Prospects of speleoturism in Uzbekistan

The article is devoted to the speleotourism development in Uzbekistan. The idea is substantiated that speleotourism in the republic is classified as unorganized, i.e. wild tourism. There are travel agencies that organize tours to the caves and include a visit to the Khojaikon cave in the excursion program. The purpose of the article is to present recommendations for the development of speleotourism in the republic in the near future. The article explores the concept of "speleotourism" from the point of view of various fields of knowledge, as well as the author's definition of one of the new segments of the tourism market in Uzbekistan - speleotours. The author focuses on the types of caves and their location throughout the republic. The factors influencing the availability and attendance of speleotourism objects are highlighted and described. Based on the study of foreign experience in the development of speleotourism, it has been established that tourists will visit the caves in order to restore their health by visiting the salt caves. In addition, the caves can become objects of educational tourism. This article substantiates the idea that speleotourism will contribute to increasing employment of the population by creating additional jobs, developing infrastructure around the objects of speleotourism, will lead to an improvement in the quality of life of citizens, as well as to meet the needs for active and good rest, health promotion. The article summarizes some of the results of the study, concluding that speleotourism has a development perspective, the share of tourism in the republic's GDP will increase.