Minister of Tradition and Sports activities Pledges to Proceed Supporting Kazakh Tourism Business 

NUR-SULTAN – The government has successfully dealt with supporting the tourism industry due to the pandemic in 2020, the Minister of Culture and Sports Aktoty Raimkulova concluded in the Ministry’s statement on January 18.

Charyn Canyon in the Almaty region, Kazakhstan one of the most beautiful natural spots. Photo credit: gov.kz.

Raimkulova shared the challenges faced by the tourism sector and the measures that were taken to overcome them.

On March 16, 2020, a state of emergency was announced in Kazakhstan due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the closure of borders and the halt in air traffic in many countries, tourists from all over the world including Kazakhstan have been stranded and stopped abroad. A system to guarantee civil rights in the field of outbound tourism enabled 5,913 Kazakh citizens to return to their homes within a week. It is important to note that the funds used were amassed through contributions from tour operators, says Raimkulova.

Another challenge related to the difficulties facing the tourism industry was that businesses had to pay taxes, pay their employees, and maintain their offices. As part of its crisis-fighting measures, the Kazakh government exempted companies from taxes, granted low-interest loans and deferrals on existing loans.

To support travel company staff, the government paid social benefits equal to the minimum wage over the two-month period, she added.

With the stabilization of the epidemiological situation in the country, the Kazakh authorities have developed additional measures to restore the tourism industry. The country resumed intercity air and rail communications, as well as bus traffic. constantly reopened flight connections to popular travel destinations around the world.

In order to reopen resorts in Kazakhstan, tourist facilities have developed algorithms for safe operation, added Raimkulova.

Despite the tight budget, Majilis (a lower house of parliament) MPs and government supported many new measures in the tourism industry, approving spending of 163 billion tenge ($ 388 million) by 2025.

“The 2020 results show that the government has successfully supported the tourism industry. It is important to highlight the support and understanding of the tourism industry. They followed government regulations and restrictions to prevent the spread of infection in their facilities, ”says Raimkulova.

In order to quickly restore the industry and increase its investment potential in the long term until 2025, additional measures have been developed, added the chairman of the tourism industry committee, Dastan Ryspekov.

These measures include reimbursement of costs for private companies in the tourist facilities and in the construction of road service facilities, up to 10 percent of the initial investment amount; 25 percent reimbursement for the purchase of ski equipment and tourist class vehicles; Subsidizing tour operators’ costs for each foreign tourist by 15,000 tenge ($ 36); 100 percent reimbursement of child carriage fee on domestic routes; Subsidization of the cost of maintaining plumbing for 83,300 tenge (US $ 199).

According to Ryspekov, implementing these measures will generate additional revenue of 180 billion tenge ($ 429 million) for the Kazakh economy, create more than 170,000 jobs and implement 1,000 projects.

It’s worth noting that the pandemic has strengthened collaboration within the tourism industry, added the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs (NCE) with the Kazakh Tourism National Company, added Raimkulova.

The ministry conducted webinars and discussions, developed new approaches and organized research expeditions to support the recovery of the tourism sector.