“With time-rich baby-boomers driving growth in adventure travel, we're increasingly seeing our clients take longer, once-in-a-lifetime trips, and nowhere is hotter right now than the countries of the Silk Road,” says Jonny Bealby of Wild Frontiers.
“随着有充裕时间的婴儿潮一代成为冒险游主力军，历时更长、一生一次的旅游甚嚣尘上，而丝路沿线国家如今成为最热门的旅游目的地。”Wild Frontiers旅行社创始人Jonny Bealby说。

He says demand has been boosted by recent books and television programmes, including Peter Frankopan's best-selling historical epic, The Silk Roads, Sam Willis' BBC series The Silk Road and comedian David Baddiel's Discovery Channel documentary, On the Silk Road.
他说丝路沿线国家旅游需求大幅增长，推波助澜者是新近出版的旅游图书与相关电视节目，其中就有Peter Frankopan的历史巨著《丝绸之路》、Sam Willis主持的BBC纪录片《丝绸之路》以及喜剧明星David Baddiel的探索频道纪录片《On the Silk Road》。

For those without the months needed to make a full journey along the route, Uzbekistan offers a convenient taste of some of the highlights — including the mosques, mausoleums, mosaics and minarets of the ancient trading cities of Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand.However, the allure of such sites has always been tempered by the difficulties of getting a visa (until recently, for example, the London embassy would only accept payment by postal order, while travellers arriving overland have occasionally found the borders unexpectedly closed to mark public holidays).
对于那些因时间所限无法游览丝路全程的旅客来说，乌兹别克可让他们饱览丝路文化的精华部分——其中包括清真寺、各种陵墓、马赛克工艺以及希瓦、布哈拉、撒马尔罕等古丝路沿线的贸易城市；而饱览这些丝路遗迹总是因获取签证的繁文缛节而作罢（比方说在以前，乌兹别克驻伦敦大使馆只接受汇票付款，而陆路抵达乌国的游客偶尔也会遭遇边境会毫无征兆地关闭，原因竟是休公假）。

With the passing in September of Islam Karimov, the strongman president who had ruled since 1990, there are signs the country may now open up.Shavkat Mirziyoyev was sworn in as Karimov's successor at the start of this month and already his government has announced a desire to see the “intensive development of tourism”.
自1990年一直统治乌国的强人总统伊斯兰·卡里莫夫去年九月撒手人寰后，种种迹象表明该国可能会对外开放。不久前，沙夫卡特·米尔济约耶夫正式成为卡里莫夫的继任者，其政府已公开表达“大力发展旅游业”的意愿。

To that end, from April 2017 citizens of 15 countries (including the UK, Australia, Canada and several European nations) will no longer require any sort of visa (though there's still a $50 entry fee).Citizens of a further 12 countries will also not need visas, but only if they are over 55 — presumably because Mirziyoyev, like Bealby, has identified wealthy baby-boomers as an important target market.
为此，从今年4月起，15个国家（其中包括英国、澳大利亚、加拿大以及几个欧盟国家）的公民来乌国旅游无需签证（尽管仍需50美元入境费），另外12国公民来乌国旅游也无需签证，但须年满55岁——原因可能是米尔济约耶夫与卡里莫夫一样，认定不差钱的婴儿潮一代游客是至关重要的消费群体。