Mustafokulova Ziyoda

37 years, Duoba village

The heroine of our new success story - Mustafokulova Ziyoda, 37, lives in the village of Duoba, Zaamin district. In May 2021, she and her husband received the first certificate for the opening of a family guest house. She is a teacher by profession, but today, in connection with the opening of a family business, she has retrained for a specialist in family and guest business, in which she has gone with her whole head.

Ziyoda's husband has been organizing travel for many years, delivering tourists. After participating in training seminars organized by the Association of Private Tourism Organizations (APTA) with the assistance of the USAID Future Growth Initiative Project, he and his wife decided to improve the quality of service and began to receive the first tourists in their own home.

When asked why they chose the tourism sector, Ziyoda and her husband Shavkat answered: "In our village, everyone lives only for this, tourists from almost all over the world have been flocking here for many years. We have something to show, and now where to stay." During the opening of the guest house, more than 100 tourists visited them. Of course, due to the pandemic, most of them come through domestic tourism.

Today, there are more than 100 farms in the village, many are engaged in gardening, build plantations, despite the high-altitude location. But, in addition, there is a place to go and something to see in the village. The famous shrines of Tog-Terak-ota and Uzumli-ota have long been a place of strength for local residents and tourists coming from other cities.

The tourist season in the village opens in early May

and lasts until mid-October. At this moment, all fruits ripen from apricots and cherries up to late quinces, figs, persimmons and melons.

The Mustafokulovs offer its guests a cozy stay in an Uzbek family, excursions to the mountain peaks, to the holy springs of Sherbulok, Uzumli-ota, a pilgrimage to local shrines, master classes on cooking national dishes: manty, beshbarmok - here it is called kulchatoy, delicious patyr and various dairy products.

In the future, the family plans to take out a loan and

build a new house, since their large yard allows it. Then they will be able to expand and open new jobs.

The Mustafokulovs consider the participation of all family members and especially children to be the most important achievement in the family business. Firstly, the fact that they are involved in the tourism business greatly affects their general outlook, communication with tourists gives them the skills to communicate with new people, the opportunity to learn foreign languages, and a common family business teaches them hard work and responsibility.

"The continuation of the family business is the basis of our traditions!" - says Shavkat Mustafokulov.  - After all, our entire society is based on this.

The success story was developed by the Association of

Private Tourism Organizations of Uzbekistan (APTA) with the support of the USAID Future Growth Initiative Project.

This publication was made

possible thanks to the help of the American people, provided through the US Agency for International Development (USAID). APTA is responsible for the content of the publication, which does not necessarily reflect the position of USAID or the US Government.