NUR-SULTAN – Despite the pandemic, people continue to travel abroad and within the country. Experts in the field of tourism spoke about the preferences of Kazakh people this year.
Director of the Kazakhstan Association of Tour Operators Inna Ray said in an interview to Inbusiness.kz that the preferences of people have not changed much.
Antalya leads in the rating of the top destinations, followed by Egypt with the resorts in Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh and Mersa Matruh. Trips to the United Arab Emirates are also in demand.
In connection with the available flights of FlyArystan airline, Georgia is of interest to Kazakh citizens. In addition, direct flights to Montenegro have been launched.
“Many tourists prefer to visit Europe in the summer. But, unfortunately, now they do not have the opportunity to go there. Therefore, they turned their attention to affordable resorts that can be reached by direct flight elsewhere,” said Ray.
The latest UNWTO data shows that over the first five months of the year, world destinations recorded 147 million fewer international arrivals (overnight visitors) compared to the same period of 2020, or 460 million less than the pre-pandemic year of 2019. However, the data does point to a relatively small upturn in May, with arrivals declining by 82 percent (versus May 2019), after falling by 86 percent in April. This slight upward trend emerged as some destinations started to ease restrictions and consumer confidence rose slightly.
After the closure of the borders last year, the demand for domestic destinations has significantly increased. People mainly travel to the Alakol lake, Borovoe Nature Reserve in the Akmola region, Lake Balkhash and sanatoriums and resorts in the Almaty region and Aktau.
