On 13 of December 2017 was the first Tourism Council with the participation of the Minister of Culture and Sport of the Republic of Kazakhstan A. Mukhamediuly, representatives of state bodies, tourist associations and tourist industry

The event was also attended by Deputy Chairman of the Board of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Atameken" Yuliya Yakupbaeva.

In her presentation, the Vice-Chairperson noted the main results that had been achieved through joint work:

"2017 was an important year in the creation of the base and infrastructure of tourism. A profile Committee was created, NC "Kazakh Tourism", adopted the Concept of Tourism Development until 2023. Joint efforts of the local executive bodies and regional chambers of Atameken carried out an inventory of places of tourist attraction. The developed Roadmaps for all 16 regions, united on a cluster principle, were included in the Action Plan for the implementation of the Concept", - she noted.

The main part of her speech Yuliya Yakupbaeva devoted to the definition of 6 key tasks for 2018:

FIRST, the development of regional tourist products.

As studies show, the average tourist is in Kazakhstan for less than 2 days. Mostly these are people who come to us for work - to a conference, negotiations and so on. Unfortunately, these tourists do not leave as much money as they would leave families with children. And, again, unfortunately, we do not actually do anything, so that families with children come to visit us. At the same time, we have a very rich historical heritage.

If Taraz, for example, we call the place where tulips appeared, tourists, of course, will be interested in this fact. So there should be a museum of tulips in the city. Similarly, in Almaty - a museum of apples. And, preferably, with an interactive exposure.

It is important to work out, at the first stage, specific 2-3 model routes in each region with a substantive basis (legends, stories, leisure), so that they form the basis for a guidebook in Kazakhstan with photos and coordinates of travel agencies where these routes can be ordered.

Secondly, the promotion of Kazakhstan's brand abroad.

The created tourist products should become the basis for the work of Kazakhtourism. But recognition is still important here. Arriving, for example, in Paris, we can purchase as a souvenir stickers with the symbols of France - the croissant, the Eiffel Tower, the Moulin Rouge mill, the French baguette, the little black dress and so on.

What do we associate Kazakhstan with? This is a simple question, but it needs visualization - apples, mountains, eagle, horses, oil rigs, cycling team Astana, Gennady Golovkin are all symbols. They need to be gathered together and replicated through souvenirs, commercials and so on.

It is also important to carry out bilateral promotion. For example, regular flights fly to the UAE, South Korea, Moscow. It is absolutely clear that different tourist products will be of interest to residents of different countries. So, the nuances of promotion should be different.

Here, the close work of Kazakhtourism with the market is very important. Atameken is ready to provide its site. Moreover, an agreement was reached on the joint viewing of content. Those videos and image products, with which the akimats and the market go to different exhibitions and conferences, definitely need a significant improvement. I think we can begin already from the beginning of the year.

THIRDLY, the rating of attractions.

Unfortunately, our potential places of tourist attraction are mostly not friendly to tourists. Especially for foreign ones. There are few guides with knowledge of a foreign language. There is no possibility to purchase electronic tickets. Logistics is not clear. Inside the museums and often around there are no places where you can have a snack. Expositions are outdated, they not interactive. The notorious problem of toilets is not solved.

As a way out of the impasse, of course, it is necessary to consider the rating system of attractions. By and large, it does not matter whether the Chinese experience will be used for this, as suggested by Atameken, or the Spanish one, which Kazakhtourism speaks about.

For example, to get a score of 5 A on the Chinese system, it is necessary: ​​the presence of a high-speed highway, a railway, an airport. Availability of qualified guides, "soft" infrastructure is also necessary, as well as ensuring the safety of the tourist. It should be possible to make any purchases, as well as good environmental conditions in the region.

It is important to put the interests of the tourist above all else. Define clear evaluation criteria and start this work from 2018. And then the competition between the regions will put everything in its place.

Fourth issue are questions of the visa and migration regime.

This year NCE RK "Atameken" on the eve of Expo held a large joint work with the CNS of RK, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RK, the MKS RK and the MFA of the RK. There are already some intermediate improvements. However, the issue of online registration and visa support is still open.

It is clear that you need to move in the direction of issuing e-visas, but in the current procedures you need to find solutions. We are offering to activate the work from next week.

Fifthly, it is cheaper logistics.

Kazakhstan is a big country. And for inbound tourism, and for domestic flights plays an important role. Tariffs are quite high. The cost of tickets from Europe to Bishkek and Omsk is higher than in Astana and Almaty. This means that tourists will go to more attractive price segments.

In the current year, the number of air carriers has increased in Kazakhstan, among which there are also low-costers. A big role in this was played by the pilot project Open Sky, introduced during the exhibition Astana Expo, already now you can see the first results. So, since the spring of this year in Kazakhstan, the largest European Lowcoster Wizz Air (Astana-Budapest) and the Polish airline LOT (Warsaw-Astana) fly to Kazakhstan.

But in the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan there is no such thing as a "lowcaster". It is necessary to cancel the ban on the sale of air tickets at irretrievable tariffs, as well as to review (reduce) the standards of baggage for low-budget air transportation.

Only the removal of these norms will also allow removing barriers to the development of online sales. Today Kazakhstan's air ticket sales sites (Chocotravel.com, Aviata.kz, Biletix.kz, etc.) face problems when selling air tickets of foreign airlines that provide the right to purchase irretrievable tickets.

Also, the reduction of tariffs for air tickets would be facilitated by the introduction of multimodality for the redistribution of the load between airports, i. the tourist arrives not to Astana airport, but to Karaganda or Kokshetau airport, where airport fees are much lower. And from the airports of these cities go by shuttlebus to the capital.

Introduction of multimodality will give impetus to development not only to tourism in Astana and Almaty, but also in all cities where low-costers will fly.

Sixth, measures of state support and concrete projects.

In the case of official recognition of tourism as a priority industry, it will be possible to grant preferences in tourism in the form of exemption from CIT and land tax for up to 10 years, as well as property tax for up to 8 years.

Here we work with the Ministry of Industry. We need support of ISS on OKEDam and determine the minimum amount of investment specifically for our industry.

Today it is more than 4.5 billion tenge. While the development of the tourism industry is based on small and medium-sized businesses. We propose for tourism to lower the threshold to 1 billion.

Together with the business community and government agencies, work will continue on issues of no less importance to the industry (training of personnel, the definition of "rules of the game" for guides and other entities, the development of specially protected areas, medical and children's tourism, and much more).