Joint tourism forum in Almaty showcases cooperation prospects with Kazakhstan
By Leman Mammadova
The second Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan Tourism Forum was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on April 15, with the support of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Kazakhstan and the Kazakh Tourism JSC.
The event, dedicated to the development of tourism of the two countries and the growth of tourist flows, was attended by Deputy Chairman of the Board of Kazakh Tourism JSC Timur Duisengaliev, representative of Azerbaijani Embassy in Kazakhstan Ramil Rzayev, Rayda Tour Operator Development Director Veronika Lyubchenko as well as many other representatives of the tourism industry of the two countries, including the heads of resorts, hotels and major tour operators.
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have great prospects for cooperation in the field of tourism. In both countries, there are all conditions for the implementation of joint projects in this sphere.
Today, both countries see an increase in the number of visitors. However, as before, the bulk of travel falls on business visits. For the development of other types of tourism, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan plan to organize routes by sea and take advantage of the potential of the Great Silk Road.
Mutual visits between two countries are growing every year, and this contributes to the opening of new flights. Thus, on April 2, Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) opened regular flights on the route Baku-Almaty-Baku which will contribute to the development of the tourist potential.
Last year, within the framework of the Ministerial Meeting on Tourism of the Member States of the Turkic Council, the parties began a dialogue on the launch and commercial implementation of the joint tourism product project “The Turkic Council - Modern Silk Road”. The goal of the project "Modern Silk Road" is to show the rich historical heritage of the Turkic states on the Great Silk Road. At the same time, one of the key issues is the Silk Road single visa.
The idea to create a single visa between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which should become an analogue of a Schengen visa, was first voiced in June 2018. In mid-November, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan signed agreements on the mutual recognition of visa regimes of the Silk Road countries. The agreement assumes that any foreigner who legally entered Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan can safely move through the territory of the two countries without receiving a visa from each state separately.
Recently, Kazakhstan came up with a new initiative and is proposing that Turkey, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan join the project of Silk road visa for tourists (the Modern Silk Road visa). Currently, the countries of the Turkic Council are developing proposals for this tourism product.
In recent years, the Governments of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have paid great attention to the development of the tourism industry. At the same time, given the fact that modern tourists increasingly prefer to visit not one, but several countries in the region at once, the cooperation of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in this direction is a necessity.
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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888
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