Baltic States – CIS, Direct Speech, EU – CIS, Forum, Tourism

Dear participants of the Conference!

Ladies and gentlemen!

                Welcome to the Third Astana EXPO 2017 International Tourism Conference!

Ladies and gentlemen!

I am glad to welcome you at the International Tourism Conference in the run-up to the world-renowned EXPO 2017 Exhibition.

First of all, I would like to express gratitude to all the present, especially representatives of foreign tourist companies, for participation in such an important informational tour! The today’s event is aimed at serving as a platform to exchange experience and information on every aspect of the tourism area facilitating success of the EXPO 2017 Exhibition.

Our Exhibition is not only an effective platform to discuss and generate proposals on energy issues, but also an opportunity to attract more tourists to our country. As previous world exhibitions show, EXPO yields fruit and has a significant economic effect in terms of revenues for hotels, restaurants, museums, recreation areas. 

As you know, only 50 (fifty) days are left till its beginning. So far, 115 (one hundred and fifteen) states and 21 (twenty-one) international organizations have officially confirmed their participation in the International Exhibition.

It is expected that the Exhibition will be attended by more than 2 (two) million tourists, 15% (fifteen percent) of them is foreign visitors. In order to hold the Exhibition successfully and ensure favourable conditions for visitors during EXPO as well as to develop and promote tourism sphere in Kazakhstan we undertake the following measures:

1. Visa regime liberalization

    From January 1, 2017 (January the first two thousand seventeen) a unilateral visa-free regime was introduced for citizens of 45 (forty-five) countries that have a right for visa-free entry for up to thirty calendar days from the day of entering the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

   Taking into account that the year 2017 was declared to be the China Tourism Year, the ADS Agreement was signed between the Republic of Kazakhstan and People’s Republic of China on simplification of group tourist trips from China to Kazakhstan.

2. Negotiations with major tourist organizations of the world

Within the negotiations with the leadership of tourist agencies and organizations we have already signed memorandums of cooperation with 47 (forty-seven) tourist associations and organizations of the world.

No we are preparing to hold major international events within the Exhibition, such as the Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), international conference of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) with participation of ministers of tourism, ministerial conference on energy, international women forum and other events. In conjunction with the closing of the Exhibition, the OIC Summit on Science and Technology will be held for the first time. In addition, it is planned to hold national days of participating countries, thematic events of international organizations and a lot of cultural activities.

I believe that all these events and our efforts will give an opportunity to develop tourism capacity of Kazakhstan as well as to develop infrastructure and attractiveness of our capital.

Dear participants of the conference!

I wish you fruitful work and efficient negotiations within the Conference.

Thank you for attention!