A meeting on the issues of attracting tourists from Malaysia and Indonesia under the “Umra Plus” program and pilgrimage tourism was held in the regional administration of Samarkand.

The discussion, held via the Zoom platform, was attended by Adiz Boboev, the governor of Samarkand region, ambassadors of Uzbekistan to Malaysia and Indonesia, independent consultants in the field of tourism, representatives of airports and airlines. As noted in the conversation, there are about 7 million followers of the Naqshbandi order in Malaysia and Indonesia. They want to visit the holy sites in Uzbekistan, in particular the tomb of Imam Bukhari, before going on Umrah. The possibilities of bringing them from Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta to Samarkand, spending at least 2 days in transit, and then flying for Umrah on Uzbek planes were considered. Also, issues of developing the “Umra Plus” program and tourism routes with the involvement of travel companies were discussed. Proposals were made to create a favorable environment for domestic and international pilgrimage tourism, expand transport routes, and improve the quality of services. During the discussion, the regional governor, Adiz Boboev, gave relevant instructions to those responsible to develop a roadmap and work in constant cooperation with our ambassadors in Malaysia and Indonesia to ensure the implementation of the instructions given by the head of our state to increase the flow of tourists in the direction of pilgrimage tourism from Malaysia and Indonesia.