Publication Details
Abstract
The tourism industry in Uzbekistan is developing, but encumbered by broken governance, lack of digital infrastructure, and lack of professional training. This work finds an essential hole in institutional consistency and suggests the creation of the Ministry of Tourism and designing a specialised university to systematise the process of the sector development. Leveraging on qualitative policy analysis and international benchmarking, especially the Turkish tourism model, the research shows the advantages of centralised governance and digitization. Important findings suggest the establishment of a single national tourism platform and institutional reforms to attract more investments, increase the quality of services, and make the country more competitive in the global market. The proposed digital platform would combine tourism services and domestic and inbound tourism development. Findings show that an adoptive shuffling of roles of the state, complemented by modern educational schemes and foreign associations, might exert a strong stimulus on Uzbekistan’s tourism economy. The implications point at a paradigm-shift from the fragmented management to a professional sector of innovation-driven tourism with the potential to robustly support GDP, employment, and Uzbekistan’s image abroad.