Tourism in Uzbekistan

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Uzbekistan is a country with vast underused capabilities in tourism.

From ancient times, the oasis cities of Central Asia, being the main points of trade on the Great Silk Road linking Eastern and Western civilizations, served as the centers of cultural development.

The famous city of Samarkand, where the dynasty of Temurids reached its peak, the mysterious capital of Khiva, the never-fading ancient Bukhara have preserved their beauty to these, which bring the small reflection of the Great Silk Road.

Today the museums of Uzbekistan store over 2 million artifacts - evidence of the unique historical, cultural and spiritual life of the people that have resided in the Central Asian region for more than 7,000 years.

Uzbekistan attracts tourists with its historical, archeological, architectural and natural treasures.

Tourist activities in Uzbekistan range from outdoor activities, such as rock-climbing, to exploration of its rich archeological and religious history.

In 2005, 240,000 tourists from 117 coutries visted Uzbekistan. The industry earned US$30 million (90.9% of forecast). Overall, the tourism sector served 621,700 people and rendered services for 40.6 billion soums (73.1% of forecast). The industry earned 598.4 million soums. Each autumn, the Uzbek travel industry holds an International Tourism Fair.

Uzbekistan is located on the Great Silk Road and many neighboring countries (including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan) promote their products based on their location along the Great Silk Road.

The World Tourism Organization's Silk Road Office was opened in 2004 in Samarkand. This office was commissioned to coordinate the efforts of international organisations and national tourism offices of countries located on the Silk Road.

Contents 1 Climate and natural advantages 2 Mountaineering, hiking and rock-climbing 3 Architectural and historical sights 4 Tourism in Khorezm Province and Karakalpakstan 5 Wildlife areas in the desert and other attractions on nomadic ways 6 Religious tourism 7 Dental Tourism 8 Accessibility of the country 9 Visa 10 Registration 11 Accommodation 12 Human rights and safety 13 Photo gallery 14 External links

[edit] Climate and natural advantages

The climate and the natural conditions of Uzbekistan are among the most favorable in Central Asia. For example, the former capital of Kazakhstan, Almaty, which is 502 mi northeast of Tashkent, the average annual temperature is 5-8 degrees lower. At the same time, 804 mi southwest of Tashkent in Ashgabat, the average annual temperature is 8-10 degrees higher. The relatively temperate climate, plus the presence of irrigation water, enrich the land of Uzbekistan, which yields many fruit crops. The melons, grapes, apples, quinces, and pears of Uzbekistan have an incredibly delicious taste. The climate advantages attract mountain-skiers to the Chimgan-Beldersay area near Tashkent.

The combination of snow and mostly warm, sunny weather makes the Chimgan and Beldersay ski slopes extremely popular.

[edit] Mountaineering, hiking and rock-climbing

Uzbekistan Mountains are an attractive place for those who love active forms of tourism such as mountaineering and rock climbing. Most well-known for its ease of access from Tashkent is a highlands Chimgan located in the mountain massive of dominant Greater Chimgan peak (3,309 m) of the Chatkal range at an altitude of 1,620 m. This place serves as a commencement for many routes of hiking, climbing, horse riding, mountain skiing and hang-gliding.

[edit] Architectural and historical sights

Samarkand with its Registan, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, Gur-Emir and Shah-i-Zinda, Bukhara with its Po-i-Kalyan Complex, Ark citadel, Samanid Mausoleum and Lyabi Khauz Ensemble, and of course Khiva with its intact inner city Ichan Kala, mosques, madrasahs, minarets, walls and gates are acknowledged sites of world tourism.

The general conference of UNESCO accepted the decision of inclusion in the list of anniversaries the celebrating of 2750-th anniversary of Samarkand. Samarkand is one of pearls of East. Here are many unique monuments of culture and architecture, which are evidence of high mastery of the ancient architects. The restoration works are carrying out at the memorial complex Shah-i-Zinda. Basic principle of rebuilding of the centre of Samarkand is a preservation of monuments in their integrity. The complex of historical centre of the town is included in the list of a world heritage of UNESCO under the name "Samarkand is an intersection of world culture".

Though Tashkent is often overlooked in the search for the Silk Road oasis towns of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, for the traveler there is much besides this to be seen. Today one can visit such striking sights as Mausoleum of Sheikh Zaynudin Bobo and the Sheihantaur or Mausoleum of Zangiata.

[edit] Tourism in Khorezm Province and Karakalpakstan

Ancient Khiva is one of three most important tourism centers of Uzbekistan with great historical cultural and ethnographic potential. The territory of the Khorezm Province and Karakalpakstan is strewn with plenty of natural, historic, architectural and archeological sites. The Khorezm Province itself possesses near to 300 historic monuments.

In the last few years, the tourism potential at the region was improved with some new facilities and attractions. One of them is the Savitsky Museum in the town of Nukus, which houses a collection of unique works of avant-gardism. The museum also has amazing regional collection. A number of ecological tours are organized to the ship cemetery located in Muynak area along what has once been the coastline of the Aral Sea.

