Year of Kazakhstan Tourism in China begins
On March 28-29, Beijing will host the opening ceremony of the Year of Kazakhstan Tourism in China, Kazinform News Agency reports.
A delegation of Kazakhstan which includes governmental officials, famous athletes and performers arrived in the Chinese capital on Tuesday.
Last year, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev visited Beijing where he participated in One Belt, One Road International Cooperation Forum. As part of the event, the two countries’ president had talks and a number of bilateral documents was signed. The presidents agreed to proclaim 2024 the Year of Kazakhstan Tourism in China.
In this view, in early 2024, Minister of Tourism and Sport of Kazakhstan Yermek Marzhikpayev had a meeting with Chinese Minister of Culture and Tourism Sun Yeli for discussing the plans of holding the Year of Kazakhstan Tourism in China and the issues of mutual cooperation in tourism sector.
The meeting discussed the Concept of Organization of the Year of Kazakhstan Tourism aimed at holding important events in large Chinese cities.
“China is one of the priority tourism markets and partners for Kazakhstan, which is explained by the two countries’ location and deep historical ties along the Silk Road. Today, the tourist flow indicators between our countries are returning to the pre-pandemic level,” Marzhikpayev said.
He said that China ranks among Top 5 countries whose nationals chose to travel to Kazakhstan last year.
According to statistics, more than 75,000 tourists were served in Kazakhstan within nine months of 2023, while the overall number of Chinese tourists to our country surpassed 200,000.
In his words, Kazakhstan expects further increase in flow of Chinese tourists with the introduction of visa-free regime in November 2023 and planned rise in the number of direct flights up to 30 per week in 2024.
According to Marzhikpayev, Kazakhstan’s Top-20 tourist destinations will be presented in seven large Chinese cities this year, namely in Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Urumqi, Hongkong, Hangzhou, and Chengdu.
