ASTANA – The Kazakh Ministry of Culture and Sports proposes to introduce a visa-free regime for 26 countries to increase tourism inflow, bringing the total number of visa-free countries to 100, said Dastan Ryspekov, Tourism Industry Committee Chair, at a Sept. 28 Central Communication Service (CCS) press briefing.
Over 1.3 million tourists visited Kazakhstan over six month of 2022. Photo credit: gov.kz
Ryspekov said that Kazakhstan had resumed a visa-free regime for 74 countries this year, including India, China, and Iran, with international flights resuming to 113 destinations in 28 countries. The ministry plans to launch additional flights to Russia, Mongolia, China, India, and France.
The overall tourism flow, according to Ryspekov, grew after the country lifted pandemic restrictions.
“For the second year in a row, the main indicators of domestic tourism have risen. We registered a record number of domestic tourists at the end of last year – 6.9 million – which is higher than during the pre-pandemic period,” he stated.
According to the ministry’s forecast, Kazakhstan will welcome 2.5 million visitors by the end of the year.
