The city of Shakhrisabz, Kashkadarya province, has been declared the tourist capital of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in 2024, the press service of the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Heritage said.

The decision was made at the fourth meeting of the ministers of tourism of the ECO states, which was held online on December 13.

When making this decision, "the rich history and cultural heritage of the city of Shakhrisabz, which has a 2000-year history and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Representative List, its role in the development of tourism on the Silk Road and the potential for sustainable development of the industry," was taken into account.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, a separate program will be implemented in Shakhrisabz and throughout the Kashkadarya province to improve tourism infrastructure, build capacity in ecotourism, ethno-tourism and other areas, cultural events that widely reveal the intangible heritage of the province, and tourism entrepreneurship, including to increase youth activity.

ECO Secretary General Khusrav Noziri stressed that the tourism sector has been included among the important areas of interest of the organization, priority for development in accordance with the ECO Vision 2025. The ECO province is home to 74 UNESCO-listed World Heritage Sites and has a diverse tourism potential, he said.

He also noted that the simplification of border crossing procedures for foreign tourists, the easing and liberalization of the visa regime will contribute to the development of the tourism industry throughout the province.

The participants of the meeting adopted the Roadmap to promote accelerated recovery, safe and sustainable development of tourism after COVID-19 in the ECO province as a common framework for cooperation between member states, and also chose the cities of Shakhrisabz in Uzbekistan and Erzurum in Turkey as tourism capitals ECO for 2024 and 2025, respectively.

In the summer of 2021, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided, in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, to give the authorities of Uzbekistan one more year to complete the restoration of the historical center of Shakhrisabz, which in 2016 was placed on the “alarm list” of world heritage sites.