Silk Road Samarkand (SRS), the owner of Central Asia’s most significant tourism complex, has unveiled an impressive list of statistics for 2023 and predicts even greater success in 2024, transforming itself from a tourist attraction into a world-class destination for meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions (MICE).

Thus, in 2023, the Silk Road Samarkand complex hosted more than 24 major international, business, and government MICE events attended by over 30,000 people, including the heads of state of Uzbekistan, Italy, France, and Qatar. Among the main ones are the session of the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Asian Triathlon Cup, the annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the CIS, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for Europe and the North Atlantic, N.I.C.E. New Italian Cinema Events Festival, XVI Verona Eurasian Economic Forum, XV Tashkent International Film Festival “Pearl of the Silk Road”, FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships, as well as many other off-site events for companies and the private sector.

In 2024, significant events in culture, politics, trade, gastronomy, and diplomacy are planned at the SRS, including the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP14), the 2024 Triathlon World Cup, a joint conference of the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) and many others.

The organization of such large-scale events this year will be supported by a new partner – Hilton, which has rebranded three hotels into SRS. Plans include rebranding three more hotels together with Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza.

“Our goal is to comprehensively promote even greater recognition of Uzbekistan as one of the world’s most important tourist destinations”, said SRS Founder Bakhtiyor Fazylov. “Modern tourism consists of various components and one of the most significant is the level of service. In 2024, we will continue to surprise tourists and event participants with the highest level of hospitality, striving to make this year a breakthrough for the tourism sector of our country and one of its main centers – Samarkand”.

SRS growth rates coincide with the overall development trajectory of Uzbekistan. According to forecasts, 10 million tourists should visit the country in 2024. This was made possible thanks to more than $700 million allocated for developing tourism and industrial infrastructure in Samarkand region, including an agreement with a tourism company in China’s Shaanxi province to expand tourism along the ancient Silk Road.

Nasiba Ziyodullayeva, UzA