Abstract

Background: Domestic tourism is increasingly recognized as a vital contributor to national economies, particularly in developing countries like Uzbekistan. Specific Background: Despite policy initiatives promoting internal travel, limited data exists on how affordable travel options shape domestic tourism behavior. Knowledge Gap: Little is known about the perceived accessibility and value of low-cost travel packages among Uzbekistani residents. Aims: This study aims to evaluate perceptions of low-cost travel packages and identify key factors associated with their appeal to domestic tourists. Results: Based on a mixed-methods approach involving 37 online survey respondents and statistical analysis using SPSS, the study finds that perceptions of value-for-money are significantly shaped by travel frequency and the quality of customer service. Novelty: The research uniquely combines quantitative and qualitative evidence to illuminate how localized, budget-friendly travel options influence domestic tourism patterns in a Central Asian context. Implications: The findings suggest that to stimulate domestic tourism growth, stakeholders should prioritize promotional strategies, raise public awareness, and develop tailored, affordable travel packages for local residents. While the study's small sample limits generalizability, it provides a foundational basis for future research involving broader populations to validate and expand upon these insights.

Highlights:

• Value perception is shaped by travel frequency and service quality.

• Custom low-cost packages can boost local tourism participation.

• Small sample limits generalizability; broader studies are needed.

Keywords : Domestic Tourism, Uzbekistan, Customer Satisfaction, Travel Packages, Statistical Analysis

Introduction

Uzbekistan’s diverse cultural heritage makes this country a magnet for tourists worldwide. Domestic tourism is undoubtedly one of the best options to choose when someone wants to travel to a new place, but still wants it to be cost-effective. Domestic tourism in Uzbekistan is developing with the government's initiatives towards developing not only international, but also domestic tourism, since Uzbekistan is a unique blend of historical significance and modernity, which grabs the attention of visitors [1]. At present, the government allocates significant resources into the tourism industry in Uzbekistan, which is meant to channelize tourism as a strategic national development path for accelerating regional growth. According to President Sh.M. Mirziyoyev's message, one of the main social sector goals for 2019 is 'taking comprehensive measures to develop tourism, attract investments in the tourism field, and expand human potential' [2], [3].

Businessmen in services such as transport, accommodation, catering are announcing up to 50 percent discounts for tourists during low season and days of domestic tourism. Having predetermined the decision of the President of Uzbekistan Republic dated April 30, 2022 no. 232 "On additional measures for the diversification of services of domestic tourism", within the framework of "Travel around Uzbekistan!", the "Cashback" system (the method for the return of the proportion of the costs of internal travel in the republic) was introduced into the practice between business entities and its residents in the region [4].

While there are several studies examining domestic tourism, areas such as the availability of travel packages, the relationship between accessibility of packages and different variables, the opinion of locals about services has not been explored yet. This study addresses a critical research problem: the lack of knowledge about how customized travel packages influence domestic tourism in Uzbekistan [5]. The importance of domestic tourism and its benefits to the economy and culture have been studied abundantly but the extent to which package tours impact regional travel flows and industry growth is understudied [6]. Lack of empirical data in the literature about this topic makes practicing strategic planning and designing of offerings aimed at exclusive preferences of local tourists difficult [7], [8].

The aim of this research is to evaluate the impact of travel packages on improving the domestic tourism experience, identify the main factors influencing tourists’ preferences, and determine the relationship between these packages and the broader development of Uzbekistan’s tourism industry. The study will also identify actionable insights for tourism agencies and local stakeholders, by focusing on these goals. This paper is organized as follows: The existing studies of domestic tourism and their economic impacts both globally and in Uzbekistan are examined in the literature review. The methodology section describes this mixed-methods approach used in data collection and analysis, and the results section describes finding of regression analysis of variables such as affordability, frequency, and quality [9]. The conclusion follows, with the main points being policy implications and recommendations for improving Uzbekistan's domestic tourism offers. The comprehensive structure assures that the research deals with its objectives systematically and in ways that make a meaningful contribution to the literature on domestic tourism in Uzbekistan.

Literature Review

1. Domestic Tourism

Domestic tourism, as defined by UNWTO, is “one with a main destination within the country of residence of the visitor”. A quantitative comparative analysis by UNWTO reached the conclusion of huge volumes of domestic tourism flows compared to international tourism in 2018, where domestic tourists accounted for nine billion trips made worldwide, which is six times more than international tourist flows with 1.4 billion trips worldwide. According to empirical investigations conducted by several researchers, local travel has a growingly beneficial effect on a country’s economic growth compared to foreign travel.

2. Domestic Tourism in Uzbekistan

Domestic Tourism in Uzbekistan is becoming more popular among local residents, especially with government’s decisions on economic development strategies of diversifying tourism facilities and increasing attention on tourism sector’s contribution to country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Melikulov associates the growing recognition of the importance of domestic travels with Pandemic, when tourism entities turned the center of their attention from international tourism to domestic one, in order to create favorable conditions for the development of tourism in adjusted market economies [10].

