Uzbekistan will replace the vacant niche of Turkey and Egypt
An eight-day tour to the Central Asian country for two people, excluding airfare and meals Full Board, will cost $661
On the tide of the crisis of the tourism industry Uzbekistan has decided to occupy the vacant niche and has being actively presented its tourist potential to the Russians during the year. The correspondent of Realnoe Vremya has attended one of such events in the framework of which Uzbekistan tour operators established contacts with Tatarstan colleagues and has found out how the issue with Turkey and Egypt has affected the number of tourists from the former Soviet Republic, if it is ready to replace them and how much an eight-day tour to Uzbekistan will cost. Details – in the report of Realnoe Vremya.
Pilaf, ancient cities and madrasah where Akhmat Kadyrov studied
For the previous year, the representatives of tour industry of Uzbekistan have already shown their strengths in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Kaliningrad, Saratov and Ekaterinburg. As a chairperson of Association of Uzbekistan private tour companies Nabizhon Kasimov told, they are going to Novosibirsk, Krasnodar and Barnaul.
'We are trying to choose those cities that have direct flights – they are 15 Russian cities,' explained Kasimov. 'Mostly, we have tourists from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad. But we have few tourists from Kazan, that's why we are here.'
In the presentation of tourist attractiveness of Uzbekistan the main emphasis was made on the monuments of ancient culture. For example, the Registan square in Samarkand, dated XV century, medieval Ulugh Bek Observatory and Gur-e-Amir mausoleum of the Asian conqueror Tamerlane. Also, tourists are invited to visit the Green city-garden of Shahrisabz, where are the mosque Kok-Gumbaz and the Palace Ak-Saray.
According to representatives of Uzbekistan tourist community, our tourists may be interested in one of the oldest cities in the world – Bukhara, where a large number of mosques and shrines of many Islamic saints are concentrated.
'Our tourist destination can be popular among Muslims — Uzbekistan has a rich Islamic heritage. They can visit the burial places of great Islamic thinkers – it is called Hajj. Many Muslims from other countries come to us – Malaysians, Indonesians and so on. Uzbekistan is generally considered to be the center of Islamic education — in Bukhara there is madrasah, where the Supreme mufti of Russia and the father of Ramzan Kadyrov studied,' told Kasimov. But the guest from sunny Uzbekistan, of course, did not know that the first two of Tatarstan's muftis also studied here, and Gusman Iskhakov was a classmate of Kadyrov-senior.
Another 'trump card' is the city of Termez, where you can see cave paintings and ancient buildings. Besides, the hotel offers a special rate for culinary tourism – the Uzbek cuisine is the richest cuisine of Central Asia, also this country produces various sweet wines.
Replacement of Turkey and Egypt?
The representative of the Uzbekistan Airways Rimma Kuzmina offered to host the event under the motto 'Uzbekistan will replace Egypt and Turkey for Tatarstan'. However, the chairperson of the Association of Uzbekistan private tour companies told the correspondent of Realnoe Vremya that he adheres to a slightly different position.
'We are not trying to become a full replacement of Turkey and Egypt, although our historical monuments are comparable with the ancient pyramids – they are the same age. About 50 strongholds in Uzbekistan dated to the fifth century BC, and still preserved in good condition,' commented Nabizhon Kasimov.
According to our interlocutor, Uzbekistan is positioning itself exclusively as domestic tourism for Russians. The lack of visa regime, direct flights and no language barrier must make this country attractive to tourists.
We would like to note that the price attractiveness of the region is still doubtful. For example, an eight-day tour for two 'Tashkent — Urgench — Khiva — Bukhara — Samarkand — Tashkent' with accommodation in a three star hotel, excluding flights and meals Full Board, will cost 661$, which is comparable to the tour price in pre-crisis Turkey, all-inclusive.
The crisis 'presented' Uzbekistan 48% growth in number of tourists
According to Nabizhon Kasimov, the work on the development of Uzbekistan tourism began shortly before the crisis, but the growing interest in this destination by the Russians began immediately after the onset of 'hard times'. For example, last year the growth of tourist flow in Uzbekistan was about 10%.
'If you look at the statistics over the past three months – that's December of last year and January, February of this year, we have an increasing number of Russian tourists by 48% in compare with the prior comparable period. Events in Egypt and Turkey also played its roles,' told Kasimov.
According to the speaker, despite the fact that now the crisis is observed in all spheres and all over the world, tourism will always be the potential for the development. Due to that reason the chairperson of the Association of Uzbekistan private tour companies makes optimistic forecasts for 2015.
'Now, our airline and tour operators are trying to adapt to the conditions and make special economy tours for guests. Hotels also make concessions. I think the number of tourists will not decrease,' summed up Kasimov.