Kazakhstan claims 3rd place in Thriving Communities Story Awards at ITB Berlin 2024
East Kazakhstan public fund ‘Sustainable development of Katonkaragay District’ took 3rd place in the ‘Thriving Communities’ category at the Green Destinations Top 100 Story Awards ceremony as part of the ITB Berlin 2024, Kazinform News Agency cites the press service of the Kazakh tourism ministry.
The Katonkaragay national park is part of the UNESCO World Heritage List and is among priority eco-regions of the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Thanks to the initiative of local entrepreneurs Serik Tolukpayev and Kairat Akhmetov, the public fund was founded and the strategy for sustainable development of Katonkaragay District has been steadily implemented for the past few years. The outcomes of this work are commended by the international expert community, which does inspire us. It is worth to note that every rural district of Kazakhstan can opt the path for sustainable development. All that is needed is long-term district development strategy and joint work of the society, business and authorities in its implementation, said Serik Zhunusov, executive director of the East Kazakhstan public fund ‘Sustainable development of Katonkaragay District’.
Representing Kazakhstan in the ITB Berlin 2024 were vice minister of tourism and sport Yerzhan Yerkinbayev, 23 representatives of the travel industry and administrations of the cities of Almaty and Shymkent as well as Turkestan and Zhetysu regions.
This year, the design of the Kazakhstani stand was devoted to the 5th World Nomad Games the country is to host on September 8-14, 2024, in Astana.
The Internationale Tourismus-Börse Berlin exhibition annually attracts over 160,000 visitors from 180 countries, including 113,500 industry professionals, and up to 10,000 large potential buyers in the tourist community.
