Northstar

PEOPLE www.travelweeklyweb.com Exclusive A chat with… Asset Issekeshev Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Industry and New Technologies Republic of Kazakhstan On her recent visit to Astana in Kazkhstan, TravelWeekly Asia's editor Melissa Tizi managed to secure an interview with Asset Issekeshev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry of New Technologies, who unveiled the nation's plans to boost its arrival figures through the second revival of tourism growth. What can we expect from the mineral-rich land of Kazakhstan, the mountainous landscapes and incredibly modern vistas of skyscrapers and unique designer buildings that line the new capital? Read on to get the exclusive scoop on what's to come from Central Asia's crowning glory. Q: What are the primary markets that you are targeting from Asia? A: We see two groups of tourists at the moment, first of all there's China, Korea, Russia and Western Europe as well as the neighbouring countries; the Middle East, Turkey and India. As for the second tier, it will be Japan, Indonesia, the United States, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong. Primarily, we are hosting business travellers from the second group of countries that I just mentioned. Our main role is to increase the number of tourists, from the first group, by three-folds. Q: The target to increase the number of travellers into Kazakhstan by threefolds – is this only focusing on corporate travellers? A: For both. In 2011, we had 2.8 million visitors, by 2020, we plan to increase by 8.2 million. As for the spending, we are looking at 7.5 million (Kazakhstani Tenge) and as for 2020, we expect to get 32 million in spending from tourism. We are hopeful that there will not only be business travellers but high net worth tourists who will visit Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is a vast territory with a lot of interesting destination, including heritage and historic destinations as well as nature. We've tackled the tourism development; that's why we have come up with a plan for four clusters, at national level. Q: What's in the plan for the development of tourism industry here in Kazakhstan? What would be your immediate address? A: We will be tackling the infrastructure issue and the visa issue too. It will be simplified, along with the other neighbouring countries, close to our borders. Infrastructure 8 | ■ TRAVELWEEKLY ASIA | AUGUST 2013 developments will include airports, air carriers, and safety. Certainly, that would be tied in to the presence of sports and cultural events. We will be the hosting the 2017 expo which will address the topic of energy for the future here in Astana. We'll be visited by five million people. This year, we'll see the opening of landmark hotels such as Marriott and Grand Park. Just recently, we saw the start of construction for The Ritz-Carlton here in Astana. We're also commencing the construction of the Abu Dhabi Tower, which will be one of the tallest in Kazakhstan. The tower will be built by the government of Abu Dhabi and will be around 82-storey high. Q: Kazakhstan, to many people is still a mystery. That's in fact a pull factor – a destination that has yet to be uncovered. You have the Caspian Sea, the beautiful mountains in Almaty and the unique designer buildings in Astana. Why did it take some time, before tourism became a priority? A: Speaking in a broader sense, we gained independence only 20 years ago and it was a very difficult economically, it was a predicament for the first ten years. We used to be part of the Soviet Union and when we broke away, we had no currency of our own, the factories stalled, inflation was about 2,000 per cent. Those were the difficult times. We had no money to pay pensions, there was great unemployment and the monetary reserve was not there. Back then the president adopted a long-term strategy and we began reviving the economy. So today's strategies will implement that longterm target which was set in the initial phase. Today, our reserve is about US$85 billion. By the second decade, we experienced an economic boost by 10 per cent a year. I agree with you that we have not really placed sufficient, prior importance to the promotion and image of tourist destinations and attractions here in Kazakhstan. We have begun addressing this because our ultimate goal is to turn Kazakhstan into an economic hub, provide the best investment environment in the region, a heaven on earth for innovators, investors and tourists. Tourism is a state priority; it improves the image and connections with other countries, brings in businesses, provides employments, better taxes and as such, offers multiple benefits to the country. So now we will take it as the second birth in our approach and we are expecting a second boom in visits to resorts and various destinations here. Q: How do you plan to brand Kazakhstan? A: There will be a separate strategy on branding Kazakhstan. Many people still believe that by our name, we are very similar to Pakistan or Afghanistan. So we are in the heart of Eurasia and we are the ninth biggest country in the world, and we have nearly all the mineral resources that we know of and around 930 nationalities living here n Kazakhstan. We have a very Asian history. And besides apples, recently, scientists have also started research and found out that tulips are actually from Kazakhstan! www.travelweeklyweb.com

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