The Republic of Uzbekistan has been officially recognized by ASIA Records as the Asian country with the largest number of Islamic historical cities included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Representatives of the Tourism Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Malaysia took part in the award ceremony, which was held in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
According to this recognition, the cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, and Shakhrisabz in Uzbekistan are Islamic historical cities officially recognized by UNESCO. This indicator confirms Uzbekistan’s status as one of the richest and most intact centers of Islamic civilization in Asia.
Located in the heart of the Great Silk Road, Uzbekistan has been a crossroads of culture, science, and spiritual traditions of the Islamic world for centuries. Its historic cities have preserved outstanding examples of Islamic architecture, urban planning, and scientific thought in their authentic environment to this day—mosques, madrasas, mausoleums, and entire urban ensembles. Of particular value is the comprehensive preservation of the historical environment, where the unique heritage is not a single monument, but the entire cityscape in its entirety.
Along with its architectural heritage, Uzbekistan remains an important center of pilgrimage and cultural tourism today. The Khast-Imam complex in Tashkent, the mausoleum of Imam al-Bukhari in Samarkand, the ensembles of Bahouddin Naqshband and Chashma Ayub in Bukhara, as well as the Islamic monuments of Termez continue to attract pilgrims and tourists from all over the world.
The ASIA Records award on the international stage is a recognition of Uzbekistan’s leadership in the preservation, development, and promotion of Islamic historical heritage, as well as confirmation of its universal value for all of humanity.
According to the Serbian Economist, citizens of Ukraine ranked fifth among the key foreign tourism markets of Montenegro in terms of the share of overnight stays in 2025, providing about 4% of all overnight stays in the first seven months of the year, according to the review of the Serbian Economist with reference to data from Monstat and the National Tourism Organization (NTO).
According to the structure given in the material, the largest share of overnight stays in January-July 2025 was formed by guests from Serbia (22.8%), the Russian Federation (16.7%), followed by tourists from Bosnia and Herzegovina (about 8%) and Turkey (5%), followed by Ukraine (4%).
Serbian Economist also notes that 2025 recorded an increase in the number of trips with a decrease in the length of stay: in the first nine months of 2025, Montenegro was visited by 2.415 million tourists (about +5% compared to the same period in 2024), with more than 8.2 million overnight stays recorded by July (4.3% less year-on-year), and the average length of stay decreased to 5.6 days from 6 days in 2024.
According to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand, from January 1 to December 21, 2025, 31.756 million foreign tourists visited the country, which is 7.25% less than in the same period in 2024. The largest markets during this period were Malaysia (4.38 million), China (4.36 million), India (2.40 million), and Russia (1.80 million).
Based on the results of the whole of 2025, the agency estimates the inbound flow at almost 32.97 million tourists (-7.23% y/y) and the revenue from their spending at 1.536 trillion baht (-4.71%). The top 10 markets by number of arrivals included Malaysia (4,520,856), China (4,473,992), India (2,487,319), Russia (1,898,837), South Korea (1,555,227), Japan (1,091,227), the United Kingdom (1,083,162), the United States (1,081,929), Taiwan (987,633), and Singapore (967,341).
Ukraine did not make it into the top ten countries in terms of tourist flow to Thailand in 2025. This means that the flow from Ukraine was lower than that of the country in 10th place (Singapore – about 967,000 tourists).
In the resort real estate market, this usually leads to tougher competition for buyers and developers focusing on audiences from countries that generate the main tourist flow (primarily Malaysia, China, India, Russia, and other top 10 markets).
UN Tourism (United Nations World Tourism Organization) has published a list of the 20 destinations with the fastest recovery in inbound tourist traffic based on the results for January-September 2025 (change compared to 2019), according to data from the World Tourism Barometer.
The top 20 also includes: Bhutan (+203%), Qatar (+138%), El Salvador (+88%), Albania (+83%), Bahrain (+76%), Uzbekistan (+73%), Bahrain (+76%), Curaçao (+68%), Moldova (+63%), Ethiopia (+58%), Tanzania (+57%), Saudi Arabia (+56%), Colombia (+56%), Brazil (+47%), Morocco (+47%), Egypt (+45%), Malta (+44%), Mongolia (+44%), Andorra (+43%), US Virgin Islands (+42%) and Guatemala (+40%).
