The event was organized by the Project "Business Forum of Uzbekistan,", which is the joint project of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan (CCI) and UNDP Country Office in Uzbekistan.

Tourism for many countries serves not only as a major source of inflow of export profits, but also as a pushing force for an economic growth. Thanks to both foreign and local tourists’ demand, development of many other sectors of the economy, agriculture and industry of services are also stimulated.

It is well-known that Uzbekistan has the greatest tourism potential among other Central Asia countries. It possesses 9th place on the numbers of resort and historical destinations for tourism. However, it should be noted that in Uzbekistan there exists a case of underutilization of existing potential in comparison to other countries that have the same conditions for attracting tourists.

In order to discuss the issues related to current situation within and with the development perspectives of the tourism sector of Uzbekistan the Expert Council meeting of the Business Form on sector-specific development at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan was held on April 18, 2008 in the conference hall of the "Poytaht" hotel. Representatives of the governmental organizations, private tourism companies and the experts’ community participated in the business-forum.

With the aim of introducing participants of the event with the current situation in the sphere of developing tourism sector, there were made presentations by the representative of SJSC "Uzbektourism" on theme: "State policy in the sphere of developing tourism sector of Uzbekistan and its perspectives for the next 5-10 years", the president of the International Organization "Tourism and Ecotourism is the important factor of a stable development", the director of Bureau of international youth tourism and cooperation "Kelajal Tour" on theme: "Involving potential of youth in developing tourism industry of Uzbekistan" and the manager of private tourism firm "Edem Travel" on theme: "Obstacles for development of the sector and the ways of overcoming them".

During the Business Forum, it took place discussions on such important issues as arranging visa issues for foreign tourists, licensing and certification of tourism companies, taxation, border-crossing and customs regulations, logistics of tourism, the market of air passengers’ transportation and other issues that are interesting for participants. Furthermore, participants had the opportunity to exchange their views and present specific recommendations on developing tourism sector of Uzbekistan.

The outcomes and conclusions of the forum should enable both government agencies and private sector to consolidate their further efforts in developing this sector of the country’s economy.