Uzbek tourist industry
BEFORE AND AFTER INDEPENDENCE
TENDENCIES IN UZBEK TOURISM
In Uzbekistan, tourism has always been regarded as the most efficient sector of the national economy. Oriental amicability, developed infrastructure, abundance of unique historical, religious and natural monuments couldn’t but create certain auspicious prerequisites for its dynamic development. And small wonder, then, that in Soviet times, Central Asia in general and Uzbekistan in particular attracted many tourists from the European part of the USSR and even from the Caucasus, which was rightfully considered to the health-resort paradise. The formation and development of the Great Silk Road, dating back to the 3rd millennium B.C., are universally viewed as the main historical prerequisites for the development of tourism in Uzbekistan.
In an effort to maintain the country’s image as a hospitable and cordial nation, and preceding from the available potentialities of the Uzbek economy, the Government devoted particular attention to developing the industry of hospitability. It should be said in all fairness that this was the case both before and after the acquisition of independence by Uzbekistan. Some two decades ago, the Soviet Government categorized Uzbekistan as a tasty morsel of the tourist “pie”.
Therefore, the history of national tourism should be broken down into 2 periods: before and after the country’s embarking on the path of independent development. However hard you may try to make secret of the fact, the 1st period had a strong ideological bias (friendship of peoples, support of the country’s transition from feudalism to socialism etc.). Despite its greater ideological, rather than economic, significance, the sector was backed by budgetary funds and investments made by departments, enterprises and organizations. At that time, tourism was characterized by a variety of types and vectors, as different institutions were involved in its development, including:
- organizations, whose activity had a direct bearing on tourism (the State Foreign Tourist Committee, the State Sports Committee, Ministries of Public Health and Culture, municipal services and suchlike);
- departments, which ran their own holiday homes, health-resorts and rest centers (Ministries of Defense, Internal Affairs, Industry and Agriculture etc.);
- public organizations (the communist party, VLKSM, trade unions etc.);
- cooperative organizations (kolkhozs, consumer’s unions etc.).
Such a situation in the tourist industry had its “pluses” and “minuses”. Among its negative consequences, one can mention the absence of single policy and common standards imposed on tourism as a separate sector. This, in turn, led to a number of ways, in which its management, investment and planning were carried out. The fact that each of these institutions invested in the creation of the material and technical base of tourism, thereby promoting travel, sports and leisure activities, is on the plus side of the posture of affairs in tourism in that period.
TOURISM BEFORE THE ACQUISITION OF INDEPENDENCE
According to official statistics, in 1980, there were 31 young-tourist stations in Uzbekistan, which served 48,000 children (in 1985 – 32 and 107,400 and in 1990 – 36 and 65,000, respectively). Over a decade, the number of summer pioneer camps grew from 1,417 in 1980 (with 593,500 children served) to 3,880 in 1980 (825,100 children served). So, in the Soviet period, the state paid much attention to the development of tourism for teenagers.
Let us now look at some more relevant figures. In the composition of aggregate income of workers and office employees, the share of subsidized vouchers to sanatoria, rest homes and pioneer camps reached 10.2 per cent in 1980, and 10.0 per cent – in 1990 (10.0 per cent and 11.8 per cent, correspondingly, for farmers). On the other hand, a significant portion of the population’s expenses on tourism and health-improving services was covered from public consumption funds, which heightened the importance of social tourism in Uzbekistan. For instance, in 1980, 778.2 million Rubles were paid from public consumption funds for free medical service, treatment in sanatoria and health resorts and physical training. In 1988 and 1990, this indicator was 1,25 billion Rubles and 1,58 billion Rubles, correspondingly.
Moreover, in 1990, the per capita indicator of tourist and excursion services came to 6.4 Rubles, cultural services – 4.2 Rubles, physical training and sports – 0.4 Rubles and health-improving and resort – 2.2 Rubles. All in all, in the composition of paid services, the share of tourism and excursions amounted to 4.9 per cent in 1989 and 4.6 per cent in 1990 (physical training and sports – 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent, health improving and resort treatment – 1.6 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively).
It should be noted that in 1980, the state social insurance’s expenses on treatment of workers and office employees in sanatoria and resorts ran at 26.1 million Rubles, in 1985 – 36.8 million Rubles, in 1990 – 60.5 million Rubles; on servicing of children in pioneer camps and their pre-school and extra-school education – 8.8 million Rubles, 18.8 million Rubles and 21.8 million Rubles, correspondingly. The total amount appropriated from the state budget of the Uzbek SSR was 918.3 million Rubles in 1980 and 1.62 billion Rubles in 1990.
