The Potentials of Tourism Industry in Uzbekistan and Effective Use of Them for Sustainable Development

. Tourism is one of the most growing industries that it contributes to the development of most countries especially, developing ones. It creates a huge number of jobs, improves the lifestyle of people and boosts the economy of the country. Uzbekistan has its own potentials in the sphere of tourism mostly connected with culture, history, religion, and traditions, and the government is also paying much attention to the development of the tourism sector. The article examines the problems in tourism sphere that Uzbekistan has to tackle and suggests solutions to them. It also gives information about the potentials that the country has including climate, nature, exotic landscapes, culture, mountains and foods and steps that should be taken in order to use them effectively which guarantee sustainable development. One of the most important steps is to use the most recent technologies and innovations to improve tourism and make it much more comfortable for tourists. Making services available online and teaching qualiﬁed and competitive staff are also considered as crucial steps. All products and all the services should be interconnected with each other. Reducing unnecessary limitations for travel agencies, hotels or entertaining places would also contribute to the development of the hospitality business. Increasing the contribution of the tourism industry to our GDP should be our main goal since its contribution is less than 3% while in most countries it accounts for 10-45%. The main type of tourism in Uzbekistan is cultural tourism since it has more than 7300 cultural heritages and over 200 of them are listed among UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Samarkand, Bukhara, and Toshkent are the best places to improve Ziyarat Tourism. Another most important point would be focusing on the promotion and changing the people’s opinions about Uzbekistan which are often negative.


INTRODUCTION
Tourism which is considered as one of the most contributing industries to the regional development, employment and economy of most countries are growing faster today than ever. It is creating a lot of job opportunities and improving the lifestyle of the local people. In 2017, for example, 313 million jobs which were 9.9 % of total employment were created by this industry. This industry is growing even faster than the world economy. In 2019 the contribution of tourism to GDP worldwide was over 9,258 billion U.S. dollars and the numbers are increasing faster year by year. According to the UNWTO there has been 56-fold increase in the number of international arrivals since 1950. It also seems that the trips taken to the developing countries are increasing than those taken to the developed ones which means that tourism is the best sector for developing. [1] countries to boost their economy. Below the chart pro-vides information about how international tourist arrivals increased after 1950 by world regions. Website: OurWorldinData.org/tourism/ [2] In 2030 the number of total international visitors is expected to reach 1.8 billion.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Tourism, however, in current years is becoming a very competitive industry while the needs of people are changing very rapidly that it is now more difficult to satisfy them than before. [3] Countries are using new technologies to make trips of tourists more comfortable, enjoyable and adventurous. When it comes to Uzbekistan in the last two years, the country took many steps to improve the tourism industry. Now citizens of several countries including European countries do not need a visa to travel to Uzbekistan, and for the visitors from other countries, the processes have been simplified, with well-functioning The number of tourist arrivals in the last decade has doubled in Uzbekistan. [4] The graph below provides information about international arrivals to Uzbekistan according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. [4] However, the country has huge potentials and considering them there are still a lot of important steps that should be taken to improve the tourism sector in Uzbekistan. The most important potentials of Uzbekistan include Climate and Nature, Mountains, Ancient Architecture, Religious sights, Gastronomy, very rich culture and so on. The tourism products, however, are perishable. So, using all the potentials we have Uzbekistan must focus on maximizing the profits it gets, solving the problems in the sphere of tourism and preventing potential negative impacts of this industry. The main goal of us should be to guarantee a proper win-win industry which means that both tourists and the host country should derive desired benefits from this industry. To do so it is very essential to have the proper system, plan, and qualified employees that guarantee the sustainable growth of this sphere. Knowing the target market, understanding the motivations and needs of tourists and using the sources the country has to satisfy the demands are very crucial steps. To know what the tourists are seeking and whether we have such potentials to provide them with is the very first step. With such rich culture, history and potentials Uzbekistan should be one of the first choices for tourists, not the last.
Uzbekistan is a very important country in terms of culture and traditions and its main target market is those who want to escape from the modern world and experience culture and history as well as religion. Most tourists who visit Uzbekistan are older than 50 years. So, the most important types of tourism that should be improved first before focusing on other types are cultural, rural, ziyarat and gastronomy tourism as they do not require building something new and spending extra money, but improving and showing what the country already has and only it has. [5] It has more potentials to improve cultural, rural and ziyarat tourism than many countries since 200 sites are already listed among UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Samarkand was a very important city in the past located in the heart of ancient "Silk Road" and connected the Eastern and Western worlds.
Other types of tourism that Uzbekistan has high potentials to improve are Ziyarat and Religion tourism. There are a lot of Muslim Holy places in Uzbekistan. There are a lot of mausoleums that were built for the memory of several famous people who lived and were buried in Samarkand, Khiva, Tashkent, Bukhara and other cities of Uzbekistan. In Tashkent, we have the religious center of the Hazrati Imam Complex, which keeps the Qur'an of Caliph Osman. Khoja Doniyor and Muhammad al-Bukhari mausoleums and Shahi Zinda necropolis are located in Samarkand. Besides them many other impor- Some other steps that should be taken to improve tourism and use potentials are following: first of all, promotion, having positive rankings, receiving positive reviews is very essential since the image of Uzbekistan until recent years has not been so satisfactory. [5] In addition, using online services is the most demanded in today's world. Most tourists who keep their money on their credit cards and visit Uzbekistan face difficulty to exchange and do not spend much money as a result. The benefits we get from tourists are more important than how many tourists are visiting. Buying tickets, booking hotels and all other services should be available online to make it more comfortable for tourists. Plus, legislation and documenting are also very tough and most people cannot bear, especially, older ones. E-visas can be the first step that Uzbekistan made this process easier and less stressful which has increased the number of tourists considerably.

CONCLUSION
I did research interviewing tourists and also analyzed other researches done online and comparing them listed the most common problems among tourists that have not been solved for a long time. Firstly, tourists want freedom. Safety in Uzbekistan at a high level but tourists feel very uncomfortable when they are treated like foreigners, unnecessary check-ups should be prevented. The other common problem is associated with transportation. The system of transportation that connects the cities is not satisfactory. Most tourists complain that they could not find a car Rental Company. The restaurants must also be diversified and tourists like if they have few options including halal food, traditional and western. The number of hotels must also be increased since almost all good hotels are pre-reserved.
In a word, Uzbekistan has very high potentials in terms of tourism but a good system and proper strategies should be implemented to use them effectively and reap desired benefits.