The double-landlocked capital at the center of Central Asia’s tourism boom: 11.68 million foreign trips to Uzbekistan in 2025, an airport operating at the edge of its design capacity, and a $50 billion second city under construction. Eight studies — one hub.
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and the gateway to the world’s fastest-recovering tourism market. The country recorded 11,679.6 thousand inbound tourist trips in 2025 — up 3.72 million, or 46.8 percent, year on year — and tourism-service exports of roughly $4.7 billion. The capital’s airport handled 9,986,445 passengers, 64.3 percent of the national total, against a design capacity of 11 million it is expected to reach by 2029.
The city’s formal accommodation base — 844 hotels and similar facilities with 14,211 rooms and 28,348 beds — hosted 1.27 million guests in 2024, a fraction of the true flow: two-thirds of arrivals nationwide are family visits that never touch a hotel register. Branded supply is finally catching up: the JW Marriott opened inside Tashkent City Mall in late 2025, joining the InterContinental (2023) as the city’s second international luxury flag.
The build-out is state-led and massive. Ground broke in October 2025 on the $2.5 billion New Tashkent International Airport — 20 million passengers at opening in late 2030, 46 million at maturity — while DP World committed $288 million to a multimodal dry port in the city’s south. East of town, New Tashkent has absorbed $2 billion of construction in three years toward a $50 billion first phase. This is metropolis 100 of 100 in the TIO series — and arguably the fastest-changing of them all.
Subscribe to the digest and receive key market signals every two weeks.