Uzbekistan has launched a travel project to promote international tourism in time for summer. The country is confident in its handling of the coronavirus and is optimistic that visitors will not contract the virus while on holiday.
Uzbekistan has one of the lowest COVID-19 fatality rates in the world. It has recorded 7,682 confirmed cases and 20 deaths relating to the coronavirus, according to John Hopkins University. The country has a population of 33,469,203.
In a statement released by the official Uzbekistan tourism board explained that any foreign tourists visiting the country on a group tour booked with a local tour operator will be protected by the Anti-Crisis Fund.
‘In the unlikely event that they become infected with COVID-19 during their stay, the tourist will receive $3,000 (R51,798) in financial compensation from Uzbekistan’s Anti-Crisis Fund. The sum is equivalent to the estimated cost of medical care Uzbekistan’s citizens would receive for free if they became infected.’
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed the national guarantee earlier in June, ‘On additional measures for the development of tourism in strict compliance with the requirements of the enhanced regime of sanitary and epidemiological security’.
Read: Photographer captures Uzbekistan
In a statement, Uzbekistan’s official tourism board explained that the ‘Safe Travel Guaranteed’ campaign hopes to aid the development of the tourism sector.
‘We want to reassure tourists they can come to Uzbekistan,’ explains Sophie Ibbotson, Uzbekistan’s official Tourism Ambassador to the UK. ‘The government is so confident that the new safety and hygiene measures being implemented across the tourism sector will protect tourists from COVID-19, that the President is prepared to put money where his mouth is: if you get COVID-19 on holiday in Uzbekistan, we will compensate you.’
For #mondaymorningblues I want to be transported to the courtyard of the Kalyon Mosque in Bukhara, one of the incredible monuments which has earned the city its @UNESCO World Heritage Site status. pic.twitter.com/5FIYy8eSOl
— Uzbekistan Tourism Ambassador (@UZAmbassador) June 29, 2020
To qualify for financial compensation:
Those on a group tour using a local tour operator are protected by the Anti-Crisis Fund. Government has started an optional hygienic certification programme for accommodation and other tourism businesses, according to Lonely Planet. If a business doesn’t meet the required standards and are identified as a source of infection, they will be liable for the cost of a visitor’s medical fees.
Travellers from Israel, Japan, South Korea and China will be allowed entry without isolation. Those visitors from Europe and the UK are required to isolate for 14 days.
Image credit: Uzbekistan Travel