No less dynamic and impressing are indicators characterizing the Republic’s hospitality industry in the final decade of Soviet power. (See Table 1).
In 1990, as many as 2,01 million workers and their family members underwent treatment and rested in sanatoria and health resorts, holiday hotels and rest centers. Of these, 1.6 million people enjoyed a long-term treatment and rest, with the remaining 413,500 – resting within 1-2 days. At the same time, the number of those who took part in excursions was 7.26 million in 1990, compared with 4.07 million a decade ago. In summer, approximately 900,000 children and teenagers rested in pioneer and school camps, tourist centers and country-cottages.
According to some estimates, in the period 1985-1989, the volume of domestic and regional tourism in Uzbekistan made it possible to encompass 1.4-1.6 million people, with foreign tourists accounting for 130,000-180,000. In 1992, the country’s tourist industry offered foreign visitors only 27 types of services. To compare, in Turkey, Italy and Spain, this figure ranged from 250 to 400. It is clear that, the scope of Uzbek tourism was limited. The main reason for such a limitation lied in the planned system of management and the socialist form of economy.
A sharp transition in the mid-1980s to the policy of regional self-financing and disintegration of economic links, inflation, collapse of the Soviet state that followed, and as a result, a complicated political situation in Central Asia caused a lingering crisis and stagnation, in which the tourist industry of Uzbekistan found itself since 1990. It is necessary to observe in this context that the same fate overtook other sectors of the national economy as well. The number of foreign tourists coming to visit the Republic plummeted 4-5-fold, according to some tallies. The country’s tourist potential was used at no more than 6 per cent, with the average per-tourist profit not exceeding US $12 per day. To attract tourists, services were often offered at reduced rates. Although the domestic hotel resources in that period were quite scarce, they met corresponding international standards. By the end of 1992, almost 50 per cent of tourist facilities in Uzbekistan were loss-making or of little profit. What’s more, both the shares of inter-republic exchange and domestic tourism started to shrink. The number of national parks, nature reserves and shooting areas, involved in tourism, decreased from 13 in 1980 to 10 in 1990, with their acreage diminishing from 272.100 ha to 239.900 ha. This produced severe impacts on the ecological types of recreation and natural tourism.
Before the acquisition of independence, tourism in Uzbekistan, as all other industries of the national economy, was toughly regulated by central authorities. The main centers of tourist activity in the USSR included the Caucasus, the Crimea, the Baltic states, the historical centers of Russia and Central Asia. In that period, the historical significance of numerous architectural , archeological and cultural monuments and natural sights of Uzbekistan were not advertised. Hence a low demand for them on the part of overseas tourists. In Soviet times, tourism represented one of the elements of cultural work designed to perform certain ideological functions. Notwithstanding the latter’s dominant role in tourist activity, the sector’s funding was not given a priority and its economic significance was low.
There are several reasons why the tourist industry remains underdeveloped in Uzbekistan. Insufficient attention to tourism as a separate economic sector is the main reason for such a slow progress. This means a lack of complex prognostication, long-term planning and territorial organization of tourism, as well as disregard for non-governmental tour operators. Another obstacle in the way of the sector’s sustainable development seems to be the non-recognition by local authorities of tourist activity as a priority economic direction, in spite of the fact that a lion’s share of revenues derived therefrom goes to the local budget.
With the acquisition of independence, Uzbekistan set the stage for the restoration of the nation’s historical and cultural heritage and regulation of tourist activity. “Tourism affords ample opportunity to cognize the world, while, at the same time, providing access to the international arena. We need to develop this important sector and to capitalize upon its vast potentialities,- stressed the President Islam Karimov of the Republic of Uzbekistan at the session of the Khorezm Province Kengash of People’s Deputies on 16 March 1996. – Our ancient cities of Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva are 2,500-3,000 years old. They represent an enormous spiritual legacy, which could be translated into material riches and prosperity through the development of tourism. The greater the number of foreign tourists arriving in our country, the more the international community will know about Uzbekistan and the more potentialities we’ll be able to show. To materialize these plans, we need, above all, to upgrade the quality of tourist facilities, for them to be in a position to meet modern requirements and the performance criteria now demanded.
There are countries in Europe, whose territory is so small that it is not always possible to discern them on the map. However, the number of tourists they receive annually is 90-100 times as great as their population. This ensures their progressive development. As for the town of Khiva, whose 2,500th anniversary we are celebrating today, it was visited by a little more than 15,000 foreign tourists in the past four years. Such a situation cannot be explained by anything else than an inability to demonstrate our wide potentialities, feebleness and incompetence. (Newspaper “Narodnoe Slovo”, 17 March 1996). In this way, the head of the Uzbek state pointed to the problems facing the national tourist industry and an inefficient utilization of the Republic’s tourist potential.
