ABSTRACT
As the biggest double landlocked country in the world, Uzbekistan appears poorly understood as a tourism destination around the globe. The country is still perceived as remote and unprepared for tourism along with other “stans” of Central Asia. In the past it appeared to be hidden behind the walls of Soviet Union. In the third decade of independence, the country has been able to adapt to the market economy, where tourism is now seen as one of the fastest growing industries. With more than four hundred thousand visitors a year, travelling with tourism purposes only, there are 41 200 number of beds spread around the country (National Statistics Committee of Republic of Uzbekistan, 2018), it is home for around 2000 UNESCO cultural heritage sites.
This paper introduces Uzbekistan’s full potential as an attractive tourist destination. It demonstrates the political and economic impacts, including an observation of rapid changes as the result of recent reforms. The chapter proposes ways of avoiding environmental and technological degradation by focusing on cultural and historical values in order to create the mechanism of sustainable growth and prosperity.
