The awarding ceremony was held in Berlin on 4 March within the exhibition ITB-2015. Silk Road Destinations became the first company in Uzbekistan, which won this prestigious award.

It is worth to mention two projects from India and Costa Rica also got this award. Despite long-distance among these countries, the winner countries share similar objectives: to improve people’s living conditions by carefully developing tourism services in a planned manner, to create alternative sources of income and strengthen selfawareness of local culture and traditions.

Incoming tour operator Silk Road Destinations – C.A.T.I.A. has set up the community-based project “Mitan Responsible Tourism Project”. This project gives guests the opportunity to come in direct contact with the local families and their Muslim culture and tradition.

The objectives are to generate an additional income for the villagers and to contribute to cultural exchange and understanding between people of different social and religious backgrounds.

The project does not affect the usual life of the villagers with its economically important processes, but gives them opportunities to enhance their own knowledge through intercultural exchange. In this context, special emphasis is placed in the involvement of young people.

Mitan is a small village in the Uzbek steppe and cannot boast of tourist attractions. But it offers travellers the opportunity to come in direct contact with the local population. The warm hospitality of the villagers contributes to that, as well as their openness and readiness to allow strangers to authentically take part in their lives for a short while. The guests get the opportunity to deal with the typical realities of the country.