Silk Road Samarkand visitor numbers increase in second year of opening

Silk Road Samarkand, Central Asia’s largest tourist complex, has welcomed almost 46,000 visitors in the first six months of 2024, as it continues to expand and add new facilities for domestic and international visitors. The 260-hectare complex, located on the outskirts of the historic Uzbekistan city of Samarkand, celebrates its second anniversary today (Thursday) and has already welcomed seven per cent more visitors this year, compared with the 43,000 who visited in the opening six months of 2023.

Significant developments at Silk Road Samarkand in its second year include:

• Hilton Hotels & Resorts rebranding three hotels as Hilton Samarkand Regency, Hilton Garden UInn Samarkand Afrosiyob and the Hilton Garden Inn Samarkand Sogd; with more international hotel groups soon expected at the resort.
• New bars, cafes and restaurants offering a wide range of dining options for casual and business meals, plus new banqueting space for up to 500 guests;
• Shops offering traditional oriental sweets made by a fourth-generation family, alongside craft workshops for handmade ceramics, and jewellery and accessories;
• The Koran Museum, a small facility built in traditional Islamic style to house manuscript editions of the Quran that have been collected from all over the Islamic world, together with other scientific and Islamic literature of cultural significance;
• A 300-metre long karting track for karting enthusiasts aged 14 years and over;
• New children’s rides in a playground located in the Amphitheater area.

Silk Road Waterland is due to open in the coming months, offering 18 water slides and other attractions for aquatic thrill-seekers of all ages. The 11,536 square metre park’s other facilities will include a food court and a children’s play area.

Bakhtiyor Fazilov, the founder of Silk Road Samarkand, says:”Silk Road Samarkand continues to unlock some of the huge tourism potential for Samarkand and Uzbekistan. Our world-class and multi-functional resort is now firmly established as a family-friendly tourism resort, a ‘city within a city’ destination that mixes the rich heritage of Samarkand with luxury accommodation, world class entertainment and first-class dining experiences.”

Silk Road Samarkand covers 260 hectares and neighbours an historic city that is said to date back as far as 8,000 or 7,000 BC and was dubbed a ‘Crossroads of Cultures’ when Samarkand was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List for its outstanding architecture, historic areas and landscapes.

Silk Road Samarkand has been developed in an area around the city’s Republican Rowing Canal and now incorporates eight five and four-star hotels with almost 1,200 rooms. There is also an international congress centre, an expo centre covering 4,000 square metres, plus parks, sports arenas, 30 restaurants, bars, cafes and nightclubs for leisure, business, gastronomic and health tourism.

Since the beginning of 2023, more than 30 international events have been held at Silk Road Samarkand – including the annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a round of the World Triathlon Championship Series, the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) motorsport governing body’s 120^th Anniversary Conference.

During 2024, Silk Road Samarkand attracted many foreign participants to MICE events, together with visits by the heads of state of Uzbekistan, Italy, France, and Qatar. The Silk Road Samarkand resort forms part of a huge growth in tourism to Uzbekistan, with 10 million tourists expected to visit the country in 2024.

Large-scale tourism projects, like Silk Road Samarkand, are being carefully planned to ensure that the city’s rich architectural heritage is protected for future generations. New infrastructure and facilities for 21^st century tourists include the state-of-the-art Samarkand International Airport (SKD), which is now connected with an increasing number of international flights across central and south-east Asia, the Middle East and Europe. These include services operated by Air Samarkand, a new Uzbek airline based at SKD that has been launched to provide further air routes into Samarkand from neighbouring regions. It is operating modern Airbus A330-300 and A321neo aircraft to cities including the Turkish capitol of Istanbul, Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, Nha Trang in Vietnam and services from multiple points in Uzbekistan to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.