When the visitors come: heritage tourism in Silk Road cities

Heritage tourism has changed the old cities of Uzbekistan faster than almost anyone planned for. In 2018 the country opened its doors to visitors with a run of visa reforms, and the madrasas of Samarkand, the trading domes of Bukhara and the walled inner town of Khiva became, within a few years, some of the most photographed places in Central Asia.

The money and attention are real. So is the strain. UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has spent several sessions asking for demolition to stop in residential quarters, for hotel plans to be redrawn and for management plans that still do not exist in final form. Residents in Samarkand have protested demolition and renovation projects near their homes.

This article looks at the three cities as a case of fast-growing heritage tourism: what is protected, how quickly the visitors arrived, what the official conservation reports record, and what cities that have struggled with crowds (Venice, Dubrovnik, Barcelona) have tried. It ends with practical steps and the limits of the evidence.

What counts as heritage tourism

UN Tourism (formerly UNWTO) adopted a definition of cultural tourism at its 22nd General Assembly in Chengdu in September 2017. It describes travel in which the visitor’s main motivation is to “learn, discover, experience and consume” the tangible and intangible cultural attractions of a place, from architecture and historic sites to food, music and everyday ways of life (UN Tourism). Heritage tourism is the part of that field built around historic places, and in Uzbekistan it is concentrated in a handful of listed old towns.

The word “overtourism” is harder to pin down. When UN Tourism published its 2018 report ‘Overtourism’? Understanding and Managing Urban Tourism Growth beyond Perceptions, the organization noted that negative local attitudes toward visitors had spread the term through the media, and it proposed 11 strategies and 68 measures for cities to manage growth (UN Tourism). The question mark in the title matters: crowding is usually a problem of particular streets, hours and seasons.

Three cities on the World Heritage List

Khiva’s Itchan Kala was the first of the three to be inscribed, in 1990, followed by the Historic Centre of Bukhara in 1993 and Samarkand in 2001. Each listing protects a living urban area rather than a single monument, so tourism pressure shows up as a planning problem as much as a conservation one. (The wider Silk Roads corridor listings are covered in our article on what an orchestra and a desert road teach us about peace.)

Some of the threats predate tourism. UNESCO’s description of Bukhara lists rising groundwater and salinity, termites in wooden structures and the declining use of traditional materials, and notes that modern buildings erected over the past half-century have damaged the appearance of some quarters (UNESCO). Khiva faces termites and soil salinity too (UNESCO). Tourism adds a new layer: pressure to build hotels, widen roads and “tidy up” old housing for visitors.

How fast the visitors came

The opening happened in two steps in 2018. A decree signed on 3 February gave citizens of seven countries (Israel, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey and Japan) 30 days of visa-free entry (Embassy of Uzbekistan in India). A second decree, signed on 4 July, introduced electronic visas for citizens of 51 countries and a five-day visa-free transit for citizens of 101 countries, both from 15 July 2018 (Permanent Mission of Uzbekistan to the UN).

Arrivals rose quickly. Officials of the State Committee for Tourism Development reported 6,748,500 foreign visitors in 2019, up 26% from 5,346,200 in 2018 (Fergana News). After the pandemic years the growth resumed. The Statistics Agency counted 7.3 million foreign tourist arrivals in January to November 2024, almost 19% more than a year earlier (Kun.uz), and about 7.5 million in January to August 2025, an increase of 49.1% on the same period of 2024 (Statistics Agency).

These totals need careful reading. In 2019, 6.26 million of the 6.75 million visitors came from CIS countries and 488,400 from farther away (Uzbekistan.travel). In 2024, Kyrgyzstan alone accounted for 2.12 million arrivals and Kazakhstan for 1.38 million (Kun.uz). Many are cross-border trips for family or trade. The number of people who actually walk through the Registan or the gates of Itchan Kala is far smaller and is not published in the national series we found.