There is a large volume of published studies describing the significant potential for further development of Uzbek domestic tourism sphere , particularly focusing on the importance of country’s historical and cultural attractions, as well as its strategic geographical location. Furthermore, Patterson & Turaev explore the relationship between Uzbekistan’s nature, climate, culture, and cuisine and the sustainable development of the country's tourism industry [11].

Anter utilize Primary Data Collection methods and apply Statistical SPSS software to investigate the impact of Economic variables, such as unemployment, inflation and rising price on domestic tourism choices and evidence shows little significance between them. On the other hand, more recent studies applying gravity models from panel data provide strong evidence of a positive relationship between the Uzbek tourism sector and improvement of transportation infrastructure, as it results in lowering transportation and trading costs, as well as reducing travel distances. Several lines of evidence utilizing a convenience data sampling technique by Allaberganov & Preko suggest that there is no significance between domestic tourism choices and tourists’ demographic information like age, gender, religion or marital status, while nationality of tourists is statistically associated with their tourist choices. Melikulov employs integrative approach principle, which allows to define not just the issues of individual elements of domestic tourism, but also their systematic interrelationships, discussing both Dependent and Independent variables of domestic tourism [12]. He concludes that by combining coordinated actions and implementing joint programs, organizations within tourist complexes are to determine the development and promising directions of the tourism sphere [13].

Data

The study investigates the role of Customized Travel Packages on the development of the domestic tourism sphere in Uzbekistan. The analysis utilizes mixed methods research, an approach that provides a comprehensive understanding of the research topic. The data collection method used in this research is primary data from questionnaires distributed to people through social media. Table 1 shows the respondents demographics:

Overall, out of 37 responses among participants, 54,05% of them were people who are 15 - 22 years old , 40,54% people who are 23-35, while 5,41% of them are 36 - 49 years old. Females accounted for 81,08% of the respondents, whereas 18,92% of the surveyed were males. The majority of participants hold Bachelor’s degrees - 51,35%, masters students are 35,14% and 13,51% of High school students. When it comes to income level, there are 35,14% of respondents who earn more than five million Uzbek soums as well as from one to three million soums,

As shown in Figure 1, the distribution of travel frequency among the respondents indicates that the majority travel occasionally or sometimes, while only 5.41% report that they never travel domestically. This suggests a general interest in domestic tourism among local residents, which can be leveraged by tourism agencies for targeted package development.

Figure 1.Travel Frequency

Most of the respondents travel either occasionally or sometimes, and only 5,41% of them have never travelled.

Figure 2 illustrates the respondents’ preferred modes of transportation when traveling domestically. A significant proportion of respondents favor traveling by car, which implies the importance of road infrastructure in supporting domestic tourism mobility.

Figure 2.Mode of Transportation

The greater part of respondents prefers cars as a mode of transport to reach destinations.

In Figure 3, the average duration of trips is presented. The majority of respondents prefer short holidays lasting between 1 to 2 days, while extended trips of over 10 days are relatively rare. This pattern reflects the demand for brief and affordable travel options among local tourists.

Figure 3.Average Trip Duration

Overall, most respondents prefer about 1-2 days of holidays on average. Those who prefer to stay more than 10 days accounted for 5,41%.

Figure 4 demonstrates the perceived affordability of domestic trips, segmented by travel frequency. Respondents who travel sometimes tend to find domestic travel affordable, whereas those who travel occasionally remain neutral. This reflects how travel habits influence perceptions of value and pricing.

Figure 4. Affordability of Domestic trips by Travel frequency

In general, respondents who travel sometimes hold an opinion that domestic travel options are affordable. Those who travel occasionally stay neutral about affordability.

Method

The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to analyse the collected data from the questionnaire, using the Ordinal Logistics Regression model. This study uses 18 independent variables, such as gender, age, education level, income level, frequency, mode of transportation, duration of stay, quality of accommodation, the importance of cultural experiences, affordability, availability of online information, recommendation probability, safety, availability of travel packages, customer service, the importance of local cuisine, domestic tourism promotion by government and tourism agencies and recommendations and their impact on Domestic Travel choices. Theoretical model of the study (1) shows as follow:

DTD = ß +αGender + α1Age + α2Education level + α3Income Level+ α4Frequency+ α5Mode of Transportation + α6Stay Duration + α7Quality ofAccommodation + α8Importance of Cultural Experiences + α9Affordability + α10Available Online Information About Destinations + α11Recommendation Probability + α12Safety + α13 Availability of Travel Packages + α14Customer Service atTourist Spots + α15The Importance of Local Cuisine + α16Domestic TourismPromotion + α17Recommendation + ε (1)

