The 29th Tashkent International Tourism Fair (TITF) is set to take place from 21 to 23 November 2024, focusing on “Tourism on the Silk Road”.
The largest tourism event in Central Asia, the fair is organized by Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change as well as the country’s Tourism Committee, National PR-centre, and with the partnership of Uzbekistan Airways. It has been supported by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UN Tourism) for three decades since 1995.
Culture, sustainability and business
The fair aims to promote tourism and facilitate business networking and cooperation, as well as support industry development and share market research and the latest travel trends.
A promotional campaign video with a stirring Uzbek soundtrack shows a huge range of stands and contributors, with artisanal creations, colourful fabrics, traditional dancers and musicians rubbing shoulders with the business community. According to the official website, sessions will bring together a diverse range of stakeholders, from employees in the tourist industry to hotel chain representatives, diplomatic staff, insurance companies and educators. Topics covered will include explorations of new tourism destinations, sustainability issues and solutions, the role of culture and the role of social media in the evolving travel and tourism sector.
8,000 contracts and 13,500 visitors
But it is also a successful business forum. The scene of over 8,000 signed contracts in 2023, and attended by over 1,500 participants, as well as 13,500 visitors from 30 countries, this year the fair has grown even further, as interest burgeons in Central Asian destinations. Among the attendees, the event will welcome representatives from the MICE sector (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions), exhibitors from the Russian Federation, Georgia, the Czech Republic, and Germany.
In addition, the organisers have heralded the inclusion of the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People, whose presence they say “deserves special attention” and “highlights the growing importance of international cooperation in the field of tourism and culture, as well as opens up new opportunities for strengthening cultural and economic ties.”
A “cornerstone” of tourism promotion
Anyone can apply to attend, the event management emphasise, simply by “registering online on the website”. Promotional packages start at around $1000.
Dalya Altuntepe, General Manager of Berlin-headquartered hospitality website, Numa, has called the exhibition “a cornerstone of the promotion of tourism not just in Uzbekistan but across Central Asia,” while Lonely Planet’s Vice President, Tom Hall, said it provides “an authentic taste of Uzbekistan”, its regions and its “tourism potential”.
