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Purposefulness, perseverance and the desire to build a family business in the field of tourism are the success factors of entrepreneur Ikramov Bakhtiyor Safarovich.

Bakhtiyor Safarovich is the owner of the family guest house "Minorai Xurd", which is located in the old part of Bukhara city. In February 2023, the Minorai family guest house was awarded the One Star category.

The history of the development of the family business began with the idea of trying oneself in a new company and completely changing the direction of business. Bakhtiyor Safarovich, a contractor by training, decides to open his own business in a then new field - tourism. The question of opening a family guest house was discussed in the family council. Both wife Ikramov Ugiloy and son Ikromov Bekzod, then a student at the Bukhara Higher School of Tourism, supported Bakhtiyor Safarovich in his desire to open a family business in the field of hospitality.
In the family circle it was decided to use the existing resources and to renovate the rooms. Family members began to actively engage in the tourism industry and draw up the necessary documentation.

The family guest house "Minorai Xurd" started its operations on May 22, 2019. "Minorai Xurd" translated from Tajik means "Small Minaret". The family guest house took its name from the Khoja Kalon minaret (16th century) which is located near the family guest house. Local people and tourists often call it "small" compared to the "big" minaret – the Kalyan minaret.

After the opening of the guest house, the wife of Bakhtiyor Safarovich and his son took an active part in providing accommodation and catering services, which led to the successful promotion of the family business. In particular, the son of Bakhtiyor Safarovich, Bekzod, took over the functions of advertising "Minorai Xurd" on business platforms, and gradually began to advertise services on Booking.com and Expedia.

"Things didn't work out at first, and the COVID-19 pandemic has also had its negative effects, but our team's perseverance, patience, dedication and determination have yielded positive results." Over time, we began to thrive and the flow of tourists increased. Today, our family-run guesthouse has a high rating on Booking, we have achieved the “one star” category for family guesthouses, but we don't stop there and keep striving for even better results,” says Bakhtiyor Safarovich.

Since 2019, Bakhtiyor Safarovich and his son have been taking part in training seminars conducted by the Association of private tourism agencies of Uzbekistan, including training within the USAID Entrepreneurship and Business Environment "Future Growth Initiative (FGI)": “Organization of participants activities of the chain CBT " (2021) Participation in this seminar-training made it possible to get even deeper acquainted with the issue of developing services / additional services, to think about issues of cooperation with participants of the CBT chain and to deal with the issue of service quality deal with The results of the training were not long in coming and in February 2023 the family guest house Minorai Xurd was awarded the one-star category. The guest house has become one of the participants of a pilot project on the classification of family guest houses, implemented by the Association of private tourism agencies of Uzbekistan within the framework of the USAID FGI project.

"For me, working in the field of tourism is communication with people from different countries of the world, which allows me to learn the culture of different countries and peoples. This is an opportunity to acquaint people with the culture of Uzbekistan and, in particular, with the traditions and customs of the Bukhara region.We treat tourists coming to us as long-awaited guests. We do our best to organize a good rest for them and immerse them in our culture. Tourism, I believe, is the future for our country. Taking into account the fact that our country has beautiful ancient cities, various historical sites, architectural monuments, as well as amazing nature, the flow of tourists from different countries will only increase.
For us, as representatives of the service sector, the main goal is to improve, learn, improve service and create all the conditions for each of our guests to feel cozy and comfortable, like at home, and leave with the warmest and unforgettable impressions"- said the owner by Minorai Xurd.

For the future, Bаkhtiyor Safarovich plans new heights in the field of hospitality, further development of the family business and productive work in the field of tourism, which tourists will rate "10 out of 10".

Information about the family guest house "Minorai Xurd" can be found in the catalog of family guest houses on the website cbtuzbekistan.uz: https://cbtuzbekistan.uz/property/minorai-xurd/