Section 17. Economics and management

981
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1035
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1138
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1995г. 1997г. 1999г. 2001г. 2003г. 2005г. 2007г. 2009г. 2011г. 2012г. 2013г. 2014г. 2015г.
Figure 1. Dynamics of the tourist arrivals in the world during the period of 1995–2015 (million people)
Tourism is one of the fast growing and high income-generat-
ing industries in the world, which contributes to the strengthening 
of international socio-economic, cultural and spiritual relationships.
In recent years, tourism turns into major export industry of the 
world economy, the share of global GDP of which amounts to an av-
erage of 11%. For the past 40 years, the number of tourists who went 
to other States has increased almost 20 times, and income from tour-
ism-60 times, revenues from international tourism account for more 
than 400 billion dollars. The tourism industry employs 192 million 
people that is 8% of the population in the world. International tour-
ism contributes to diversification of the economy, creating industries, 
serving tourism (“Development of tourism in Uzbekistan: problems, 
international cooperation, perspectives”, Scientific project “Evolution 
of national statehood of Uzbekistan”, www.uzstathood.uz) [2].

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Socio-cultural parameters of the “sport” phenomenon: to the question on definition of term
265
According to experts, the major factors, influencing annual 
growth in the number of tourists, is the development of transport, 
communications, growing mobility, urbanization, reduction of 
working time, as well as increase of social wealth.
Leaders of the world tourism industry have prepared the hot-
test destinations for tourists for 2017 for publication of the “Finan-
cial Times”. Uzbekistan is in the second place after Nepal in this 
list (“Where to go in 2017?” Financial times, December 27, 2016, 
www.ft.com) [3].
According to the newspaper, Uzbekistan is the ideal place for 
those who cannot afford long travels around the Silk Road. The 
country provides opportunity to familiarize with all the charms of 
such travel, including mosques, mausoleums, mosaic and minarets 
of the in the ancient cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva.
As one of the most ancient centers of world civilization, Uz-
bekistan has the greatest tourist potential in the region. More 
than 7000 historical and architectural sites, carefully saved invalu-
able spiritual heritage, ancient cities-Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, 
Shakhrisabz, included in the UNESCO world heritage list, annually 
attract about two million foreign guests from 70 countries of the 
world in our country.
Since gaining independence, fundamentally new principles of State 
policy in the sphere of tourism have been developed in the Republic.
Important step in this direction was establishment of the national 
company “Uzbektourism” according to the Decree of the Presiden-
tial of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 1992, which was responsible for 
formation of a national model for tourism development. The newly 
created company was entrusted with tasks such as coordinating tour-
ist organizations, training in this area, stimulating development of all 
kinds of tourism, encouraging investment in the creation of material 
and technical base and industry infrastructure, etc.
With the aim of creating a modern, highly effective and com-
petitive tourist complex in the country, during the years of indepen-
dence, a solid regulatory framework was formed in the Republic, 
based on the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On tourism”, ad-
opted in August 20, 1999.
Main directions of the programmes are infrastructure develop-
ment, including attracting investments, diversification of tourism 
products, intensification of activities to attract foreign visitors, im-
provement of infrastructure facilities for foreign visitors, training 
and proficiency enhancement of the professionals.
Significant milestone in the annals of domestic tourism was the 
entry of Uzbekistan in the UN World Tourism Organization (UN-
WTO) in 1993. For many years, Uzbekistan has been a member of 
the Executive Board of this authoritative international organization. 
Today it consists of above 150 countries.
Uzbekistan has great potential in this area, has great oppor-
tunities because of the number and variety of tourism resources, 
compared to other countries: including convenient node location in 
the transport- geographic area, unique geography and natural attrac-
tions, there are 37 caves on the territory of the Republic. Bioclimatic 
conditions allow tourists to be engaged actively in wellness and 
sports tourism, especially in winter. Historical and cultural heritage 
of Uzbekistan, which reflects long history of the region, associated 
primarily with the history of the Great Silk Road (Fergana Valley-
Tashkent-Samarkand-Bukhara-Urgench-Khiva) is one of the main 
factors of the country attractiveness.
Uzbekistan is ranked ninth in the world by number of historical 
and architectural monuments. The above gives reason to conclude 
that Uzbekistan has great potential for development of tourism
At the same time, the results of the analysis show that appro-
priate attention and necessary support are not rendered, especially 
financial, for development of tourism infrastructure; overcoming in-
stitutional, managerial and human resource problems in the industry 
was a formality. The situation in the case pointed to absence of inter-
agency coordination in this area at the appropriate level.
Not coherent policy in this area also negatively reflected in hos-
pitality management, to one extent or another.
Experts estimate that revenues from international tourism in 
Uzbekistan in recent years accounted for no more than 10% of the 
potential. Despite having potential, income from tourism in Uzbeki-
stan does not exceed 2 per cent of GDP, whereas in other countries 
(Spain, the United States, France, Egypt, Malaysia, the U. A.E.) tour-
ism revenues range from 10 to 45% of GDP. Such contrast in earning 
capacity in tourist industry raises questions about causes and makes 
find solution to this problem. (Table 1).
Table 1. – Comparative analysis of selected indicators of the world by the tourism industry 
(million people); (Based on the official of materials prepared by the author)