This photo taken on June 14, 2025 shows the Ak Orda Presidential Palace in Astana, Kazakhstan. Photo: Xinhua
On Monday, China Southern Airlines flight CZ6051, with 173 passengers on board, departed from Beijing for Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, the debut of the first direct air route connecting the two capitals, China Media Group reported.
The route will be serviced twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The new direct flight significantly shortens travel time and improves travel efficiency, strengthening friendly exchanges and economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, the report said.
Increased connectivity along with visa-free policies is contributing to the growing tourism exchanges between China and Central Asia, according to data from Chinese travel agencies, part of a broader trend of burgeoning ties.
This year marks the China tourism year in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan’s year of tourism in China. More and more Chinese tourists enjoy the convenience provided by visa-free travel agreements between China and Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Trip.com Group data showed that since the start of this year, inbound bookings from Central Asian tourists have risen by 106 percent year-on-year, with the number of bookings from Uzbekistan seeing a 164-percent increase.
Cities such as Guangzhou in South China’s Guangdong Province, Hangzhou in East China’s Zhejiang Province, and Beijing are among the top destinations for these travelers. Outbound travel from China to Central Asia has also increased 74 percent, with a 60-percent rise in bookings to Uzbekistan, per the Trip.com data.
Travel platform Utour reported that the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Central Asia so far this year has doubled year-on-year. On the Fliggy platform, bookings for flights to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have increased by 60 percent and 47 percent, respectively.
In response to these trends, tourism firms are making arrangements to launch more products this summer.
"During the summer vacation period, we will launch two Central Asia-themed tourism products, the In-depth Kazakhstan Tour and the Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan dual-country tour," Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager of Spring Travel, told the Global Times on Monday.
"Chinese tourists will taste the special pilaf and watch the light show in Uzbekistan, embarking on an immersive cultural journey that traverses thousands of years and unlocks the charm of the ancient Silk Road from a new perspective," Zhou said.
Han Jie, chairman of CYTS Tours, said that Central Asia has become a popular outbound destination for Chinese travelers.
"Kazakhstan is rich in tourism resources, and Almaty and Astana are deeply loved by Chinese tourists. Uzbekistan, with its rich history and culture, is also very popular among tourists. Currently, group tours are the main way for Chinese tourists to travel to Central Asia, and tourists are mainly retirees. With further development of tourism resources, new products will attract more young tourists," Han told the Global Times on Monday.
With the implementation of the visa-free policy, cultural and tourism exchanges between China and Uzbekistan have entered the fast lane.
Leveraging a new visa-free policy enacted on June 1, Uzbekistan intends to attract 1 million Chinese tourists in the medium term, Laziz Kudratov, Uzbekistan’s minister of investment, industry and trade, told the Global Times in an emailed response on Monday.
"We are establishing ourselves as a primary destination for tourists from around the world, and Chinese tourism is a useful index of this industry’s recent growth. In 2024, we recorded an increase of 75 percent in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Uzbekistan," Kudratov said.
China is one of the most important sources of tourists for Kazakhstan. Data from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Kazakhstan showed that in 2024, visits by Chinese tourists reached 655,000, up 78 percent year-on-year.
原文地址：http://en.people.cn/n3/2025/0617/c90000-20328647.html