TASHKENT/JAN. 7 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan will throw open its doors to millions of more potential tourists from Feb. 1 after the government decreed that citizens of 45 developed countries can enter without a visa.

By scrapping visa requirements Uzbekistan hopes to give tourism a major boost and also to signal that the country is open for foreign investors. It also comes less than a week after Uzbekistan dropped exit visas for its citizens, a move set into motion by a decree signed by Pres. Shavkat Mirziyoyev in 2017.

Mr Mirziyoyev has been Uzbekistan’s president since September 2016 when he took over from the reclusive and authoritarian Islam Karimov. Karimov had ruled for 25 years since the breakup of the Soviet Union until a heart attack killed him. Under Karimov, Uzbekistan had been closed off and it had been difficult and expensive for both tourists and people on business trips to get visas.

Citizens from a handful of countries, including Russia and other Former Soviet countries had already had visa-free access to Uzbekistan. That has now been extended to include European countries, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Brazil.

Israelis, Indonesians, Japanese, Malaysians, South Koreans, Turks and citizens of Singapore were given visa-free access in 2018.

Last year, Uzbekistan attracted 5.3m tourists, up from 2.6m in 2017. That number is now expected to boom with tourists flocking to see fabled sights such as the Registan in Samarkand and Bukhara, regarded as the best-preserved of the old khanate towns.

Tour operators welcomed the removal of the visa system although there were also words of caution.

Caroline Eden, co-author of the travel and cookbook Samarkand, said excessive development will backfire.

“The risk is that the infrastructure will not cope. Sites at Bukhara and Samarkand are so precious that a steady and measured approach would be wisest.,” She said.
“A rush to build hotels, little trains around monuments and too many tour buses will ruin the very appeal of this marvellous country.”
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019