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Uzbekistan welcomes more Iranian tourists: Minister
Abdukhakimov, who is also the minister of tourism and cultural heritage of the country thanked the Iranian government on removing visa requirements for Uzbek nationals to visit Iran noting that “Now, Uzbek citizens can very easily visit Iran to enjoy the Iranian cultural heritage and Iranian resorts.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 12th session of the Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers (ICTM) in Khiva in Khorazm Region on June 2, he said that Iranian government put a lot of efforts to develop a touristic sector.
“We have already discussed the issue to eliminate the visa requirements for Iranian citizens and the discussions are still underway. Of course, it takes time before we should solve some technical issues. For us, Iranian tourists, are very important,” the Uzbek minister stated.
In the conference in Khiva, we discussed many issues related to digitalization of tourism, preserving cultural heritage, green tourism, ecological tourism, sustainable and resilient tourism as well as the future of tourism, he noted.
“In general, I can say this event was very successful. We had a very fruitful and productive discussion with my colleagues from different countries, bilateral and the multilateral. But as you know, it’s just our initial steps.”
There is a huge potential to develop tourism among Muslim countries, the minister said adding that as a chair country, we propose to establish a financial fund, which will help us to finance big projects aim to develop big touristic projects.
He went on to explain that the project contains constructing touristic complexes, which will include not only hotels or restaurants, but also some cultural heritage and the cultural institutions like museums and galleries.
We are committed to collaborate and cooperate with all Muslim countries to develop so-called Ziarat tourism (visiting religious sites) which allow us to visit the travelers and the pilgrims from all Muslim countries to visit the holy places in different countries, including Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan hosted seven million tourists in 2023 as the country expects 10 million tourists for the current year, he said elsewhere in his remarks putting Uzbekistan’s target for 2030 to attract at least 15 million visitors.
At the 12th session of the Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers (ICTM) in Khiva, it was announced that Dakar (the capital of Senegal) will become a tourist city of the Islamic world in 2025, Cairo, the capital of Egypt in 2026, and Lahore of Pakistan in 2027. Tabriz, in northwestern Iranian province of East Azarbaijan was named as the capital of Islamic tourism 2018 by the ICTM.
The 13th session of the Islamic Conference of Ministers of Tourism will be held in Qatar in 2026.