"Environmental certification procedures and sustainable tourism management issues" - challenges and expectations at national level

Currently, Uzbekistan pays special attention to the modernization of the tourism industry, the development and improvement of the regulatory framework for the sustainable development of this industry, the organization of services for foreign guests in accordance with international standards. In the era of digital transformation and information technologies, which have penetrated deeply into the tourism industry, taking into account all aspects of environmental sustainability is becoming an important factor in competitiveness. Therefore, the application and active use in the tourism sector of the country of available effective "green" technologies and the implementation of international standards is very relevant and important.

The new project “MOST - A model for sustainable tourism in Central Asia: Building Capacities, Creating Awareness, Introducing technology" aims to increase the tourism potential of the Central Asian countries. This project is being implemented within the framework of the European Union initiative "Switch Asia". In Uzbekistan, the Association of private tourism agencies of Uzbekistan (APTA) was selected as the executing organization for the project.

The strategic goal of the project is to raise environmental awareness and introduce appropriate practices and technologies in the hotel business in Central Asia. To implement the project tasks, a round table was organized on the topic "Environmental certification procedures and sustainable tourism management issues - challenges and expectations at the national level", which was attended by representatives of relevant government departments (State Committee for Tourism, State Committee for Ecology, Agency "Uzstandart"), travel companies and the hotel industry, experts and professionals working on the topic of sustainable tourism. International experts on sustainable tourism and green technologies also took part in the round table via video conferencing, who made their presentations and reports. The event took place on December 22, 2020 at the "MIRAN" hotel.

The aim of this event is to strengthen the dialogue between tourism enterprises and government officials on how the latter can contribute to the efforts of SMEs to adapt a sustainable model. Round tables are an effective platform for dialogue between the business sector, experts and government officials to explore public-private partnerships for innovative projects using new technologies that contribute to environmental protection and inclusive economic development.
During the round table, the issues of ensuring the compliance of domestic products with modern requirements were discussed in detail by introducing international standards and technical regulations into the production process and providing services, as well as increasing its competitiveness in the foreign market, widespread introduction of modern product quality management systems at hotel enterprises. sectors that are exporters of services. The speakers noted the importance of environmental certification of accommodation facilities for compliance with international standards.