THE CHALLENGE
Uzbekistan was on a strong upward growth trajectory globally, but needed to convert its rising profile into sustained trade relationships across India's Tier 1 markets. With ambitious targets to grow annual international arrivals to 20 million by 2030, and India firmly emerging as a top-tier source market, the brief was to build direct, on-ground connections between Uzbek tourism stakeholders airlines, DMCs, and hoteliers- and India's travel trade, while reinforcing traveller confidence amid wider regional travel sentiment concerns.

OUR APPROACH
We led a two-pronged trade activation strategy combining direct market outreach with high-visibility exhibition presence.

• Organised a multi-city Tier 1 roadshow bringing together Uzbekistan Airways, Centrum Air, and leading Uzbek DMCs face-to-face with Indian tour operators, travel agents, and MICE planners
• Represented Uzbekistan at major Indian travel trade exhibitions (SATTE & OTM) to showcase the destination's growing leisure, MICE, and wedding tourism (Wedding Sutra) potential to a national trade audience
• Positioned key growth stories including expanding air connectivity (Delhi–Tashkent, Delhi–Namangan, and codeshare links with Air India) and new hospitality supply as trade talking points to build agent confidence
• Reinforced Uzbekistan's safety credentials and heritage draws (Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva) as differentiators in a competitive Central Asian landscape

THE RESULT
Indian arrivals to Uzbekistan crossed 80,000+ in 2025, with the destination targeting a 30% year-on-year increase and a target of 100,000+ Indian visitors in 2026. The roadshow and exhibition activations strengthened direct trade relationships across India's key metros, laying the groundwork for an expanded city-by-city rollout across Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bangalore.