TASHKENT, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Uzbekistan will introduce a ten-day visa free regime for tourists from China including its special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, as well as Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman starting from March 1, a presidential decree published on Tuesday said.
According to the document, to be eligible to use visa-free regime, travelers from these countries should provide a return air ticket or ticket to a third country.
Last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Uzbekistan temporarily cancelled the 7-day visa-free regime for Chinese tourists introduced in 2019.
The decree instructs the government to take immediate measures to develop domestic and pilgrimage tourism in the Central Asian nation by granting tax and other privileges to tourist companies and hotels.
For example, if foreign tourist groups of at least 10 people stay at least five nights in Uzbekistan, 30 percent of the cost of air and rail tickets of tour operators will be compensated by the Uzbek government.
Domestic tour operators, travel agents, as well as accommodation facilities will see their income tax rate cut by half, the document said.
In an effort to popularize pilgrimage tourism, and promote the heritage of Islamic scholar Imam Bukhari, the authorities were tasked to develop a concept of a satellite TV channel to broadcast in Indonesian, Bengali, Malay, Turkish, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Pashto and other foreign languages.
Uzbekistan plans to attract more than 9 million foreign tourists by 2025 and increase the share of its tourism industry from 2.3 percent of the country's gross domestic product in 2017 to 5 percent in 2025. Enditem
