Go down a mine, tour a smelting plant or see World War II-era military uniforms at the Shon-Sharaf (“Museum of Glory”) in Tashkent: Uzbekistan is touting a wide variety of new attractions as the country strives to turn itself into a major tourist destination.

Starting in January 2025, the government will launch experimental initiatives to promote geological, industrial, and even military tourism, in addition to traditional Silk Road sites. A presidential plan has been published outlining the steps to be taken by the Agency for Strategic Reforms, together with the State Tourism Committee, to develop the sector.

The bar is set high: The goal is to increase the number of foreign tourists to 15 million by 2030, more than double the 6.6 million who visited Uzbekistan in 2023. “Muynak airport [in northwestern Uzbekistan] could become a venue for extreme tourism, with parachuting and skydiving,” according to Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s vision.

In 2023, tourism generated about $2.1 billion in economic activity, and some 70,000 new jobs were created in the sector. According to the World Economic Forum, between 2019 and 2024, Uzbekistan moved up 16 places (+7.8%) in the Travel & Tourism Development Index, now ranking 78th out of 119 countries. It also came first in the 2023 Lloyd’s Register Foundation Safety Perceptions Index. 

Officials are making lofty promises. “We intend to create a Global Green Tourism Startup Lab,” said Mirziyoyev, adding that the facility will develop innovative solutions with the Central AsianGreen University outside Tashkent and the Silk Road University in Samarkand. The recent government move to place the State Tourism Committee under the authority of the Ministry of Ecology underscores Mirziyoyev’s evident desire to marry the green economy and tourism.

Marketing is a major part of the growth strategy. Deals have been struck with the BBC, CNN, and Euronews to promote the country as a promising tourist destination, according to local media reports. Promotion arrangements are also being negotiated with streaming services, such as Netflix, along with major holiday concerns, including Chinese travel agency Trip.com, and Dubai's Holiday Factory. To attract the notice of younger travelers, Uzbekistan is courting bloggers, vloggers, and social media influencers with over 10 million followers: 50 of them will be invited to travel around the country at government expense. 

To loosen things up financially, officials are willing to open credit lines through commercial banks for local tour operators. A one-stop shopping website for air, train, bus, and other tickets is expected to be launched in December, aiming to ease logistical bottlenecks.

Extended stopovers in Tashkent seem to be the latest trend for passengers traveling to Bangkok, Seoul, Delhi, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur from Europe. This is largely due to the visa-free policy adopted by Mirziyoyev’s cabinet as part of his stated intention to “fundamentally change the geo-economy of the region.” As of May 2024, citizens of more than 90 countries can visit Uzbekistan without a visa. Cross-border traffic with neighboring countries, including Kyrgyzstan, has also become less cumbersome.

To date, the lack of English-language services and tourist-friendly infrastructure in smaller cities has presented perhaps the biggest challenge to expanding the tourism sector. Double-digit inflation has added an element of economic volatility for local entrepreneurs.

But from a broader perspective, the weather and the country’s Silk Road heritage are big assets that Mirziyoyev’s administration hopes to capitalize on. To make the country more tourist friendly, the government sees a need to embrace digitalization. 

“In order to increase the attractiveness of Uzbekistan in the tourism sector and improve the awareness of tourists, it is necessary to equip tourist destinations with modern navigation and orientation systems,” the presidential decree states. “This includes digital and interactive systems such as signs, banners, electronic maps and mobile applications that will help tourists navigate easily and get all the information they need.”