On May 31 of this year, Director of the Department of Tourism of Prince William County (Virginia, USA) John Heather gave a guest lecture on the topic “Agritourism in Uzbekistan” for students of the “Silk Road” International University of Tourism and Cultural Heritage.

In his speech, Mr. John Heather spoke in detail about the goals of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project to develop agribusiness in Uzbekistan. In 2021, USAID announced a selection of concept applications among private agritourism enterprises in Uzbekistan to develop domestic and regional tourism. The selection was conducted by the Agribusiness Development Fund, a recently established USAID agribusiness development project.

“On a global scale, agritourism has proven to be an effective tool for rural development. As an additional source of income for small agricultural enterprises, agritourism improves rural infrastructure and creates new jobs. In Uzbekistan, an agrarian state with almost half of its population living in rural areas, agritourism has great potential and can become one of the main drivers of rural development” –   said Mr. John Heather.

This lecture provided an opportunity for students to get acquainted with the USAID agribusiness development project.