Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to expand tourism ties

DUSHANBE. Jan 21 (Interfax) - Representatives of the Tashkent administration and the heads of local tour operators will arrive in Khujand in late February to familiarize themselves with what this Tajik city has to offer in terms of tourism, the Khovar news agency said on Tuesday, citing the Tajik embassy in Uzbekistan.

The upcoming visit was announced at a meeting between Tajik Ambassador to Uzbekistan Abdujabbor Rahmonzoda and Tashkent Deputy Mayor Sanjar Tadjiyev, Khovar said.

"In addition, the deputy mayor of Tashkent proposed expanding tourism cooperation with Khujand. The parties reached an agreement on this issue. During the meeting, they also exchanged views on ways to further develop cooperation in tourism and increase the tourist flow to Tashkent and Dushanbe," it said.

The Tajik government's tourism development committee said earlier that 326,000 foreigners arrived in Tajikistan in the first quarter of 2024. Of this number, 265,000 foreigners visited Tajikistan as tourists, including 243,000 from other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and 22,000 from non-CIS countries.

According to the Tajik president's Statistics Agency, the number of foreign tourists who visited the country in the first quarter of 2024 rose 26.8% compared to the same period the year before.

The majority of them (222,000) were Uzbek citizens. Russian tourists (70,600) were in second place and Kazakh tourists (7,400) were in third place. As many as 5,500 Chinese citizens and 2,700 Turkish citizens also visited Tajikistan in the reporting period.