Where, DTD stands for Domestic Tourism Demand, β is constant; Gender stands for Gender of the respondents; Age shows Age group of respondents; Education Level represents Level of Education; Income Level shows respondents’ Income Level; Frequency stands for periodicity by which respondent travel domestically; Mode of Transportation represents preferred Transportation mode among surveyed; Stay Duration shows on average how many days respondents usually opt to stay in domestic tourist destinations; Quality of Accommodation stands for the quality of hotels, resorts, hostels and etc. during the trip; Importance of Cultural Experiences represents the extent to which respondents would like to visit local cultural destinations; Affordability means the rate of domestic visits’ affordability; Available Online Information About Destinations represents respondents’ opinions on whether there is sufficient information about local tourist destinations online or not; Recommendation Probability shows the probability that local surveyed travellers would (or would not) recommend travelling domestically; Safety stands for the feeling of respondents’ safety and security during the trip; Availability of Travel Packages (DV) shows the level of satisfaction on the available customised travel packages and guided tours to local destinations; Customer Service at Tourist Spots means the level of customer service at hotels, restaurants, tour operators and etc.; The Importance of Local Cuisine stands for observed people's opinion on the importance of local cuisine on domestic tourism destination choice; Domestic Tourism Promotion represents respondents’ beliefs on whether domestic tourism sphere in Uzbekistan is well-promoted by the government and tourism agencies; Recommendation stands for suggestions to enhance the domestic tourism experience in Uzbekistan; α , α1 …. α17 are the coefficients of the independent variables; ε represents the error term [14].

Result and Discussion

A. Result

Table 2 shows the results of Ordinal Logistics Regression as follow:

Education Level (Bachelor’s degree, High school) is statistically insignificant. We do accept null hypothesis and reject alternative hypothesis, meaning there is no relationship between education level and affordability of travel packages in Uzbekistan,

Travel Frequency (Always, Never, Occasionally) is statistically insignificant. We do accept null hypothesis and reject alternative hypothesis, meaning that there is no relationship between travel frequency and affordability of travel packages in Uzbekistan.

Travel Frequency (Often) is statistically significant at 0,1 level. We accept alternative hypothesis and reject null hypothesis meaning that there is a negative relationship between travel frequency and affordability of travel packages in Uzbekistan. One unit boost in travel frequency will diminish the affordability of travel packages in Uzbekistan by 31.4 units. The hypothesis behind this would be that if people travel more, the demand for domestic travel packages will rise, prompting tourism companies to make tours more expensive to gain maximum profit [15].

B. Discussion

Cultural Experience (Not important) is statistically insignificant, meaning that there is no relationship between cultural experience and affordability of travel packages in Uzbekistan.

Customer Service (Level 2,3) is statistically significant at 10% level. We accept Ha and reject Ho, meaning that there is a negative relationship between customer service and availability of travel packages in Uzbekistan. 1 % enhancement in customer service will reduce the affordability of travel packages in Uzbekistan by 56,3 and 44,3 % accordingly. The reason behind it would be that customer service plays an important role in tourist satisfaction therefore making tourist destinations desirable. Tourists coming to these places want to have memorable experiences with quality service. This allows tourist companies to create better facilities for local tourists, and higher the quality - higher the price, which reduces the accessibility of local travels.

Local Cuisine (All levels) is not significant. We do accept Ho and reject Ha, meaning that there is no relationship between local cuisine and accessibility of travel packages in Uzbekistan.

In addition to tourist satisfaction levels, respondents also shared recommendations for further development of tourism activities - the majority of them highlighted the importance of improving infrastructure and service quality, as well as raising nation’s awareness about local tourist attractions by online promotion and creation of customized travel packages, that would allow them to choose the best travel locations and facilities suitable for their needs and wants.

Conclusion

This study appears to be the first empirical investigation into the impact of Customised Travel Packages on Domestic Tourism in Uzbekistan. Using convenience sampling techniques, 37 responses have been collected in a two-week period, then analyzed using the Ordinal Logistics Regression Model to estimate the relationship between dependent and independent variables. The results of this study show that respondents’ demographics are insignificant in shaping their domestic destinations’ preferences, while on the other hand, one unit increase in Travel frequency decreases the affordability of tours, which implies that the higher the demand for domestic trips, the more expensive goods and services become in destinations. The research has also shown that while Local cuisine at destinations and Cultural attractions play almost no role in determining the demand for domestic travels, Customer service emerged as a reliable predictor for travel preferences, and the hypothesis would be that customer service plays a vital role in shaping tourist satisfaction levels, therefore making tourist destinations more desirable.

Further studies need to be carried out in order to validate the importance of travel packages in determining the demand for inbound tourism in Uzbekistan. Tourism agencies are required to pay attention to enhancing the range of available tours and travel options, taking into account price elasticity of tourists. The scope of this study was limited in terms of a small sample size, which may restrict the results. Suggestion for future research would be to explore a broader sample size to provide more comprehensive understanding.

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