Overall, international tourist arrivals worldwide in January-September 2025 increased by 5% compared to the same period in 2024 and were 3% higher than in pre-pandemic 2019, according to the World Tourism Barometer.
According to Serbian Economist, Budapest, Hungary, ranked first in Radical Storage’s list of the world’s dirtiest cities, compiled based on an analysis of tourist reviews of the cleanliness of popular attractions in 100 major tourist destinations.
According to the study, 37.9% of reviews mentioning cleanliness in Budapest were negative, which was the worst result among all cities surveyed. Rome (35.7% negative reviews), Las Vegas (31.6%), Florence (29.6%), and Paris (28.2%) followed.
The top 20 cities perceived as the dirtiest by tourists also included Milan, Verona, Frankfurt, Brussels, Cairo, Heraklion, New York, Barcelona, Johor Bahru, Seville, San Francisco, Miami, Hyderabad, London, and Osaka. In all these cities, the share of negative reviews about cleanliness ranges from 15.6% to 26.8%.
The authors of the study note that the most criticism for cleanliness is received by mass tourist centers with historic centers and high loads on urban infrastructure. In the case of Budapest, one possible reason is that the waste management system has not been able to keep up with the growth in tourist traffic, which, according to Etias, increased by 8.3% in Hungary in September 2025 and by 12% in the capital itself compared to the same month in 2024.
Radical Storage emphasizes that the rating reflects not objective sanitary indicators, but rather the subjective perception of cleanliness by tourists, as recorded in English-language Google reviews of key attractions in the 100 leading cities in the world according to the Euromonitor index.
According to Serbian Economist, the island hotel Sveti Stefan near Budva, which is iconic for Montenegrin tourism, may resume operations by May 1, 2026, after many years of inactivity, as the Montenegrin government and the complex’s tenant, Adriatic Properties, are close to reaching an agreement on its reopening.
According to the draft agreement, existing contracts with the tenant and Aman Resorts will remain in force, the parties waive their claims in arbitration proceedings, and each party bears its own costs in London, with the exception of Adriatic Properties’ obligation to compensate Sveti Stefan Hotels for approximately £50,800 previously paid to the arbitration court.
A key element of the project is the obligation of the tenant and Aman to prepare the complex for opening no later than May 2026, with the lease term extended for another four years to compensate for the period of downtime and lost revenue.
A separate section sets out obligations to work with the local community: priority employment for residents of Budva and Paštrovici, purchasing products from local producers, regular fairs for local goods, educational and scholarship programs for young people, and year-round tours of the region. A new advisory body, tentatively called the “Bankada Council,” will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of these points and will report annually to the government. It may be headed by Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, which, according to Vijesti sources, will give the project additional publicity and credibility.
According to media reports, Djokovic has been acting as an informal mediator between the Montenegrin government, Aman Resorts, and Adriatic Properties in the dispute over Sveti Stefan since early 2025 and is discussing the possibility of participating in the project as an investor and representative of the Aman hotel chain.
The Sveti Stefan complex, which includes the island hotel of the same name, the Milocer villa, and the adjacent beaches, has been closed since 2021 amid a conflict between the state and the tenant over beach access and guest privacy.
Sveti Stefan is a historic fortified island village on the Adriatic coast a few kilometers from Budva, which was transformed in the mid-20th century into an elite resort where European monarchs, world politicians, and Hollywood actors vacationed over the years. In 2007, the Montenegrin government signed a 30-year lease agreement for the Sveti Stefan-Milocer complex with Adriatic Properties, a company linked to Greek businessman Petros Stathis, and operational management was transferred to Singapore-based luxury operator Aman Resorts. In 2015, the lease was extended until 2049, with the annual rent reduced to approximately €1.1 million.
https://t.me/relocationrs/1886
