Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- According to the Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) rating for 2019, Uzbekistan is among the ten most attractive countries among the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The Singapore-based company CrescentRating and Mastercard developed the GMTI 2019.

The top ten also includes Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia. The report notes that Uzbekistan is in 18th place in the world in providing amenities to Muslim tourists. Malaysia, Indonesia and Turkey lead the list. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan occupy the 19th and 20th places, the Press Service of the State Committee of Tourism of the Republic of Uzbekistan said.

It should be noted that the promotion of Uzbekistan in the ranking is the result of the fruitful cooperation of the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Tourism Development and the agency CrescentRating International. Over the past year, within the framework of cooperation, representatives of the agency repeatedly visited Uzbekistan in order to study and analyze the development of Ziyorat tourism in the country.

In February 2019, representatives of CrescentRating International took part in the First International Forum on Western Tourism in Bukhara. The forum included a meeting of the Acting Chairman of the State Tourism Development Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Akkulov with CrescentRating International CEO Fazal Bakhardin, where the parties exchanged views on the upgrading of Uzbekistan’s GMTI rating.

Following the results of the forum, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the State Enterprise “National PR-Center” at the State Committee on Tourism and the CrescentRating agency.

In addition, in recent years, the liberalization of the visa regime for citizens of foreign countries and the introduction of a visa-free regime for a number of countries have increased the attractiveness of Uzbekistan in the global tourism market. GMTI 2019 includes factors such as climate, security, economy, religion, transport infrastructure and services.