TASHKENT, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Over 1.7 million foreign tourists visited Uzbekistan in the first two months of 2026, marking a 33 percent increase compared with the same period last year, the country's National Statistics Committee said Wednesday.

In terms of the number of arriving tourists, Kyrgyzstan ranked first with 521,138 people, followed by Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, the committee said in a news release.

According to the committee, 11.7 million foreigners visited Uzbekistan for tourism purposes in 2025. ■