The Head of State instructed the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan to develop a State program for the development of tourism in the country until 2023 by January 1, 2019.
The vice-minister of culture and sports of Kazakhstan Yerlan Kozhagapanov told about it in the CCS at a press conference devoted to the state and prospects of the tourism industry in Kazakhstan.
“The Head of State instructed the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan to develop a State program for the development of tourism in the republic until 2023 by January 1, 2019. Currently, the specified order of the Head of State is being implemented,” he said.
As the speaker noted, the core of the state program will be the Kazakhstan touristization map, which includes 60 tourist sites, 50 of which are objects of regional significance, and 10 are points of tourist growth at the national level or top-10.
“Today, the top 10 has reached 3.2 million visitors, in general, these destinations at full capacity can generate up to 13 million visitors. For these purposes, about 5 billion US dollars are needed in the five-year horizon, of which only 30% will be budget investments, the rest will come from the domestic business, ”the speaker explained.
According to the vice-minister, for this the state needs an appropriate infrastructure: roads, engineering and communication, sewer networks and, most importantly, state support measures.
“For example, Lake Alakol in 2017 was visited by about 1 million people, and this despite the poor transport accessibility. There is an acute shortage of hotels, campgrounds and other hospitality infrastructure. The same picture in other points of tourist growth of the top 10 is also in the Shalkar-Imantau lakes of the North Kazakhstan Oblast, Bayanaul and Balkhash, the Shchuchinsko-Borovskaya resort area, ”he said.
Yerlan Kozhagapanov explained that the State Program touches on issues of visa and migration control, i.e. its relief for entry visitors, open skies, human capital - training for the tourism industry, guides, hotel managers and so on. Transport accessibility issues - attracting low-cost airlines to our market, developing local aviation, opening new bus and train routes to these points. The state program aims to wrap up the domestic tourist from overseas resorts within the country. Opportunities in the country for this are available and are being created each time.
“One of the most important issues of ecotourism development in Kazakhstan is the accessibility of national natural parks for tourists. Natural parks around the world is a multi-billion dollar, successful business. Unfortunately, we do not have this synergy. The issues of soft infrastructure development will also form the basis of the state program, ”the speaker noted.
According to Yerlan Kozhagapanov, today the country needs to build more than 700 world-class toilets. This area needs to be subsidized and supported.
“Local executive bodies in the person of akims and akimats should create enterprises for maintaining toilets in a normal sanitary and hygienic state,” he believes.
According to the vice minister, the state program needs legislative support. There is also a very clear instruction from the head of state given for the opening of the fourth session of the sixth convocation of the Parliament of Kazakhstan on September 1 of this year. In Astana. The bill will be submitted in October of the current year. in the Mazhilis of parliament.
“All these measures will make the industry highly profitable, create 1,000 additional jobs, strengthen the role and special position of tourism in the country's economy, in gross value added. All this will make the life of our citizens better and more comfortable, and the growth of their well-being will be stable, ”concluded the Vice-Minister of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan, E. Kozhagapanov.