In 2005 Khorezm was visited by 43,000 tourists, of which foreigners accounted for 19,700. The majority of them came from countries such as France, Germany, Israel, Great Britain, Australia and Japan. The visitors of Khiva were mostly at the age of 50-70 (46%); about 21% of tourists were of the age 30-40. 32% of the visitors of Khorezm was independent travelers, that received visa support from local travel agencies.

After the modernization of the airport in Urgench it received international status. Now it corresponds to the first category of ICAO.

[edit] Wildlife areas in the desert and other attractions on nomadic ways

Desert fauna of Kyzyl Kum includes many kinds of rare animals. There is a Kyzyl Kum nature reserve at the flood-land (tugai) drained by the Amu-Darya. Another reserve (eco-centre)"Djeyran" is located 40 km to the south of Bukhara.

The region of the Aydar Lake is an area of great potential for fishing, yurting and camel-back riding tourist activities.

In addition to fauna common for Kyzyl Kum, there are many kinds of water birds migrating from Aral Sea that make their homes around the lake. Many sorts of fish were introduced to the Aydar Lake, which nowadays works as a source of industrial fishing.

Another point of interest the Sarmish Gorge (Better known as Sarmishsay) is located on the southern slopes of the Karatau mountain range, 30-40 km to the north-east of the city of Navoi (Kermine) in Uzbekistan. This place is famous for various ancient monuments of anthropogenic activity concentrated in an area of about 20 sq km. The sights include flint quarries, mines, old settlements, burial mounds, crypts and petroglyphs, including monuments of the Middle Ages, early Iron Age, Bronze Age and even Stone Age. There are over 4,000 petroglyphs still intact in Sarmishsay. Since ancient times this territory has been a sacred zone, where locals performed their sacred ceremonies on holy days.

[edit] Religious tourism

Recently, a large number of Western tourists have been visiting Uzbekistan because of their religious-based interest.

The followers of Sufism know that dozens of historical sights of Islam such as Mausoleum of Sheikh Zaynudin Bobo, Sheihantaur and Mausoleum of Zangiata in Tashkent or Bakhauddin Ensemble, Bayan-Quli Khan Mausoleum, Saif ed-Din Bokharzi Mausoleum and many others monuments in Bukhara are related to Sufism.

Although Uzbekistan is a country with predominantly Islamic roots, it is generally known that the Church began in Asia. Its earliest history and first centers were Asian. The Nestorian Church, which was one of the widespread communities of early Eastern Christianity, began on Uzbekistan soil. Those tracks still can be found in the art and other parts of the cultural environment. According to historical explorations in Bukhara, before it was captured (early 8th century) by the Arabs, the Christian temple stood at the eastern gate.

One of the components of so called Evangelical Christianity in Central Asia became German Mennonites. They migrated to Russia because of their pacifist convictions. Russian Government promised to release them from military service. This promise was kept until 1880, when Russian Emperor Alexander II had signed the decree that made all males of Mennonites liable for call-up to military service in Russian army. The way out of the impasse was found when one of the Mennonites' leaders German Yantcen met the governor-general of Turkestan general Von Kaufman in Saint-Petersburg. Kaufman, German itself, invited Mennonites to Russian Turkestan. He promised to release them from taxes and from military service for 25 years. In that way Mennonites arrived to Sary-Agach village (about 20 northward of Tashkent). With time they widely settled at different places between Vyernyi (Alma-Ata) and Khiva. One of Mennonites even used to be a translator at court of Khiva Khan.

The first Baptist congregations in Uzbekistan were started at the close of the 19th century at small towns near to Tashkent (Gazalkent, Karabog, Iskander) where the population were mostly consisted of the colonists from Russia. The extant Gazalkent Baptist congregation is oldest in Uzbekistan.

The oldest Tashkent Baptist congregation was started in 1905 from the group of the military. To our time, this congregation is the largest in Uzbekistan (about 600 members). The Baptist Union had been set up in Uzbekistan in 1925. Today the Baptist Union in Uzbekistan unifies near 30 congregations throughout the country that consist of nearly 1800 believers.

There are also large number of congregations of the Pentecostal denomination.

Lately many protestant churches were started among Koreans, who also live in Uzbekistan.

[edit] Dental Tourism

Lately many modern dental clinics were established in Uzbekistan. They provide patients with high quality dentistry services. But for all that, prices here much cheaper in comparison with Western and Russian clinics.

Uzbekistan dental clinics use high quality dentistry equipment (such as panoramic pantomograph, which allows taking the shot of all 32 teeth, making a digital x-ray, which can be immediately shown on the computer monitor), high quality materials and effective anesthetics.

The clinics provide prophylaxis, treatment, cleaning, polishing of teeth, irrigation and massage of gums, treatment of tooth canal under the control of digital x-ray apparatus. As a result of restoration, practically any defect can be removed: the color and form are identical to original healthy tooth. The prosthesis of teeth is done using primarily metal-ceramic and effective clasp dental prostheses that use special joints.

[edit] Accessibility of the country

Most travel involves entering and leaving Uzbekistan through Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan. The city is serviced by an international airport, a domestic airport, two Vokzals (train stations), and numerous bus stations. Tashkent is serviced by Uzbekistan Airways, British Airways, Asiana Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Transaero, Aeroflot, Domodedovo Airlines, Air Kazakhstan and Pakistan Airways.

