BRIDGING THE REGIONAL IMAGE–ECONOMY GAP THROUGH PLACE MARKETING AND TERRITORIAL REPOSITIONING IN BUKHARA, UZBEKISTAN
Abstract
Regional development increasingly depends not only on the availability of economic, cultural and institutional resources, but also on the capacity of territories to communicate these resources as coherent and credible value propositions. This study introduces the concept of the regional image–economy gap, understood as a divergence between the dominant external image of a region and the actual structure and dynamics of its economy. The purpose of the research is to identify the manifestations of this gap in the Bukhara Region of Uzbekistan and to determine how place marketing and territorial repositioning can align the region’s internationally recognised heritage identity with its contemporary economic transformation. The study applies dynamic, structural, comparative and territorial analysis to official socioeconomic data for 2025. The findings indicate that gross regional product increased by 7.2%, industrial production by 7.1%, agriculture by 4.3%, market services by 14.0%, retail trade by 9.2% and exports by 32.8%. Manufacturing accounted for 92.3% of industrial production, while small businesses generated 71.0% of market services. However, fixed-capital investment declined by 19.4%, imports exceeded exports more than threefold, and service activity remained strongly concentrated in Bukhara city. These results reveal a mismatch between the region’s predominantly heritage-tourism image and its diversified industrial, agricultural, service, export and entrepreneurial economy. The study identifies seven groups of factors influencing territorial repositioning and proposes an umbrella-brand architecture in which the historic city functions as the symbolic core while the districts develop complementary industrial, agricultural, gastronomic, craft and tourism value propositions. The findings contribute to place-marketing research by demonstrating that successful repositioning requires changes in the territorial product, stakeholder coordination and spatial distribution of value rather than communication alone.
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