Citizens of 80 foreign countries can visit Kazakhstan without a visa, and citizens of another 109 countries can apply for an electronic visa, it was announced at a meeting chaired by Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov on 31 October.
In the first half of the year, more than three million Kazakh citizens travelled within the country, an increase of 400,000 over the previous year, according to Tourism and Sports Minister Yermek Marzhikpayev.
According to forecasts, the number of domestic tourists will reach nine million by the end of the year.
In addition, the number of foreign tourists doubled in the first half of the year to over 500,000 and is expected to reach 1.4 million by the end of the year.
In the first nine months, Kazakhstan’s tourism sector attracted investments totalling 404.8 billion tenge (approximately US$860 million), an increase of 44% compared to the same period last year.
Prime Minister Smailov noted that the government should focus on developing the country’s tourism potential.
“We need groundbreaking projects in the tourism sector. Over the past three years, $4 billion worth of investment has been attracted to the industry. More than 400 facilities have been built and nearly 7,000 permanent jobs have been created,” he said.
Smailov identified obstacles to the industry’s growth, such as inadequate infrastructure, limited accommodation and poor logistics and service quality. He stressed the importance of addressing these issues in response to complaints and recommendations from tourists, and urged mayors and governors to take action for effective infrastructure development.
Smailov instructed government agencies to draw up roadmaps for the development of the top 20 priority tourist destinations and to develop strategies for promoting agrotourism, ecotourism and cultural tourism.
“All local historical monuments, picturesque natural landscapes and other historical heritage must be properly integrated into tourism products,” he said.
Prime Minister Smailov emphasised the need for measures to improve tourist safety, promote Kazakhstan’s tourism potential internationally, and implement a plan to digitise the tourism industry and improve service quality. He also stressed the importance of simplifying the experience for foreign tourists and digitising domestic tourism services.