Three more airports of Uzbekistan have international status. Those airports are of Samarkand, Bukhara and Urgench. Besides local flights and some regular international flights (not numerous), the charter flights on demand of local and foreign tourist agencies fly in/out of those airports.

The tickets for domestic flights cannot be reserved or purchased until 14 days prior to departure due to the specific rules of Uzbekistan airlines.

Uzbekistan Airways transported more than 1.7 million passengers in 2005

Currently, Uzbekistan Airways works on updating its aircraft fleets, changing old dates Soviet-made aircrafts.

Uzbekistan Airways has 13 western-made aircrafts, including seven Boeing aircrafts, three A-310 and three RJ-85.

At the end of 2005 year at the Tashkent airport had put into operation a new arrival hall of local airlines. The new hall meets the modern requirements. Its technical equipment allows to serve up to 600 passenger per day. The new system of the automatized registration improved a quality and culture of passengers' service.

[edit] Visa

Every traveller must receive a visa for entry to Uzbekistan before arrival. Anyone will be refused entry without a visa. The only exception is if you are arriving from a country that does not have an Uzbek embassy or consulate. In this case, if one follow the correct procedure for obtaining a visa (apply before arrival and receive an invitation), it is possible to receive a visa at the Tashkent Airport. To obtain tourist visa foreign nationals of the most countries need visa support from a local travel agency.

There is regulations such as resolution "On simplification of visa procedures for Italian citizens" of the Cabinet of Ministers dated 19 February 2003 No.85. The resolution allows The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan to issue multi-entry visas for one month to citizens of Italian Republic visiting Uzbekistan as tourists within two working days without visa support of Uzbektourism or other tourist organizations. It was announced, that the same procedure covers citizens of France, Latvia, Great Britain, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, Germany and Belgium, although for reasons not clearly explained, is not always put into practice.

Uzbektourism is a huge monopolist, which in fact aspires to control the whole industry. Many of the tourists choose services of Uzbektourism because this establishment has a firm reputation. But there are many experienced and trustworthy private travel agencies in Uzbekistan. At the beginning of year 2006, 408 local enterprises had a license for operation in tourism, 326 of them are private. Some of the travel agencies specialize in "special interest" tourism, such as adventures, mountain hikes, culture and customs, Uzbekistan cheap travel and even Christian life and fellowship.

On occasion, the MFA denies an application for a visa without an explanation, but this is rare.

[edit] Registration

Registration is essential and unavoidable. The general rule is one must be registered within 72 hours of entering the country. Every tourist as a rule must be registered at hotel. It is illegal to stay in someone's house without registration in OVVIG (Office of Visas and Registration). With a business visa one can be registered anywhere and company that invites usually takes care of all the details. All hotels must provide guests with registration. The hotels must provide with a registration card. Do not lose this card. One must keep this in order to present at passport control when leaving the country.

[edit] Accommodation

There are many new palaces, private inns, B&Bs and small hostels that had been recently constructed at the country. These accommodations are not of the kind of soviet fashion hotels, but the modern inns of present-day Uzbekistan. Most of them are private. The existence in itself of such hotels became possible only when soviet regime fell. The accommodations list constantly widens with the new members.

[edit] Human rights and safety

The human rights record of Uzbekistan reflects its status as a nominal democracy that has frequently been described as a police state (see main article, Human rights in Uzbekistan). Though the political variancies of a nation has little to do with whether it has tourist spots, the dangers, however, of any insecurity should be duly noted.

Uzbekistan appears before the tourists as probably the most organized of all the former Soviet Republics. There are police on every corner, every station, every bus stop, every bazaar, every traffic light, almost everywhere. The police structure is alive and well and for good reason. Anti government activity and Islamic fundamentalism have resulted in stricter controls. Nevertheless, tourists have little to fear from most people. Petty theft is alive and well, so be sure to be streetwise. Women travelers should not walk around alone at night but it is safe to walk the streets in groups.

Some will perhaps be questioned by police late at night, but they are generally not out to harass foreign tourists. Usually they are concerned that if something happens to a foreigner, they themselves will be reprimanded and punished.

[edit] Photo gallery

Chimgan - "12 Keys" Ski-Club	The Mausoleum of Sheikh Zaynudin in Tashkent.	Kalyan Minaret that rises above the Bukhara city in the form of a huge vertical pillar.	Bukhara Samanides' Mausoleum
The cupola of Bibi-Khanym Mosque, Bukhara	Yung rock climber	The portrait of Uzbeki girl	Baptist congregation of Tashkent

More photos of Uzbekistan Nature Portraits Walking tours Environment

[edit] External links

• Uzbekistan travel guide from Wikitravel
• Uzbekistan country and tourism News RSS 2.0 (XML) RSS
• Khiva. Illustrated list of sights with description
• Savitsky Museum in the town of Nukus
• Uzbekistan tour organizer
• Dental Tourism
• Uzbekistanian Cuisine
• Photos of Uzbekistan