Advancing tourist safety management in Uzbekistan’s growing tourism industry: a systems theory approach

This paper aims to identify the systemic weaknesses in tourist safety management for Uzbekistan’s rapidlygrowing urban tourist destinations, and it proposes an integrated framework to address these weaknesses. Themethodology approach utilizes a qualitative comparative approach; the research on secondary data from internationalbest practices (Singapore, Japan, UAE) and official Uzbek tourism sources. Thematic analysis informed by SystemsTheory revealed deficiencies in five safety management dimensions. The practical implications of this study offer anactionable roadmap for policymakers with a focus on integrated technological solutions, standardized training protocols,multilingual communication platforms, formalized coordination mechanisms, and improved regulatory standards. Thispaper fills a gap in the literature in terms of safety management in emerging tourism destinations, particularly in CentralAsia. It theorizes safety in tourism at the destination level, and provides input for preventive safety management systemsin an emerging destination with features that have been affected by rapid urban developments in the country.