From $2 to 4: tourists will have to pay contribution in Kazakhstan

The state program was presented by Minister of Culture and Sport of Kazakhstan Arystanbek Mukhamediuly. He noted that this program and the accompanying bill will let Kazakhstan enter the top 50 countries attractive for travelling.

“Mechanisms for transformation of tourism into a highly profitable economic sector are laid in the program in full compliance with international standards of service”, the Minister said.

The document includes ten strategic measures that will allow our country to become one of the leading tourist powers in the world.

“Their implementation will have a tremendous economic effect, which will create about 75 thousand permanent workplaces, mainly in remote villages; will attract about 800 billion tenge of direct investment; will increase by 4 times the flow of domestic and inbound tourists. The contribution of tourism to the country's GVA will amount to 4.5 billion dollars a year”, Mukhamediuly explained.

TOP-10 tourism development measures:

1. Creation of priority tourist areas and management companies in the TOP-10 of the most attractive tourist places, which will allow to implement more than 200 investment projects.

2. Development of specially protected natural areas with the business involvement for the development of tourism infrastructure.

3. Construction of sanitary facilities in tourist destinations.

4. Marketing and promotion. Under the program Kazakhstan is going to introduce a tourist contribution (“Bed Tax” analogy) in the amount of 2-4 dollars per night. The measure will be valid throughout Kazakhstan since the adoption of the state program.

5. Liberalization of visa regime. A set of measures will be implemented here: optimization of the introduced e-Visa mechanism; expansion of 72-hour visa-free transit. Along with this, it is planned to introduce the e-Hotel system and consistently address the issue of canceling invitations for foreign tourists. These measures will significantly increase the flow of foreign tourists into the country.

6. Introduction of an obligatory classification of placements based on the standards of five stars. This measure will contribute to improving the quality of service and the availability of tourist products in Kazakhstan.

7. Strengthening of control over the activities of guide-interpreters with the introduction of mandatory mechanisms for their certification according to the experience of EU and OECD countries.

8. Improvement of the access system at the border.

9. Introduction of the “KIDS GO FREE” mechanism.

10. Introduction of “Tax Free” since 2022, by experience of the European Union, Australia, Thailand, Singapore and some CIS countries. Thanks to this measure, many developed countries have increased not only trade momentum, but also shopping tourist flows.

“The share of tourism in the country's GDP will grow from 9.6 billion to 16 billion dollars. The state program will ensure complete withdrawal of the country's tourism industry’s dependence on the state budget and, through the active participation of business and investors, will lead this sector to self-sufficiency”, the Minister of Culture and Sport summed up.

During the consideration of the draft state program, consultant of the Kazakhstan representative office of the McKinsey international consulting company, Jochen Berbner, delivered a speech and voiced an independent expert opinion on the development of tourist sites. At the same time, he noted that Kazakhstan has a high tourism potential and, tourism will become a new driver of the country’s economy, if the program will be implemented successfully.

“If you look at Kazakhstan, already today tourism represents an important sector of the economy. Roughly 1 billion dollars is a contribution of tourism to GDP and more than four thousand people work in the tourism sector”, he noted.

It should be noted that the state program for the development of the tourism industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2019-2025 and the accompanying draft law were developed in accordance with the instructions of the Head of State, together with the ministries and departments, the “Atameken” National Entrepreneurship Chamber, with the participation of the tourist community.

Saltanat Sarina

Photo by Bauyrzhan Zhuasbayev

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