Although the city of Turkestan was always a popular destination for internal tourism, it was more widely associated with pilgrimage, not entertainment. The city is one of the most ancient settlements within the borders of what is modern Kazakhstan.

Uzbekistan ranked 146 out of 180 countries and territories in the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by Transparency International, well below its neighbour and closes trade partner Kazakhstan, which ranked 94.

The resource-rich Central Asian nation of 34 million had been led by Mirziyoyev, who took over in late 2016 following the death of veteran leader Islam Karimov, who had run Uzbekistan with an iron fist for 27 years.