A new phase in tourism: visa-free regime in 2025, 15.8 million tourists, and "travel days"
A presidential decree aimed at fully utilizing Uzbekistan's tourism potential and significantly increasing the sector's share in the economy has been adopted, titled “Measures to increase the role and importance of tourism in the economy by sharply increasing the flow of tourists and rapidly expanding the scope of tourism services in 2025-2026.”
According to the decree, the following key target indicators for the tourism sector have been set by the end of 2025:
- Attracting 15.8 million foreign tourists to the republic's territories and increasing tourism services exports to 4 billion US dollars;
- Organizing trips for 40 million local tourists through domestic tourism;
- Establishing an additional 378 tour operator activities.
New visa-free regime
Starting from June 1, 2025, citizens of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, and the Sultanate of Oman will be able to travel to Uzbekistan without a visa for a period of 30 days from the time of their arrival. This new step is expected to further activate tourism relations with neighboring and Arab countries.
New initiatives to promote travel
Additionally, the decree outlines several important initiatives aimed at promoting and popularizing tourism:
- By November 30 each year, regional programs for tourism development for the following year will be developed;
- International Tourism Week will be held in the third week of November each year;
- Starting from June 2025, the second Saturday and Sunday of each month will be designated as “Family and Community Travel Day” and will be implemented within the framework of the “Travel around Uzbekistan!” program.
From the editorial office of Zamin.uz:
This decree is expected to be an important step not only in developing tourism potential but also in popularizing culture and travel among the population. How do you evaluate these initiatives? Which region are you planning to travel to?