What the UNESCO reports say

State of conservation reports, prepared for the World Heritage Committee with input from the government and the advisory body ICOMOS, are the most detailed public record.

Samarkand

By 2021 the Committee was asking Uzbekistan to keep “the overall moratorium on demolition and new development” in place, to remove or substantially revise the illegal “Imari” building and to adjust a Hilton hotel under construction near the property. It also noted that reports of demolition within the property were continuing (UNESCO). The 2023 report recorded a third-party account of “many new demolition and renovation projects” that had prompted protests from local residents, and an ICOMOS review finding that a hotel concept design would have an “unacceptable adverse impact” on the site in its current form. A planned astronomical complex was moved to a tourism center 4 km outside the buffer zone (UNESCO).

Bukhara

A joint UNESCO and ICOMOS mission in January 2020 found the property still threatened by the poor condition of some monuments and traditional houses, inappropriate conservation approaches and tourism development pressures. The 2021 decision asked for heritage impact assessments for several projects, including a private hotel on Gavkushon Street, and for protection of the mahalla residential areas, whose vernacular buildings remain largely unprotected (UNESCO).

Khiva

The 2023 report on Itchan Kala found that a hotel’s first phase had been built on land where mahallas were demolished before a moratorium took effect, and the Committee stated that the project “cannot be taken as a model” for such areas. Projects supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development were moving ahead before a revised detailed plan was approved (UNESCO).

There is a warning from nearby. In July 2016 the Committee placed the Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz, another Uzbek Silk Road city, on the List of World Heritage in Danger, citing “the over-development of tourist infrastructure” and the destruction of buildings in its medieval neighborhoods (UNESCO).

Who benefits and who carries the cost

The benefits of heritage tourism are easy to list: jobs in guesthouses, guiding and transport, buyers for crafts, and money for restoration. The costs fall on a narrower group. In all three cities the recurring issue in the UNESCO record is the mahalla, the traditional residential neighborhood that surrounds the monuments. When mahallas are cleared for parks, roads or hotels, the people who lived there lose their homes, and the cities lose the ordinary fabric that gives the madrasas their context.

Our reading of the reports is that the main risk in Uzbekistan is less about crowds wearing down stone and more about construction carried out in anticipation of visitors. That is a different problem from Venice or Dubrovnik, where the numbers came first. The decisive choices are being made now, before the peak arrives.

What other cities have tried

Cities under heavy visitor pressure have tried pricing, caps, scheduling and housing rules. None is a complete answer.

Venice: pricing the day trip

Venice’s fee targets day visitors, who use the city without staying overnight. Hotel guests, Veneto residents, children under 14 and people visiting relatives were exempt. Critics argued that the 2024 trial did not reduce arrivals, while the city’s tourism councillor called it “a cultural revolution” (AP via BreakingNews.ie). Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said “the experiment worked” (Skift). No independent study of the effect on crowding was available in the sources we checked.

Dubrovnik: scheduling the ships

Dubrovnik, a city of about 42,000 residents, received about 1.2 million visitors in 2018, many by cruise ship (Ship Technology). Its approach has been to manage when people arrive. Under the “Respect the City” program, cruise calls must last at least eight hours, coaches book arrival slots in advance, and wheeling suitcases over the Old Town’s cobblestones is banned (Travel Tomorrow).

Barcelona: protecting housing

Barcelona’s measure is aimed at residents rather than visitors. Mayor Jaume Collboni tied it to house prices that had risen 68% while salaries rose 38%. The Tenants’ Union warned that its practical effects would not be felt for years (Catalan News).

What these cases suggest for Silk Road cities

Two points carry over. First, the European cities mostly acted late, after resident frustration was already high. Uzbekistan has the chance to act earlier, while visitor numbers at specific monuments are still within reach of good management. Second, the strongest measures in Barcelona and Dubrovnik concern housing and access, the same issues that UNESCO keeps raising about the mahallas.

