Attendance Rates of Museums in Uzbekistan: Strategies to Attract More Visitors Post COVID Pandemic

Abstract

This paper offers suggestions about how to increase the number of visitors who visit Uzbek museums. Before the independence of Uzbekistan from the Soviet Union in 1991, museums had been largely neglected. However, since 1991 they have begun to receive increasing attention, especially from the government of President Mirziyoyev when he was elected in 2016. Since this time, he has taken positive measures in order to improve the quality of services of museums in Uzbekistan, however these changes have not significantly increased the number of visitors over time. Based on the research literature, a number of strategies have been suggested to increase the number of museum visitors, and to improve the safety for historical artifacts. Specifically, it is crucial that museums in Uzbekistan introduce advanced technologies, especial Virtual Reality (VR) in the context of creating virtual museum exhibitions. This paper also provides a discussion of the historical objects that have been stolen from museums in Uzbekistan and Central Asia, and are now in other museums of different parts of the world. Politically, it has proved impossible to return these historical artifacts to Uzbekistan at the present time. (187 words).