Website development in Bukhara: small hotels, artisans and direct bookings
Bukhara's tourism is built on family guesthouses rather than large hotels, and for them a website is the only way to stop paying aggregator commission.
The city's economic profile
Most accommodation is family-run: six to fifteen rooms inside historic old-town buildings, managed by one family with no marketing department. Around it sits a dense craft layer — metal chasing, miniature painting, knives, embroidery, carpet weaving, bookbinding, silk.
There is also a non-tourist Bukhara: regional gas and textile industry, agriculture, karakul, trade. Those companies need a site for B2B credibility, not for footfall.
A hotel site exists to beat the commission
A guesthouse living purely on Booking hands over a meaningful slice of revenue. Its own site pays for itself the moment it converts guests who already found you into direct bookings: they see you on the aggregator, google your name, and land on your page.
What works: a slightly better direct rate, free station transfer, late checkout, breakfast included. What fails: a brochure page with room photos, no prices and no faster contact route than a form.
Artisans need a catalogue, not a gallery
The typical craftsman's site is photos without prices, sizes or any way to order. A foreign buyer who remembers your work two months later can do nothing with that.
The minimum that works: one page per piece with multiple angles, dimensions, material, price in both USD and UZS, made-to-order lead time, and an explicit international shipping section. That is a small shop, and it is what converts.