The decision was adopted at the 98th session of the Executive Committee of the UNWTO, which was held in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on 4-6 June 2014. The selection of venue was made on open voting and all members of the UNWTO Executive Committee voted for Samarkand.

The UNWTO Executive Director Zoltan Samogyi announced that Samarkand will host next session of the Executive Committee during international tourism fair ITB-2014 in Berlin. But the voting was needed to make the decision official.

Uzbektourism said that holding the 99th session of the UNWTO in Uzbekistan, in ancient Samarkand, will be important event for all region.