Tourism chiefs to woo Chinese visitors

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Chinese visitors may want to add another country to their list of travel destinations: Kazakhstan, which is trying to woo more tourists from around the world.

The country is expected to release a program in 2013 to spur tourism development, said Mukhit Saimassaev, vice-chairman of the Tourism Committee of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Industry and New Technologies.

Highlights of the program, which will run through 2020, will include "establishing a well-known image for Kazakhstan as a tourism country, facilitating access to Kazakhstan, building necessary infrastructure to make Kazakhstan a more competitive tourism country and preparing professional human resources for tourism development", Saimassaev told China Daily.

Located in the center of Eurasia, Kazakhstan is the world's ninth-largest country in geographical terms, covering an area larger than Western Europe. The country has a diverse culture with more than 100 ethnic groups and offers a wide range of activities, such as hunting, mountain climbing, skiing and ice-skating.

It ranked 93rd among 139 industrialized and emerging economies in terms of travel and tourism attractiveness, according to a report by the World Economic Forum at the Global Tourism Forum 2011.

Kazakhstan reportedly received 5.6 million visitors in 2011, and the tourism industry generated 74 billion tenge ($488.4 million). Foreign visitors come mainly from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, followed by China, Turkey, Germany and the United Kingdom. Saimassaev said visitors are showing a growing interest in the country's traditional cuisine and its unspoiled nature.

Kazakhstan will try to attract Chinese visitors through a series of measures, such as inviting Chinese delegations to attend international tourism fairs and economic forums, and launching more direct flights between the two countries.

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

CJ Henderson is a foreign expert for China Daily's online culture department. CJ is a graduate of the University of Sydney where she completed a Bachelors degree in Media and Communications, Government and International Relations, and American Studies. CJ has four years of experience working across media platforms, including work for 21st Century Newspapers in Beijing, and a variety of media in Australia and the US.