The head of the Federal Tourism Agency Zarina Doguzova paid a working visit to Uzbekistan, where she held talks with the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Tourism and Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Uzbekistan Aziz Abdukhakimov on mutual stimulation of tourist trips between the countries. During the visit, Zarina Doguzova also took part in the meeting of the heads of tourism administrations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states and the work of the SCO International Tourism Forum.
During negotiations with the Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Tourism and Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Uzbekistan Aziz Abdukhakimov said that by the end of 2022, Russia and Uzbekistan will exceed the docovid indicators for the tourist flow, which in 2019 amounted to more than 520 thousand trips. According to the forecast of the Federal Tourism Agency, this year the mutual tourist flow may grow by 20-30 percent and reach 700 thousand people. Uzbekistan's popularity among Russian tourists has already grown significantly – according to the results of the May holidays, Uzbekistan entered the top three most popular destinations of foreign holidays for Russians.
In the medium term, Rostourism, according to Zarina Doguzova, expects a multiple increase in the tourist flow between the countries, which in the future 3-5 years may reach the level of 2 million tourist trips per year. According to Zarina Doguzova, the current visa-free regime and the lifting of all restrictions on direct flights between Russia and Uzbekistan are already contributing to the growth of tourist flows.
"Today Uzbekistan is, in fact, the most developed air route in the entire post-Soviet space: according to our estimates, the number of bilateral flights per week reaches 100. This is more than, for example, to Egypt, or the UAE. Moreover, the route network is also wide — flights are carried out from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi and other regions to Tashkent, Samarkand," Zarina Doguzova stressed.
In the future, cooperation in the field of tourism between the countries will develop on a systematic basis. To this end, Russia and Uzbekistan have prepared and signed an action plan at the government level to create conditions for increasing mutual tourist flow. The document outlines the areas of joint work agreed upon by Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The document provides for the development of bilateral business contacts, the improvement of the transport and logistics sector, the creation of new tourist routes, etc. At a meeting with Aziz Abdukhakimov, Zarina Doguzova voiced Russia's interest in launching tourist charters between the countries and jointly developing cross-border tourist routes. Rostourism has already started working on new charter destinations and tourist routes with colleagues from Uzbekistan.
During a trip to Uzbekistan Zarina Doguzova also took part in the meeting of the heads of tourism administrations of the SCO member states, where she discussed industry issues and initiatives with colleagues. During her speech at the plenary session, Zarina Doguzova stressed that the tourism space of the SCO member states is becoming one of the key areas of the work of Rostourism.
Before the pandemic in 2019, the tourist flow from the SCO countries to Russia amounted to about 6.6 million trips (27% of the total inbound flow), the Russian flow to the SCO countries – 6.2 million (13% of the total outbound flow). In 2021, due to covid restrictions, Russia received no more than 1 million tourists from the SCO countries and our citizens also made about 1 million trips to the SCO countries. According to Zarina Doguzova: "Russia relies on the development of international tourism with the SCO member states. The population of the region exceeds 3.4 billion people, and the tourist product is extremely diverse and unique. In addition, Russia has developed air links with the SCO countries, facilitated visa regimes, opportunities for using national payment systems and centuries-old good-neighborly relations. We hope to restore mutual tourist flows with the SCO countries to doc–like indicators in the coming years, and in the future we see prospects for doubling the mutual tourist flow."
Following the meeting of the heads of tourism administrations of the SCO member states, agreements were reached on the priorities for the development of SCO domestic tourism, which involves the development of a single SCO tourism brand, the launch of new cross-border routes, further expansion of the use of national payment systems, mutual promotion, etc. All these directions are reflected in the developed draft intergovernmental agreement in tourism, which is planned to be signed during the upcoming Summit of the SCO Heads of state this autumn.
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