Rural tourism

(Match: Rural tourism is determined as a priority field of action in the National Program of Tourism Development by 2025. Priorities of the Ministry of Culture and Sports are to identify mechanisms for the establishment and development of small and medium enterprises in the regions, engaged in rural tourism, generate methodological aids, provide assistance to entrepreneurs and local communities and etc).

• Possibility to organize joint initiatives, in particular on a regional scale.
• UNWTO Rural Tourism Development Programme - Best Tourism Villages of the World: International Label; Tourism Villages Upgrade Programme; Best Tourism Villages Network

Enhance the tourism offer of Kazakhstan and its promotion

(Match: Kazakhstan is emphasizing the diversification and improvement of the product and intensification of the tourist experience, including the deploy of a widespread advertisement campaign, which would allow them to break into new markets while preserving existing markets and visitor flows).

• UNWTO Academy: Organization of dedicated trainings on efficient promotion and marketing of destinations for destinations officials / Assist destinations on the development of marketing & promotion strategy of destinations

Education & Training

(Match: The enhancement of skills of the tourism workforce, along with the creation of jobs in tourism, is identified as a key priority. Kazakhstan is specifically interested in the capacity-building programs for the workers of hospitality and guides as well as for managers of the medium level).

• UNWTO would be pleased to receive an official loan in 2023 (ongoing  discussions)
• UNWTO Academy: Kazakhstan has expressed its interest in the establishment of an Education Centre associated with UNWTO under the Turkestan University of Tourism and Hospitality. The proposal to launch the UNWTO education center was discussed in the framework of the Secretary-General’s visit to Kazakhstan in 2019 to participate in the 8th UNWTO Global Summit on Urban Tourism.

Digital transformation

(Match: Kazakhstan underlines the necessity of the development of digital technologies in the field of tourism, including in the promotion area).

• Introduce the UNWTO Start-up Competitions, the world’s largest startup competition in tourism potential to collaborate on the advancement of SDGs through innovation.

Attraction of foreign investment

(Match:in order to implement all the planned reforms in the field of tourism, Kazakhstan’s government needs to attract resources, which can be done through the attraction of foreign private investments)

• Explore the possibility to provide support through the IEI programme, and the organization of an investment forum with the support of UNWTO in Kazakhstan.

The Programme for the Development of the Tourism Industry for 2019-25

The aim is to position Kazakhstan as one of the 50 most attractive countries for travel in the world by 2025. This will be achieved by reference to the following indicators:

1. Increase the contribution of tourism to the country's GDP from 5.7% to 8%,
2. Increase the number of people employed in the tourism industry from 440 000 to 650 000,
3. Increase the number of overseas tourists from the 830 000 to 3 million,
4. Increase the number of domestic tourists from 5 million to 8 million,
5. Increase the volume of tourism services rendered from EUR 256 million to EUR 630 million,
6. Increase tourism investment from EUR 700 million to EUR 1.4 billion.

The implementation cost of the Programme is KZT 2.2 trillion, more than half of which is financed by the Government, while the remainder comes from the private sector.

Source: astanatimes.com