A total of 125
tourist projects worth nearly 500 billion tenge are planned to be implemented
in Kazakhstan by 2025, as was reported by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
The major ones include a tourist center in Astana with a warm beach and the
renovation of the Medeu hotel. These and other measures are aimed at increasing
the flow of tourists to the country. Thus, there are plans to reach 12 million
travelers within the next year, with 2.5 million arriving from abroad.
“Countries such
as India, Iran, and other 80 developed states have visa-free access to
Kazakhstan. We have a visa-free regime in place with China on a bilateral
basis. We also have direct flights with 30 countries, totaling 120 routes. To
date, over 600 flights are being operated weekly,” said Yerzhan Yerkinbayev,
Kazakh Vice Minister of Tourism and Sports.
In particular,
in 2024, the country is set to focus on the development of agro-rural,
ecological, and medical tourism. According to experts, these sectors have
significant potential. The Kazakh government is ready to provide substantial
support to entrepreneurs interested in establishing their businesses in these
fields.
“Among the new
measures are the extension of the term for preferential financing, as well as
the empowerment of local administrations to build engineering infrastructure
networks. Rural residents will now have the opportunity to foster tourism on
their land plots,” Yerkinbayev added.
According to the ministry, approximately six million people visited
tourist destinations in Kazakhstan over the first nine months of the past year.
Of these, around a million were foreign travelers.
