This and many other issues were discussed at the meeting of the Kazakhstan-Russian Business Council.

In Petropavlovsk, within the framework of the XV Forum of Interregional Cooperation of Kazakhstan and Russia, a meeting of the Kazakh-Russian Business Council was held on the theme “The Role of Entrepreneurship in the Development of Tourism”.

The event was organized by the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan, the Foreign Trade Chamber of Kazakhstan and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. The meeting participants discussed issues such as the creation of a single tourist space, digital technologies, promising areas, investment, barriers and prospects for the development of tourism between the two countries.

Opening the work of the business council, the Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Russian Federation Vladimir Padalko thanked the colleagues from Atameken for the warm welcome, stressing that the topic discussed today is very relevant and important in the development of small and medium-sized businesses in both countries.

“Many of us are often in cities - Russians in Kazakhstan, Kazakhstanis in Russia, but somehow we are more and more on the path of business cooperation, exchange and forget a little about the fact that we have a great history and culture, and we still have not yet learned how to relax from each other. This is probably what we should offer first of all to our citizens and our entrepreneurs. Today, talking about bilateral trade and economic relations, we state that they are going up. Last year, they gained more than 17 billion rubles; this year, growth over 8 months amounted to 20%. We are catching up with the previous good results of 2012–13 and, in general, the global conjuncture and our bilateral relations instill confidence that we are on the right path. Thanks again to Petropavlovsk for hospitality, ”said Vladimir Padalko.

Albert Yalaletdinov and Ayan Erenov, the chairmen of the Russian and Kazakh parts of the business council, also made welcoming speeches, emphasizing that they are committed to constructive and substantive work on the development of trade and economic relations between our countries.

Rashid Kuzembaev, Chairman of the Board of Kazakh Tourism, spoke about the challenges and opportunities for cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia in the field of tourism. This is a new national company, established with the aim of developing both domestic tourism and attracting foreign tourists.

“We understand that the era of digitalization dictates completely new approaches in promotion and marketing. We must build communication with our potential tourists on a completely different basis. In addition, we understand that the portrait of the tourist has also changed. This is not the tourist that was 30, 20.10 or even 5 years ago. He expects completely different sensations from his travels, he is ready to open new, unknown directions and in this regard, both for Russia and for Kazakhstan, new opportunities are opening up, but along with this we must accept the appropriate conclusions, which I have already mentioned above. In this regard, it is not for nothing that, in addition to this panel session, we are holding two more panel sessions on destination marketing and new trends in digitalization, ”said Rashid Kuzembayev in his speech.

At the same time, he stressed that Kazakhstan’s experience in promoting tourism during the World Cup is very interesting to Kazakhstan, and Russia’s - during the EXPO. Speaking about what and the one and the other side still have to work, Rashid Kuzembaev called transport accessibility, namely, the opening of direct flights between our cities in order to increase the mutual flow of tourists from both Russia and Kazakhstan to Russia. In addition, according to the chairman of the board of NC "Kazakh Tourism", both parties should work on the development of children's and youth tourism between the countries. As for business tourism, it is already well developed.

The work of the Atameken development was carried out by the Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Scientific Production Enterprise RK in charge of this area Olzhas Ordabayev.

“When we talk about tourism, it’s always a matter of attraction. First of all, we understand who our main tourist and main target audience is. One of our most serious partners is certainly our closest neighbors - Russia and China. Also, these are the countries of the nearest east, southeast Asia, Europe, South Korea, Iran and India. We understand that we are attractive in eco-ethic and mice tourism, and these are our chips. Today, in tourism, as in many other areas, trends are determined by millennials (people born from 1980 to 2000), they are also an important demographic part of travelers. A new generation of tourists has grown up in the period of digital technologies, in this regard, we understand that it is necessary to follow the client to the Internet. Therefore, we are now faced with the task of forming a database of tourist sites. To do this, it is important to carry out their certification in several categories: natural and historical monuments, cultural and entertainment facilities, objects of tourist display. This is what we are going to do now, then to transfer all this information to the major world portals, ”said Olzhas Ordabayev.

Also, the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Atameken noted that one of the important aspects in the development of Kazakhstan tourism is the launch of low-cost airlines for the next summer season. To do this, it is necessary to solve such problems as the possibility of providing paid services to airlines and increasing the frequency of flights on board. For this it was important to legally lift the ban on the implementation of non-refundable tariffs. Corresponding changes on the initiative of the NPP were made to the legislation in May of this year.

Separately, Olzhas Ordabayev focused on a tool such as the “Bastau” project, through which the national chamber conducts training for start-up entrepreneurs. According to the deputy chairman, he is ideal for the development of small business projects in the field of tourism.

“In this regard, Atameken plans to expand the program to activities of tourism entities (artisans, food places, ski resorts, car rentals, travel agencies, etc.). In addition, this year it is planned to adopt the updated Business Roadmap until 2025, which also includes proposals for quoting financing for tourism-related projects, ”said Olzhas Ordabayev, Deputy Chairman of the Board of RPC“ Atameken ”.

An interesting presentation at the business council was also given by Oleg Safonov, the head of the Federal Agency for Tourism of Russia, who outlined promising areas of Russian-Kazakhstan interaction.

“Cooperation in the field of tourism between our countries is actively developing, which is eloquently shown by the following figures. More than 3 million Russian citizens annually come to the Republic of Kazakhstan, more than 3.5 million Kazakhstanis travel through the territory of the Russian Federation. But I believe that we are only at the very beginning of a very important and significant path for us. Our countries are inextricably linked by cultural aspects, kinship, history, language, traditions, etc. and, of course, all this suggests that we must work even harder to develop tourism. It seems to me very important that we are developing together and have already begun to implement a new tourist product, which has never before been in the history of either Kazakhstan or Russia. I am now talking about the project of cruise tourism in the Caspian. Beginning in 2015, the construction of two vessels began in the Russian Federation. One ship is being built in the Astrakhan region, the other in the Nizhny Novgorod region, ”said Oleg Safonov.

According to the head of the Federal Agency for Tourism of Russia, presumably from 2020, these vessels will start cruising the Caspian Sea. Thus, tourists can visit five countries at once.

“The ships will be visited by the ports of the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan. We carried out this work both within the framework of the world tourist organization, and within the framework of bilateral cooperation and, by the way, we received support from all countries. We consider this project very important and interesting, ”Oleg Safonov continued.

He also considers the development of space, medical and ecological tourism as promising areas of tourism.

During the lively discussion, there were a lot of interesting proposals to increase the mutual flow of tourists. Thus, representatives of the tourist sphere from the city of Kurgan made a proposal to open a hiking trail called the Silk Road or the Way of Chingizids, which would intersect with the path of Yermak - this is a walking journey along the legendary paths of developing Siberia. Representatives of another tour operator from the same city noted that this year they discovered one of the best, in their opinion, directions - these are the beauties of the Caspian Sea, which are very much loved by their tourists. But there is one catch - this is the absence of direct flights from Kurgan to Aktau, the bus has to go for two days, which is not very convenient. As a solution to this problem, the Russians are asking to open direct flights to Aktau, at least from such border cities as Kostanay and Petropavlovsk. Also, businessmen of both countries raised the problem of the lack of a unified insurance between our countries, the length of waiting time at customs when crossing the border, the absence of ATMs there, and more other.