China is resuming outbound group tours to Kazakhstan and a number of other countries, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism reports. Thus, services for booking flights and Kazakh hotels will become available for foreign tourists starting March 15. However, this applies not only to Kazakhstan. The list of tourism-allowed countries also includes Nepal, Brunei, Vietnam, Mongolia, Iran, Jordan, Tanzania, Namibia, Uzbekistan, and others. According to the industry experts, the decision to resume outbound travel and the expected future tourist influx from the neighboring country will have a positive and multiplier effect on Kazakhstan’s economy. It is noteworthy that in the pre-pandemic period, for example, about 100,000 travelers used to come to Kazakhstan from China every year.
“We can predict that the tourist flow from China to Kazakhstan will increase approximately by four times over the year. This will have a positive impact on the country’s economy. Tourists stay in hotels, purchase various souvenirs, and use other services. Therefore, all of this together will have a big multiplier effect on the industry. Also, the greater the influx of tourist groups in the country, the better the inbound tourism will prosper. All these factors combined make Kazakhstan attractive to Chinese tourists as a vacation and tourism destination,” said Yernur Kenzhebekov, Press Secretary of Kazakh Tourism National Company.
