Republic of uzbekistan tashkent institute of irrigation engineers and agriculture mechanizations

3.2 Recommendations for agritourism enterprises

Uzbekistan has long been a travel brand. The number of tourists who entered the country last year reached 5.4 million, that is, it doubled from 2.7 million in 2017. More is needed: the authorities expect to increase the share of tourism in GDP from 2.3% at the end of 2017 to 5% by 2025. Therefore, the country is trying to offer the market new tourism products, including ecotourism, film tourism and agritourism.

If the first two directions are really new for Uzbekistan, then the work on attracting tourists to the countryside has been going on for a long time - the world trend has been taken into account. According to WTO statistics, on average, the volume of services in the field of agritourism in the world economy is growing annually by 6%. Of the 700 million tourists on the planet, 12 to 30% (depending on the country) prefer rural tourism.
The development of agritourism has become one of the tasks approved by the President of the country in the Concept for the Development of the Industry for 2019-2025. A year ago, the State Committee for Tourism of the Republic of Uzbekistan created the Telegram group @Agroturizmuzbekistan ....
“The group will broadcast news in the field of agritourism, a list of objects of agritourism, statistical data, information on innovative ideas and initiatives,” the ministry said on its website.
At the time of this writing, the group had published eight messages in a year (the last one was in June 2018) and had 41 subscribers (one of them was a journalist from Kursiva).
Uzbekistan has great potential in the field of agritourism due to the presence of a tourist flow, large peasant farms. How is this potential realized? We interviewed representatives of Jizzakh, Fergana, Namangan, Syrdarya, Surkhandarya and Tashkent regions - and we found an offer everywhere, but we did not find a demand everywhere.
According to the chief specialist of the regional department of the State Committee for Tourism in the Fergana region, Umid Mamadzhanov, in the Kuva region the agricultural company Fargona Anorlari invites tourists to participate in the harvest, and in the Uzumchi mahalla of the Oltiaryk region - in the collection and sorting of grapes. The private company "Mehrigiyoh" of the Uchkuprik region has recently begun to organize for tourists participation in the collection of medicinal herbs ....
There are similar offers in other regions. As Elmurad Ruzibaev, a leading specialist in the development of domestic tourism of the Namangan branch of the State Committee for Tourism, told Kursiv, “there is a large agricultural farm for floriculture in Namangan, and intensive gardens in the Turakurgan region where you can participate in field work”. But, according to him, "there are very few tourists so far, as this is a new destination." A similar situation was described by Lola Sanaeva, a leading specialist of the State Committee for Tourism in the Jizzakh region. According to her, rural tourism is just beginning to develop here. There are guest houses in Farish and Zaamin districts - places in them are sold through travel companies.
In all regions, the picture is the same - there is a tourist agricultural product, but the offers are rare.
The Farish district of Jizzakh mentioned above the most promoted in this regard, but a lot of work has been invested there by international organizations and various projects. They helped the region to create at least some kind of tourism product. The other regions do not have their own tourism product, according to the expert. Nobody explains to tourists why they should go to the countryside. As a result, market participants cautiously talk about about a thousand foreigners who come to rest and work in the countryside, plus the unaccounted number of Uzbeks from large cities who miss the hinterland ...
Why are there proposals in the field of agritourism, but there are almost no tourists? There are several reasons for answering this question.
In our opinion, many farmers simply do not know how to attract tourists. We believe that farmers should be ready to invest at least a small amount in the creation of basic conditions - toilets, showers, comply with sanitary standards and keep the house clean.
“Only after that it is possible to organize income-generating services - tours, national games, craft master classes, the participation of a tourist in agricultural work, etc.”. It is also necessary to conduct information campaigns among farmers, as well as their cooperation with travel agencies. Ideally, travel agencies should be the locomotive and main clients of farmers working in agritourism.
The development of agritourism in the Republic of Uzbekistan is hampered by the policy of foreign aggregators for renting housing, as well as the underdevelopment of its own financial sector. As soon as we open Airbnb for our people, everything will get much better. Now a tourist cannot pay for accommodation through PayPal, payment by cards is poorly developed.
In addition, there is a problem of lack of information on the Jizzakh region.
It is necessary to carry out an inventory of all tourist objects that are available in the area in order to show the tourist. There should be a plan of all events for the year: when and where there will be a festival, folk festivals, kupkari (goat dander), kovunsaili (melon festival) "- then travel agencies will be able to sell regional tourism products in advance.
Most of our companies work in historical and cultural tourism, while agricultural tourism does not provide many clients and is not commercially interesting. Travel companies almost never develop new products, including in the field of agritourism. It is difficult to promote a new direction alone, and market participants do not want to unite.
For the development of agritourism, a public organization is required. Such an association should educate people, promote the development of legislation, access to cheap loans, and so on.
When all interested market participants act on their own, it is difficult to talk about promoting a common cause. For example, since 2006, in Belarus, villagers have received the right to rent out houses (up to 10 sleeping places), feed tourists, organize excursions and transfers, and all this is not considered an entrepreneurial activity and is not licensed. At the same time, the owners of estates can use bank accounts, make non-cash payments. Then Agroprombank got involved with cheap (about 5%) loans "- this was the recipe for Belarusian success.
The recipe for the development of agritourism is as follows: a public organization is created, a legislative framework is being made, a public-private partnership is being established, conditions are being formed that attract people, including the absence of taxes. People create infrastructure in the village. Tourists are coming, they leave money. The multiplier effect starts to work in the economy.
The Uzbek authorities are also promising broad support for agritourism (although this does not apply to taxes). A leading specialist of the State Committee for Tourism, says that his department and the Ministry of Agriculture are already conducting explanatory work among farmers and the rural population. The Ethnokishlak project is being prepared for implementation. In the villages of Gilon and Kul of the Kashkadarya region, for the development of ethno-tourism, five guest houses will be built, and in the villages of Varganza and Khazrati Bashir, agrotourism will be developed. Also, within the framework of the project, an ethnic village will be built - a combat training camp for Amir Timur's fighters. This is not exactly agritourism, but such an object will add popularity to trips to the countryside.
An entire agritourism cluster is being prepared for launch. In the Bakhmal and Za-amin districts of the Jizzakh region, it is planned to create the first district in Central Asia based on the model of Yellowstone Park and the Grand Canyon. 5 thousand hectares in it will be allocated for rural tourism, which will be included in the complex tourism product. Guests will be offered a range of entertainment options, including agricultural work and herbal picking. Now Zaamin visits, according to the State Committee for Tourism, from 50 thousand to 100 thousand guests during the high season - however, they do not come to work in the countryside, but to relax in nature. The popularity of the district is added by the fact that it is the small homeland of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Finally, the Ministry of Agriculture is developing a program for the development of agritourism, which includes, among other things, the issuance of targeted loans.