Domestic tourism on the rise

Kazakh residents began traveling within their homeland more frequently. To a greater extent, this was facilitated by the pandemic and the closed borders in connection with it. For example, over two million people have spent their holidays in the Kazakh resorts over the six months of this year. This is twice as much as in the same period in 2020. According to economists' estimations, during this time the country's hotels and sanatoriums earned just over 44 billion tenge (US$100.9 million). They predict that the tourist arrivals at the domestic resorts will continue to grow. This will be facilitated by the 10-pronged strategy for the development of this sector. In addition, the subsidy for tour operators will amount to 15,000 tenge (US$34) for each tourist in the coming year. There are also plans to digitize the travel registration system in 2021.

“The E-Konak information system allows to register foreign travellers arriving in the country, and to accommodate them without visiting migration and other services. We will be able to see all the information thanks to the fast reading of any country’s passport. In the future we will be able to track how many tourists have arrived in our country online, as well as from which states they came and so on,” said Yernur Kenzhebekov, Spokesperson for ‘Kazakh Tourism’ National Company.

Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova

Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova