Kyrgyzstan hosts over 3 million foreign tourists

16 April 2019 18:23 (UTC+04:00)

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By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Kyrgyzstan has a unique potential for travel and recreation of visiting tourists.

About 7 million foreigners, with more than half of them being tourists, visited Kyrgyzstan in 2018, announced the Deputy Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism, the director of the tourism department, Maksat Damir uulu, at a meeting with journalists on April 16.

He noted that 6.95 million foreign citizens came to Kyrgyzstan from different countries in 2018.

“We can say that about 3 million tourists visited our country. In 2018, tourism exports also increased,” he stressed.

The director of the tourism department also said that today, Kyrgyzstan already has developed a five-year program.

“In particular, we are talking about promoting the country and developing marketing. This time we will focus on three areas: Lake Issyk-Kul, eco-tourism and winter tourism. We want to develop good routes, hold concerts and sporting events in Issyk-Kul,” added Maksat Damir uulu.

In turn, General Director of the State Enterprise “Kyrgyz Tourism” Daniyar Kazakov said that Kyrgyzstan expects the largest influx of tourists in 2019.

“This year we expect the most peak tourist traffic in Kyrgyzstan, as a direct flight from Qatar and Seoul opens, which will increase the number of tourists. Many applications came from India, China and the United Arab Emirates,” he stated.

In addition, Kazakov noted that this year new routes are being developed and an emphasis will be placed on the development of regions.

“In this regard, we are ready to support the initiators who are ready to provide their sites for the development of tourism. In particular, support will be provided in the form of building infrastructure,” he stressed.

Kyrgyzstan has introduced a visa-free regime for up to 60 days for citizens of seven more states - Montenegro, Andorra, Brazil, San Marino, Chile, Argentina and Oman since April 9. Visas were fully abolished for citizens of 52 countries.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94