The Art and Culture Development Foundation under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan will open access to the system in a test mode for four cultural institutions of the country: the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Uzbekistan named after Alisher Navoi, the Uzbek National Academic Drama Theatre, The State Musical Theatre of Uzbekistan named after Mukimiy and the Bukhara State Architectural Art Museum-Preserve. During the test period, employees of these institutions will be able to learn how to use the system and start applying it. After the end of the test period, ticket sales will start and all state theaters, museums, and other subordinate organizations of the Ministry of culture that sell tickets will be connected to the SESTO. The test period will last until the end of summer 2020.
The main goal of implementing the system is to create a transparent environment in this area. The emergence of a regulator in this field will improve the competitive environment, lead to the demonopolization of the market, complicate the activities of resellers and corrupt officials, as well as potentially increase the profits of all interested parties by a synergistic effect. SESTO will create significant barriers to speculation and allow the spectator not to overpay for tickets to the most popular events.
At this stage, the implementation of blockchain technology has already begun. This will lead to an increase in the transparency of ticket sales, since every event related to ticket sales, it will be recorded in a database protected by this technology. More information about the implementation of technology in the SESTO can be found in a recent interview with Gayane Umerova, Deputy Executive Director of the Art and Culture Development Foundation under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Spot.uz.
The creation of the SESTO will not restrict the functioning of existing platforms for online ticket sales to cinemas, theaters, concerts, and sports events via the Internet, both from the service providers themselves and from third-party services (iticket.uz and myticket.uz). The created competitive environment will leave the right to choose a convenient and suitable service for the buyer.