Chairman of NCE RK "Atameken" Ablay Myrzakhmetov stated this at the Kazakh-Chinese tourism forum in Astana

"In August we raised this issue with the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Masimov, and yesterday Bakhytzhan Sagintayev (current Prime Minister) ordered the creation of an interdepartmental government working group, headed by Askar Mamin (the first Deputy Prime Minister). And, perhaps, next week we will begin work on the program of tourism development. It is extremely important to cover the entire range of issues that arise: visa, customs, migration services, roads, benefits, inclusion of tourism in all programs of state support measures", - said the Chairman of the Board of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of RK "Atameken" Ablay Myrzakhmetov, opening the Kazakh-Chinese tourism forum.

Chairman of the Board of NCE noted that tourism is included in the map of regional business development, prepared by the Chamber, as one of the priority sectors. "At the beginning of the year all the regional chambers, together with akimats were given a task to develop road maps of tourism development. Such work has already been done in Almaty. Not only state bodies can be involved in this work, but directly companies of the tourist industry: the owners or managers of hotels, resorts, transportation companies, firms, companies, which provide services in the field of catering", - he added.

According to A. Myrzakhmetov, today the major oil service companies, which for decades have built a business around the oil industry, are willing to invest in the tourism industry, because they understand that it is now the most promising. "They ask for the program, which will encourage investment in tourism. We will try to the end of the year together with you to prepare a program. Tourism - is the sphere, which gives a large multiplier effect. We believe that tourism will be one of those industries that will help the economy of Kazakhstan to grow, to develop small businesses", - he concluded.

According to Deputy Chairman of NCE RK "Atameken" Yuliya Yakupbaeva such group visas are already being issued. 300 Chinese tourists visited Kazakhstan this way. "Last year we started to issue ADS-visas, and we have already begun to host the first group. ADS-visa – is a group visa, that is, only the Chinese travel groups. So far, we hosted several groups of 300 people. For example, a group of Chinese tourists from 100 people spent 2.5 million tenge on purchase of souvenirs and food products only in East Kazakhstan. That is, it is significant for small business", - she said.

Yakupbaeva stressed that Kazakhstan should prepare to receive tourists from China. "If we can say that today we are ready to host Russian, English-speaking tourists, then we need to prepare for hosting of Chinese tourists. We need to know some of their traditions, to understand them, so that tourists, no matter what country they come from, return to Kazakhstan again. Therefore, we hold a forum today", - she said.

Deputy Chairman of the Board of NCE said that a photo contest "I love Kazakhstan" is held within the forum. "It's just our citizens, travelers, their amateur photos”. There is warmth coming from each photo, because they are associated with some kind of positive emotions of travel around Kazakhstan. We hope that with such activities we will make Kazakhstan a popular tourist country", - Yuliya Yakupbaeva.

By the results of the forum were signed memorandums between tourist organizations, representatives of Kazakhstani, Chinese and Russian business.

The forum was organized by the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan "Atameken", the Metropolitan Association of Tourism and Association of Travel Agencies of Kazakhstan "ATAK".

This event, which is held in the run-up to the year of China in Kazakhstan in 2017, is included in the calendar of events of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

The objectives of the forum are the formation and promotion of a favorable tourist image of the country, promotion of the development of mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of tourism between Kazakhstan and China, to ensure dialogue between the government and representatives of the tourist industry of Kazakhstan and China.

The forum was attended by over 200 professionals of Kazakhstan's tourist business. In addition, Chinese tourist companies visited Kazakhstan within the info tour organized by the Metropolitan Association of Tourism and the airline Air Astana. The forum participants discussed the future of the international Chinese tourism: trends and perspectives, international experience in the reception of tourists from China, the prospects for inbound tourism from China to Kazakhstan.

Among the speakers were representatives of Pacific Asia Tourist Association (PATA), the World Tourist Cities Federation (WTCF), the State Administration of Tourism of China, the state tourism authorities in Hong Kong, Beijing, Xinjiang, Hainan Province and Shanxi, China Academy of tourism, as well as the first heads of state bodies and business in Kazakhstan.

On 14^th of December 2015 between Kazakhstan and China was signed a memorandum on simplification of group tourist trips for Chinese citizens to the Republic of Kazakhstan, which opens up new possibilities for the development of tourism in Kazakhstan. Today, China is the world’s largest leading market. In 2014, 107 million Chinese citizens went abroad for tourist purposes, in 2015 the growth reached 127.9 million tourists from China throughout the world, who have spent 292.2 billion dollars on travel.