Some lessons do not transfer. Venice’s fee works because it can be checked at a limited number of entry points and because day-trippers are a distinct, countable group. Samarkand and Bukhara are open cities with ordinary traffic in and out. A ticket for the old town would be hard to enforce and could fall on residents. Timed entry at the busiest monuments is more realistic.

Managing heritage tourism in practice

For a city government, a site manager or a foundation that works with heritage communities, these are the practical areas we would focus on. UNESCO’s World Heritage Sustainable Tourism Toolkit offers ten “how to” guides for site managers and communities, the first four covering the basic foundations, and is a sensible starting point.

Carrying capacity

Estimate how many people a courtyard, a minaret stair or a narrow lane can hold at one time without damage or danger, and set timed entry where those limits are reached.

Resident involvement and benefit sharing

Mahalla committees can be consulted before plans are fixed, and a share of ticket or tourist-tax revenue can be ring-fenced for repairs to houses inside the protected area. The UNESCO requests for urban design guidelines covering housing alterations (UNESCO) offer a natural place to start.

Local guides and crafts

Licensing and training local guides keeps more spending in the city. Workshops that let visitors watch ceramics, silk weaving or woodcarving give artisans a direct market. Our article on crafts and development in Central Asia looks at that link in more detail.

Spreading visitors

• Promote lesser-known monuments, quarters and smaller towns alongside the main ensembles.
• Encourage spring and autumn visits with shoulder-season events and pricing.
• Use timed tickets at the Registan and similar sites to flatten midday peaks.
• Schedule tour groups across the day, as Dubrovnik does with coaches.

Conservation standards and data

1. Complete and adopt management plans and master plans before approving major projects, as the Committee has requested for all three cities.
2. Carry out heritage impact assessments for hotels and infrastructure inside or near listed areas.
3. Use traditional materials and techniques for repairs to earthen and brick buildings.
4. Appoint a property manager and a management unit for each site.
5. Publish site-level visitor counts, by month and by monument, so that decisions rest on numbers rather than estimates.

Visitor numbers alone say little about value. Cities that also publish local employment, guesthouse ownership and resident satisfaction figures can see whether heritage tourism is spreading income or concentrating it. The case for culture as a development asset is set out in our article on why culture is development, not decoration.

Limits of the evidence

The national tourism figures count foreign citizens who state tourism as their purpose of entry, and most come from neighboring countries. They do not tell us how many people visit each city or monument, how long they stay or how much they spend there. We could not find a published, site-level series for Samarkand, Bukhara or Khiva.

The UNESCO record is detailed but partial. State of conservation reports rely in part on information supplied by the government and by third parties, and they focus on Outstanding Universal Value rather than on residents’ welfare. The protests in Samarkand appear in that record only as a single line attributed to a third-party report.

The evidence from Europe is mixed too. Venice’s fee raised money, but the sources we checked contain no independent measure of its effect on crowding. Barcelona’s apartment measure will not take full effect until after 2028, and its result is unknown. Dubrovnik’s numbers vary between reports, including the cruise passenger limit.

Where cultural exchange fits

Heritage tourism is a form of people-to-people contact. A visitor who meets a ceramicist in Bukhara or a guesthouse family in Khiva leaves with a more specific picture of Uzbekistan than a brochure gives. That contact depends on people still living in the old quarters. Organizations interested in this work can find more on our programs page.

Key terms

Cultural tourism: Travel in which the main motivation is to learn about and experience a place’s tangible and intangible culture, as defined by UN Tourism in 2017.

Mahalla: A traditional residential neighborhood in Central Asian cities, often with its own community committee.

State of conservation report: A periodic review of a World Heritage property’s condition and threats, examined by the World Heritage Committee.

Heritage impact assessment: A study of how a proposed project would affect the values for which a site is protected.

Carrying capacity: The number of visitors a site can receive at one time without damage to the place or loss of quality for residents.

