Date: July 9, 2018
Source: kun.uz
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Today, on July 9, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Aziz Abdukhakimov and Chairman of the State Committee for Tourism Bakhtiyor Umarov met with the subjects of tourism activities - members of the Association of private tourism agencies (APTA) of Uzbekistan. As the KUN.UZ correspondent reports, this event was organized to consider organizational issues related to the election of the chairman of the APTA, as well as to discuss a number of pressing issues of the development of tour operator activities in the country.

During the event, was discussed an innovation in the Regulation on the procedure for collecting tourist tax on the territory of Uzbekistan, introduced by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of May 29, 2018 No. 398.

Participants asked questions about the new differentiated rates of tourist tax payment, which came into force in June of this year. On these issues, the main purpose of the innovation was explained to the participants of the event, which is that a differentiated scale of tourist tax was introduced in order to bring the amount of tourist tax in accordance with the types, size of accommodation facilities and prices of their rooms based on the study of foreign experience, that is, a low size is set. tourist tax for small accommodation facilities, and for hotels with more than 40 rooms. and more than "3 stars" type - a relatively large tourist tax.

The goals and directions of expenditures of the Tourism Support Fund, which receives tourist fees collected from foreign tourists, were especially emphasized.

They also considered the main provisions of the new Concept for reforming the tax system of Uzbekistan. In particular, the participants noted the issue of preserving the benefits for the subjects of tourist activity, including their exemption from VAT in order to prevent the rise in price of the tour package.

The issues of participation of international electronic booking systems (booking.com, hotels.com) in the country's tourism market and their impact on the competitiveness of services of tour operators in Uzbekistan, as well as the conditions for booking and purchasing railway tickets in Uzbekistan, factors constraining the development of outbound tourism in Uzbekistan were noted.

As a result of the event, the executive director of the APTA Gulchekhra Israilova was elected the chairman of the APTA (the former chairman Nabijon Kasymov is currently the ambassador of the Republic of Uzbekistan to Germany). And also proposals were developed aimed at effectively solving the issues considered, as well as recommendations for further strengthening the joint activities of the APTA and government bodies.

In general, the meeting between the Government of Uzbekistan and private tourism organizations took place in a very open atmosphere and allowed almost everyone to express their opinions and suggestions. The participants of the event noted that the contribution of Aziz Abdukhakimov to the development of tourism as the chairman of the State Committee for Tourism was higher than in all previous years and expressed their hope that the chairman of the Committee, Bakhtiyor Umarov, would adequately continue the work begun.