TOURISM AFTER THE ACQUISITION OF INDEPENDENCE
As mentioned above, in the first years of Uzbekistan’s evolution as a sovereign entity, domestic tourism experienced certain difficulties, which were associated mainly with the following factors:
- transition from the centrally-planned economy to a market-oriented system of economic relationships;
- functioning as a separate industry;
- formation of a single structure, encompassing the sector’s entire resources (accommodation, transport, tour organization, personnel training and decision-making).
Meanwhile, in the space of 15 years since independence, Uzbekistan has succeeded in forming its own model of tourist activity. On the one hand, it is characterized by the number of tourist visits, while on the other, by the state of its infrastructure. Table 2 provides indicators of tourist flows in Uzbekistan compiled by the National Company Uzbektourism, customs authorities and a group of researchers from the World Trade Organization.
These data clearly indicate that the dynamic of tourist flows tended to change depending on a combination of internal and external factors. It goes without saying that a model susceptible to external determinants may lack stability. In particular, the 11 September tragic events in the US adversely affected the tourist market of Uzbekistan. Nowhere are the results more visible than in relevant statistics: in the period 1993-1999, the number of tourist visits grew at 165.1 per cent , compared with 89.5 per cent in the period 1999-2004. Overall, the growth rate reached 147.9 per cent during the 11-year period. In 2005, the Republic was visited by 241.900 foreign tourists from 117 countries.
Data are also available on the dynamic of services provided only by tourist organizations, which enjoy licences from the National Company Uzbektourism. Table 3 shows that over the 9 years under review, the volume of their services increased 11.1-fold.
The total number of Uzbek citizens going abroad in 2005 reached 380,000. The main destinations comprised Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Turkey, China, UAE, South Korea, Israel, Greece etc. As regards local tourism, 334.100 citizens of Uzbekistan visited the towns of Samarkand, Bukhara, Shakhrisabz, and Khiva, as well as the mountainous areas of Chimgan and Charvak.
Comparing the tourist-related data for the past two years, one can clearly see that the number of foreign tourists visiting the Republic in 2005 (241,900 citizens from 117 countries) is 25.9 per cent lower than the 2004 figure. Experts stress that the main countries, which provide a greater inflow of tourists to Uzbekistan, remain Austria, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Korea, the US, Russia, France and Japan. More than 90 per cent of overseas tourists visit the Republic with cognitive purposes. It should be noted in this connection that in the last few years, interest for cultural and historic tours along the Great Silk Road, religious tourism (pilgrimage) and ecological tourism is on the rise.
Additionally, the formation of tourist infrastructure is in process. There are 408 enterprises in the sector, which carry out their activity on the basis of an appropriate licence. Of these, 326 enterprises are under private ownership. In 2005, 80 organizations were granted the right to operate in the hospitality industry. Another positive tendency worth mentioning is certification of services. Services certified in accordance with this procedure not only acquire legal status, but become in line with corresponding requirements.
In keeping with the data presented by the State Statistics Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as many as 168 hotels, under different types of ownership, are now functioning in the country. Their total accommodation capacity exceeds 14,000 rooms. More than 20 medium-sized and small private hotels and guest-houses came on stream in the last 6 years.
The development of interstate linkages in the field of tourism was also on a rising trend. Last year, for example, the National Company Uzbektourism signed cooperation agreements with the leading tourist administrations of India, Poland and China. The Memorandum of bilateral cooperation was signed with the Republic of Malaysia. Besides, the Uzbek delegation took part in the work of the UN General Assembly of the World Tourist Organization (Dakar, Senegal).
What’s more, in 2005, the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan approved “List of measures to accomplish the stage-by-stage reformation of the tourist industry of Uzbekistan for the period 2006-2010”. In accordance with this document, Uzbektourism worked out a package of regulatory documents to be submitted to the Government and Parliament for consideration. These include, among others, a draft program for the development of tourist services up to the year 2010, as well as draft regional programs for the development of tourism in the Khorezm, Ferghana, Namanghan and Kashkadarya Provinces and in the Republic of Karakalpakstan for the period, in which a new version of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan, “On tourism” is in effect. Regional programs for the development of tourism in other provinces of Uzbekistan are in the making. As well as that, the classifier of tourist services was elaborated.
Interesting findings were received by the Center for Expert Estimates, Trans-Asia in respect of tourism development prospects in the Central Asian region. In accordance with the experts’ tallies, the tourist potential was more fully utilized by national tourists in Uzbekistan, and by foreign tourists in Turkmenistan (Table 4).