Questions for discussion

1. Should a city cap visitors at its most famous monuments, or spread them into quieter quarters?
2. Who should decide whether a mahalla is cleared or restored: residents, city planners, national authorities or UNESCO?
3. Could a version of Venice’s access fee work in an open city such as Bukhara, and who would pay it?
4. What information would a city need to publish to show that heritage tourism benefits its residents?

Frequently asked questions

When were Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva listed as World Heritage sites?

Itchan Kala in Khiva was inscribed in 1990, the Historic Centre of Bukhara in 1993 and Samarkand: Crossroad of Cultures in 2001.

How many tourists visit Uzbekistan?

The Statistics Agency counted about 7.5 million foreign citizens arriving for tourism in January to August 2025. Most come from neighboring countries, and site-level figures are not published.

What changed in 2018?

Uzbekistan introduced visa-free entry for seven countries in February 2018 and, from 15 July 2018, electronic visas for 51 countries and visa-free transit for 101.

Is Samarkand in danger of losing its World Heritage status?

It is not on the List of World Heritage in Danger, but the Committee has asked for a moratorium on demolition and new development there until its plans are approved.

What is the Venice access fee?

It is a charge for day visitors on selected days, 5 euros in 2024 and 5 or 10 euros in 2025 depending on how early it is paid.

Closing thoughts on heritage tourism

The cities of the Silk Road have hosted travelers for centuries, and the current wave is large and still growing. The UNESCO reports suggest that the immediate danger in Uzbekistan is less the visitors themselves than the hotels, roads and clearances built in expectation of them. Heritage tourism can pay for restoration and keep crafts alive, but only if the neighborhoods around the monuments remain places where people live.

One concrete step would make every other decision easier: publishing monthly visitor counts for each listed monument and each old town, alongside the moratoriums and management plans the World Heritage Committee has already requested. Readers interested in how heritage connects to wider development can find more in our research and interviews.

Sources

• UN Tourism, Tourism and Culture (definition adopted 2017).
• UN Tourism, New UNWTO Report Helps Cities Manage Impact of Tourism (18 September 2018).
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Itchan Kala.
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Historic Centre of Bukhara.
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Samarkand: Crossroad of Cultures.
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre, State of Conservation: Samarkand, 2021 (2021).
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre, State of Conservation: Samarkand, 2023 (2023).
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre, State of Conservation: Historic Centre of Bukhara, 2021 (2021).
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre, State of Conservation: Itchan Kala, 2023 (2023).
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Shakhrisyabz added to List of World Heritage in Danger (July 2016).
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Sustainable Tourism Toolkit.
• Embassy of Uzbekistan in India, Uzbekistan introduces visa-free regime for citizens of 7 countries (5 February 2018).
• Permanent Mission of Uzbekistan to the UN, Uzbekistan introduces e-visa system for 51 countries (10 July 2018).
• Fergana News, Foreign visitors to Uzbekistan increased by 26% in 2019 (13 January 2020).
• Uzbekistan.travel, Statistik: Ankunfte von Touristen.
• Kun.uz, Foreign tourist arrivals in Uzbekistan surpass 7 million in 2024 (24 December 2024).
• Statistics Agency of Uzbekistan, 7.5 million foreigners came to Uzbekistan for tourism in 8 months (29 September 2025).
• BreakingNews.ie (Associated Press), Venice officials defend day-tripper tax but delay decision on extending it (19 July 2024).
• Skift, Venice to charge entry fees more often: the experiment worked (25 October 2024).
• City of Venice, Venice Access Fee (2025).
• Maritime Executive, Dubrovnik puts cap on daily cruise ship arrivals (4 October 2018).
• Ship Technology, Dubrovnik tourist limits for cruise ships (26 November 2019).
• Travel Tomorrow, How Dubrovnik’s Respect the City scheme is tackling overtourism (29 July 2026).
• Catalan News, Barcelona to eliminate tourist apartments by November 2028 (21 June 2024).