Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 7 July 2020, the Center for Policy Research and Outreach (CPRO) at Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT) organized an online conference on the topic of Agrotourism in Uzbekistan: recovery from Covid-19.

The event brought together more than 30 participants, including Bakhrom Pardaev, head of the eco-tourism department of the State Committee for Tourism Development, Leonardo Comuchi, chairman of the Santuccio Association for the Promotion of Tuscan Wine (Florence, Italy), Sergey Danilov, author of the project “Delicious Uzbekistan”, Kobuljon Adilov, director of the “Agro-Innovatsiya” foundation, vice-rectors of universities and senior researcher fellow of the CPRO at WIUT.

In his welcoming remarks, the director of the CPRO Peter Malvicini noted that today it is in the field of agrotourism that interesting and unique opportunities appear that can then become public.

During the online conference, issues of agrotourism were discussed in the context of the state strategy of the agrarian sector, the activation of supply chains, the search and development of original wine products based on the experience of Italy, innovative experiences and examples of gastronomic branding of Uzbek cuisine, the application of a cluster approach for the development of agrotourism were also considered.

The influence of tourism on economic growth in countries with economies in transition was described by Rauf Salakhodjaev, a Senior Research Fellow of WIUT. In his research, Rauf Salahodjaev noted that tourism revenues are directly related to GDP growth, and the results show that a 10% increase in tourism income per capita leads to a 0.08% GDP growth. Moreover, a 1% increase in investment accelerates GDP growth by 0.2%.

On the topic "Agrotourism as an instrument for the development of rural territories", a Senior Research Fellow of WIUT spoke. During the conference, Etenesh Bekele Asfaw, among other things, noted that the development of agrotourism positively affects the growth of GDP in a relatively short period of time and provides a number of advantages for both producers and society as a whole. The development of agrotourism benefits many small farms, allowing them to stabilize their earnings and provide additional income. For society, agrotourism means landscaping roads to sites, the construction of residential and shopping complexes, cultural and entertainment centers, catering facilities, sanitary centers, the growth of Wi-Fi coverage.

The potential of gastronomic tourism in Uzbekistan, using the example of Parkent district, was described by Fabrizio Vielmini, a Senior Research Fellow at WIUT. “For agrotourism, the socio-economic and cultural context is fundamentally important, and therefore the Parkent district has an excellent base for the development of agrotourism.” Moreover, Professor Vielmini noted that the development of wine tourism and giving Parkent the status of a gastronomic region marked by wine production at the state level will create a unique “regional image”, thanks to which the region will be able to position itself thematically and stand out from other competitive regions. Wine trips, visits to wineyards and producers, tastings, purchase of wine from the producer should be organized for tourists. To expand opportunities, the entrepreneur is recommended to act in collaboration with tour operators and hotels. The combination of tourism, agriculture and industry stimulates the creation of parallel production based on grapes, structures wine routes according to European models, and allows creating an economy of impressions.

Bakhrom Pardaev, head of the department of eco-tourism and agro-tourism of the State Committee for Tourism Development added that since Uzbekistan is an agrarian republic, agro-tourism will become a locomotive of tourism development in Uzbekistan. At the present stage of development of agrotourism, the creation of the following mechanisms is necessary: national public organizations combining estates, agrotouristic farms and enterprises, the participation of such enterprises in international associations, an increase in the number of estates certified according to international standards in the agrotourism system, and the dissemination of information about the development of agrotourism in the country through international electronic databases, as well as the creation of a system of state support for agritourism business and the development of its infrastructure.