Publication Details
Abstract
State financial support of tourism is distinguished from support of other branches by the fact that it acts simultaneously on economic, social and territorial development, and that its result is realised not only in the accounts of the assisted enterprises but in the investment attractiveness, the employment level and the export capacity of the country as a whole. The article assesses the effectiveness of such support in Uzbekistan along two lines of enquiry: the position of tourism in the national economy in 2020–2025, and the financial condition of the Tourism Support Fund in 2024 – the first quarter of 2026. The calculations show that the gross value added generated by tourism grew 4.13 times over the period against 2.72 times for the economy as a whole, that the compound annual growth rates were 32.81 and 22.15 per cent respectively, and that the share of the sector in national gross value added rose from 8.03 to 12.20 per cent. In every year of the period the growth of the sector outpaced that of the economy, by a factor of between 1.10 and 1.99. The analysis of the Fund reveals a favourable shift in the structure of expenditure — administrative costs fell from 36.3 to 22.2 per cent while promotion costs rose from 21.4 to 31.1 per cent — accompanied, however, by a reversal of the balance from a surplus of 128.4 bln UZS in 2024 to deficits in the two following periods and by a sharp increase in the dependence on budget transfers. The article identifies this divergence between a strengthening macroeconomic effect and a weakening institutional financial position as the central problem of the present support mechanism, and formulates recommendations on the diversification of the revenue base of the Fund, on the introduction of a fiscal rule for its expenditure, and on the results-based targeting of financial instruments.