Registan, an old public square in the heart of the ancient city of Samarkand, UzbekistanIndian travellers will be able to visit Uzbekistan without a visa for stays of up to 30 days, a move that could accelerate an already fast-growing tourism corridor and give Indian tour operators more room to sell the Central Asian country as a short-haul alternative to established regional destinations.
The visa-free regime was announced during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Uzbekistan on August 29-30, alongside a broader push to expand tourism ties. The Uzbekistan Tourism Committee said the two countries also signed a tourism cooperation programme for 2026-2028, covering joint routes, cultural weeks, film festivals and other initiatives aimed at increasing two-way travel.
The policy arrives with Indian demand already moving sharply upwards. Uzbekistan’s National Statistics Committee recorded 80,800 visitors from India in 2025, putting India among its 10 largest inbound markets. Uzbekistan received 11.7 million foreign visitors during the year, up 46.8% from 2024.
That makes the visa waiver less an attempt to create a new market than a move to remove friction from one that is already expanding.
For India’s travel trade, the timing matters. Uzbekistan is no longer an unfamiliar Central Asian niche requiring extensive explanation at the point of sale. Awareness of Samarkand and Bukhara has grown, air links have improved and Indian travellers are increasingly looking beyond the familiar Southeast Asian and Gulf circuits.
Momentum had been evident earlier. Indian arrivals reached 28,500 in the first five months of 2025, up 22.7% year on year. Nearly 18,000 of those trips were classified as leisure travel, while official and educational traffic made up much of the remainder.
Removing the visa process gives tour operators another lever. Short booking windows matter in India, particularly around festival breaks, school holidays and last-minute international trips. Easier entry can also make Uzbekistan more workable for small groups, incentive travel and customised departures that may not have justified the administrative effort previously.
Samarkand remains the headline act
For most first-time Indian visitors, Uzbekistan’s appeal starts with its Silk Road cities.
Samarkand anchors that proposition. Registan Square, Shah-i-Zinda, the Bibi-Khanum Mosque and Gur-e-Amir — the mausoleum of Amir Timur — form the core of most itineraries. The official Uzbekistan Travel portal identifies these sites, along with ancient Afrasiab, among the city’s principal attractions.
There is a historical familiarity here that gives Indian operators useful storytelling material. The Timurid world that shaped Samarkand also runs through the history of the Mughal dynasty in India. Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, was born in present-day Uzbekistan. That connection lends the destination an extra layer beyond architecture alone.
Bukhara slows the pace. Its old trading quarters, mosques, madrassas and the Poi-Kalyan ensemble recall the period when caravans from India and China moved through the region. Uzbekistan’s tourism authority notes that Bukhara contains more than 150 medieval architectural monuments, while its Islamic heritage also creates scope for cultural and pilgrimage itineraries.
Bukhara and Samarkand are popular in India as Uzbekistan’s “crown jewels”, reflecting the destinations that continue to dominate the country’s international leisure image. Tashkent provides the natural urban counterpoint, with Chorsu Bazaar, museums, the Hazrati Imam complex and its striking Soviet-era metro. Khiva can extend a standard itinerary westwards, while Shakhrisabz adds another chapter to the Timurid story. Uzbekistan’s official tourism site lists Samarkand, Bukhara, Shakhrisabz and Khiva among its UNESCO-linked historical cities.
The commercial opportunity now lies in turning that cultural inventory into more varied product. Five- to seven-night heritage circuits are the obvious starting point, but family departures, pilgrimage travel, incentive groups, gastronomy and higher-end private touring offer room to widen the market.
Visa-free entry will not create demand on its own. Air capacity, fares, hotel supply and stronger distribution in Indian cities will determine how far Uzbekistan can scale. What it does remove is friction — and in a crowded outbound market, that can be enough to move a destination from consideration to booking.
