Parkent district of Tashkent region has great potential for the development of rural tourism and guest houses.

To attract tourists, the population of the regions developing this industry should receive the necessary skills. Like any type of tourism, rural tourism requires special knowledge and skills in providing tourism services and tour products. Especially strong «information hunger» is among those entrepreneurs who do not yet have practical experience in this business field.

The full-scale implementation of this task is facilitated by the activities of the European Union’s project «Strengthening rural and ecotourism through business associations for sustainable economic development in Central Asia», which is successfully implemented by the Association of private tourism agencies of Uzbekistan (APTA). As part of this project, with the support of the State Committee for Tourism, a weekly training seminar was held in Parkent. He gathered residents of the Parkent district who expressed interest and readiness to master a new type of business. They are attracted by the possibility of organizing and providing tourist services in guest houses.

The seminar program was aimed at strengthening the participants’ capacity for organizing work and successful management of guest houses. In particular, the training program included topics of narrow specialization, but extremely important for the successful functioning of guest houses, such as introduction to tourism, creation and management of a guest house, etiquette of receiving and serving tourists. Representatives of the Tashkent International Clinic informed the participants how to provide first aid.

Trainers paid particular attention to the standards applicable to the sanitary conditions in guest houses. Experienced APTA trainers separately highlighted the importance of the effective use of marketing tools. The economic information block of the weekly seminar was extremely eventful and informative. In addition to the issues of pricing for travel services and the specifics of creating a business plan, information is also provided on online registration of tourists in the online program E-Mehmonhona. Representatives of the tax committee spoke about tax rates for family guest houses.

International experience clearly demonstrates that the result of the development of rural tourism is the emergence of additional sources of income for the local population, mainly due to the provision of guest houses for overnight stay, catering and leisure for tourists. It should be emphasized that rural tourism helps to improve the quality of life and the families themselves hosting tourists, that is, it helps to improve the standard of living in regions where the rural tourism industry is developed. So, the knowledge gained in such seminars falls into fertile soil and will help the formation of rural tourism in our country.