ASSESSING THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN UZBEKISTAN: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF SAMARKAND, BUKHARA, AND KHIVA

The paper discusses the impact international tourism has on the local community life of Uzbekistan, in particular on the heritage cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. Even though the field of tourism has evolved rapidly since 2017, there is a lack of empirical evidence regarding the allocation of the economic profits on the community level. The research involving the assistance of a mixed-methods research design includes quantitative survey data of 55 tourism workers and qualitative information materials on the basis of open-ended questions and informal interview. The analysis is devoted to the reliance of the tourism-associated income, character of employment, participation in the value chain as well as distribution and governance of benefits. The outcomes have demonstrated that tourism is an important source of livelihood and that the respondents received an average of 56 per cent of their household earnings in the tourism industry and had an experience of eight years in the tourism related activities. The consumer benefits are, however, not equally spread and little involvement in community in tourism planning. It was also only in one variable, which is the local spending retention where Khiva showed more local economic relations compared to Samarkand and Bukhara. The qualitative data identifies the poor structural barriers, including, but not limited to, lack of adequate financial resources, poor infrastructure, and inability of small producers to enter the market, and bureaucracies. Despite these limitations, the respondents indicated that there was the potential to improve local participation through community-based tourism (CBT), more appropriate integration of local suppliers into tourism value chain as well as its introduction of capacity building services.本论文探讨了国际旅游业对乌兹别克斯坦当地社区生活的影响，尤其聚焦于撒马尔罕、布哈拉与希瓦这三座遗产城市。尽管自2017年以来旅游业领域发展迅猛，但目前仍缺乏关于经济收益在社区层面分配情况的实证证据。本研究采用混合方法研究设计（mixed-methods research design），采集了55名旅游业从业者的定量调查数据，以及基于开放式问题与非正式访谈所得的定性资料。本次分析围绕旅游业相关收入的依赖程度、就业特征、价值链（value chain）参与度，以及收益分配与治理模式展开。 研究结果显示，旅游业是当地重要的生计来源，受访从业者的家庭收入中平均有56%来自旅游业，且平均拥有8年的旅游相关从业经验。然而，旅游收益并未实现均等分配，社区在旅游规划中的参与度也较低。仅在一项指标上存在差异：相较于撒马尔罕与布哈拉，希瓦的本地经济关联度更高，具体体现为本地消费留存率更高。定性数据还揭示了诸多突出的结构性障碍，包括但不限于充足金融资源的匮乏、基础设施薄弱、小型经营者难以进入市场，以及官僚主义掣肘。尽管存在上述局限，受访对象仍指出，可通过社区旅游（community-based tourism, CBT）提升本地参与度，推动本地供应商更合理地融入旅游价值链，并引入能力建设服务以改善现状。