Unlocking Tourism Growth in Uzbekistan

This study aims to explore the current state of the tourism industry in Uzbekistan, with a particular focuson evaluating its human resource capacity. The AMO model of human resource management serves as thetheoretical foundation for this study, which adopts a qualitative research approach to explore the tourismindustry in Uzbekistan through the lens of employers’ and managers’ perceptions, with particular attentionto the labour market’s capacity and available opportunities. The sample size was 20 respondents composedof managers and investors from four segments of the tourism industry. Data were collected through face-tofaceinterviews using semi-structured interview questions. The findings indicate that there are considerablegaps in knowledge, skills, number of workers and loyalty required by the industry. The study suggests thattourism training and education in Uzbekistan needs to be modified and adapted to the industry’s needsthrough communication and collaboration among the stakeholders, and one way of achieving that objectiveis a bottom-up tourism master plan with wide stakeholder participation.