By the way, the Manila Declaration on World Tourism (1980) accentuates, in particular, the fact that “the share of tourism in the national economy and international trade has turned it into a pivotal indicator of global development”.
Without doubt, within the framework of one country, efficient tourist activity is conducive to a more balanced position of its economy thanks to the re-distribution of national revenues and development of industries, which are auspicious for the national economy as a whole.
Therefore, the development of foreign tourism should be accompanied by similar efforts to develop local tourism. Some estimates show that there are 8-12 local tourists per 1 overseas tourist in Uzbekistan, who use the same services, ensure employment countrywide and contribute substantially to regional budgets.
OUTLINE OF THE UZBEK MODEL
Thus, the Uzbek model of tourism, which has taken shape in the last 15 years, combines the elements of Oriental hospitality (cordiality, security, respect and esteem) and the Western-type standards of servicing (hotel and transport services, reservation, excursions, simultaneous translation etc.) Of no less importance is the fact that the Uzbek model is predetermined by the specific system of communal life that has endured the impact of urbanization processes. This communicates a certain color to the national tourist product. Local communities (makhallyas) continue to be the centers of traditions, mode of life and mentality of the Uzbek people.
Hence, it can be concluded that the Uzbek model of tourism is characterized by the following features:
- a dynamically developing services sector is steadily increasing its contribution to the nation’s GDP;
- efficient privatization and formation of a mobile private sector were conducive to turning tourism into a profit-generating industry;
- enforcement of basic laws helped create a favorable market environment, while stimulating the inflow of foreign and government investments, technologies and managerial experience to the tourist sector and infrastructure;
- an efficient personnel training system made it possible to raise the level of services offered;
- established diplomatic relations strengthened Uzbekistan’s position on the world stage and initiated much interest for the Republic on the part of Western tour operators;
- air and rail communication links were established with many tourist centers of the world;
- tourism-related agreements were signed with many countries , where tourism is an efficiently performing industry;
- a well thought-out system was introduced for organized arrival of foreign tourists in Uzbekistan.
Table 1. Number of people undergoing treatment and resting in sanatoria and rest-homes of the Uzbek SSR, thou people
Indicators 1980 1985 1988 1990
Total number (excluding 1-2-day rest) 811,3 1241,7 1497,1 1603,8
In sanatoria (fro adults and children) 95,9 140,7 170,5 175,0
In sanatoria and preventive clinics 76,8 133,0 180,4 187,8
In resort polyclinics 4,3 5,3 7,8 8,6
In rest-homes and holiday hotels 59,2 56,6 91,8 72,3
In rest centers and other rest organizations 16,2 18,1 31,6 24,1
In tourist hotels and centers 558,9 888,0 1015,0 1136,0
Table 2. Rated indicators presented by 3 tourist movement centers in Uzbekistan in the period 1993-2005
Period Uzbektourism data Customs service data Forecast data by WTO group
Total tourist number, thou Foreign tourists, thou Departure, thou Arrival, thou Tourist number, thou Profit from tourism, billion dollars
1993 332,2 92,35 - - - -
1994 309,5 60,9 - - - -
1995 305,8 92,02 - - - -
1996 368,3 173,9 - - 174 0,198
1997 484,2 252,9 954,4 1030,5 270 0,351
1998 486,2 272,0 810,5 939,8 400 0,560
1999 549,7 274,0 486,8 - 500 0,750
2000 552,8 278,0 - - 650 1,04
2001 529,9 231,4 - - 710 1,136
2002 445,5 198,1 - - 800 1,320
2003 471,4 230,4 - - - -
2004 492,4 261,6 - 287,63 - -
2005 241,9 330,13 - -
Table 3. Tendencies observed in the tourist sector of Uzbekistan in the period 1996-2004
Indicators/ Period 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Total volume of services, billion Soum 1,77 3,65 4,69 5,304 6,88 10,1 15,7 17,5 17,9
Profit, million Soum 399,1 544,5 382,3 517,6 443,0 1111,8 -166,5 150,61 -258,7
Export of services, million dollars 14,49 33,77 20,98 25,43 27,13 22,66 21,54 23,58 28,02
Table 4. Respondent opinions on the use of tourist potentialities in Central Asia (average figures)
States Use of the country’s potentialities by tourists
National Foreign
Republic of Kazakhstan 6 4
Republic of Kyrgyzstan 3 3
Republic of Tajikistan 4 1
Turkmenistan 5 7
Republic of Uzbekistan 7 5
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