Publication Details
Abstract
Cultural tourism has become a strategic driver of economic development in emerging destinations; however, its sustainability increasingly depends on effective service quality management. Despite Uzbekistan’s rich cultural heritage and rapid growth in tourism flows, empirical evidence on the institutional and operational factors shaping service quality remains limited. This study addresses this knowledge gap by examining the institutional and practical challenges of managing service quality in Uzbekistan’s cultural tourism sector. Using a mixed-methods research design that integrates policy document analysis, semi-structured interviews with key tourism stakeholders, and a structured survey of tourism enterprises, the study provides a comprehensive assessment of governance structures, human capital conditions, and implementation practices. The findings reveal that fragmented institutional arrangements, weak enforcement of quality standards, insufficient workforce skills, and misalignment between policy objectives and service delivery outcomes significantly constrain service quality performance. The results highlight that service quality challenges are structural rather than enterprise-specific and are deeply embedded in governance and institutional capacity limitations. The study implies that sustainable improvement in cultural tourism competitiveness requires coordinated institutional reforms, strengthened quality assurance mechanisms, and targeted investment in human capital development. These insights contribute to tourism economics literature by contextualizing service quality management within a transitional institutional environment and offering evidence-based guidance for policymakers and industry stakeholders.