Tourism chiefs to woo Chinese visitors

Chinese visitors may want to add another country to their list of travel destinations: Kazakhstan, which is trying to woo more tourists from around the world.

The country is expected to release a program in 2013 to spur tourism development, said Mukhit Saimassaev, vice-chairman of the Tourism Committee of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Industry and New Technologies.

In Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, people pass by the Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center, also known as the Royal Marquee, which opened in 2010. The center is the symbol of the new capital, which was moved from Almaty in 1997. Zhou Wa / China Daily

Highlights of the program, which will run through 2020, will include "establishing a well-known image for Kazakhstan as a tourism country, facilitating access to Kazakhstan, building necessary infrastructure to make Kazakhstan a more competitive tourism country and preparing professional human resources for tourism development", Saimassaev told China Daily.

Located in the center of Eurasia, Kazakhstan is the world's ninth-largest country in geographical terms, covering an area larger than Western Europe. The country has a diverse culture with more than 100 ethnic groups and offers a wide range of activities, such as hunting, mountain climbing, skiing and ice-skating.

It ranked 93rd among 139 industrialized and emerging economies in terms of travel and tourism attractiveness, according to a report by the World Economic Forum at the Global Tourism Forum 2011.

Kazakhstan reportedly received 5.6 million visitors in 2011, and the tourism industry generated 74 billion tenge ($488.4 million). Foreign visitors come mainly from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, followed by China, Turkey, Germany and the United Kingdom. Saimassaev said visitors are showing a growing interest in the country's traditional cuisine and its unspoiled nature.

Kazakhstan will try to attract Chinese visitors through a series of measures, such as inviting Chinese delegations to attend international tourism fairs and economic forums, and launching more direct flights between the two countries.

Kazakhstan will also improve tourism facilities at Horgos Port to attract more Chinese tourists, he added.

The tourism zone at Horgos began to receive visitors in late September. It is the first tourism project between China and Kazakhstan and mainly features traditional Kazakh performances.

The country is expected to become more popular with visitors in the coming years. Its capital, Astana, will host the 2017 World Expo, the first international event of its kind to be held in Kazakhstan or in Central Asia.

The country can expect to receive 4 million visitors in the three months from June to September 2017 when the event is held, Saimassaev said.

As part of the campaign to boost tourism, the Kazakh government will allow citizens of Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development member countries to visit Kazakhstan for two weeks without a visa, although the exact date at which the measure will begin remains unknown.

Though visitors from China have to get a visa before traveling to Kazakhstan, Hong Kong residents are allowed to take two-week, visa-free trips to the country, according to a statement released in May on the website of the Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan.

lifusheng@chinadaily.com.cn