Foreign tourist arrivals in Uzbekistan up 49 percent in seven months

The data shows a particularly sharp rise in arrivals from Afghanistan, China, and Turkmenistan. Compared to the same period last year, the number of Afghan visitors grew nearly 93-fold, Chinese visitors almost tripled, and Turkmen visitors increased 2.5 times. Excluding CIS countries, Afghanistan topped the list of inbound tourists.

In total, 5.2 million visitors – or 82.5 percent of the total – were citizens of neighboring countries.

Breakdown by country, January–July 2025

• Kyrgyzstan – 1.84 million (1.2 million last year)
• Kazakhstan – 1.46 million (845,800)
• Tajikistan – 1.44 million (1.2 million)
• Russia – 536,800 (442,100)
• Afghanistan – 267,500 (2,883)
• Turkmenistan – 208,800 (83,700)
• China – 103,100 (35,500)
• Turkey – 96,500 (62,000)
• India – 38,000 (33,300)
• South Korea – 25,000 (23,900)
• Other countries – 289,000 (231,000)

Officials noted that the surge in Afghan arrivals may be linked to the opening of a logistics center in Termez.

Export of tourism services

Economist Otabek Bakirov drew attention to the value of tourism services exported during this period, which totaled $2.54 billion. On average, each foreign tourist spent $403 in Uzbekistan. Last year, the figure was $416 per person, with total export revenue amounting to $1.75 billion.

“Although the number of foreign tourists has grown, the quality has not improved,” Bakirov wrote. “We still count relatives from neighboring countries as international tourists.

We need new quality criteria for foreign tourists. If we keep chasing numbers, it will be like the beautiful statistics of job creation and employment – impressive on paper but with little real effect.

If visitors don’t stay in hotels, hostels, or apartments, and don’t use additional services such as transport, retail, dining, or leisure – in other words, if they come and leave the same day without spending – it’s misleading to count them as tourists.

Unless we update our criteria and dig deeper into the statistics, we risk deceiving ourselves. The key issues of extending foreign tourists’ stays in Uzbekistan, selling additional tour packages, and increasing the value of tourism sales will not make it onto the agenda.”