of the reforms in the tourism sector testify to the great potential of the industry. To increase the tourist attractiveness of Uzbekistan on the world stage, it is proposed to develop new areas of tourism, such as ethnic and ecological tourism, as well as the organization of thematic festivals in different regions of the country.