The golden ring of KhorezmA NEW TOURIST PRODUCT International organizations and travel agencies are currently preparing a program to develop a hospitality industry in Uzbekistan's Khorezm and Karakalpakstan provinces under the brand name "The Golden Ring of Khorezm." For this purpose MBM Group has conducted a study to order of the Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association (IIZ/DVV) within the UNESCO program to develop tourism and increase the income of residents of the Aral Sea region. The study aimed at revealing the region's problems and involving local human resources in the development of a sustainable tourist infrastructure. CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL POTENTIAL The Khorezm and Karakalpakstan provinces have many natural, historical, and architectural monuments to attract ethnographic and ecology tourists. The Khorezm region alone has 300 monuments left by civilizations of thousands years ago. The region was part of the ancient Great Silk Road that encouraged the building of cultural and religious objects here. In recent years the region's tourist potential has increased due to the appearance of some new objects, including the Savitsky museum in Nukus displaying unique masterpieces of Uzbek, Russian, and Soviet avant-garde painting. The shrinking Aral Sea also attracts tourists who visit the local ship cemetery. TOURIST INFRASTRUCTURE The existing tourist infrastructure of Khorezm and Karakalpakstan does not meet the region's potential. The reasons are a lack of investments, problems with freshwater supply and health care, the ecological disaster of the shrinking Aral Sea, the low standard of living of the population, and underdeveloped transport communications. TOURIST SERVICE The study assessed the quality of tourist services in the above regions and Uzbekistan in general. Catering services caused dissatisfaction with 30-40 percent of the respondents, and only 5-15 percent were satisfied with the catering quality. TRAINING SPECIALISTS FOR TOURIST INDUSTRY The study is aimed at determining spheres for training specialists for the tourist industry. The most needed spheres are tourist management, foreign languages, marketing, chambermaid and waiter service, restaurant business, accounting, and organization of tourist business and relevant legislation. © Copyright: Алишер Таксанов, 2009.
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