Astana named City of the Future at National Geographic Traveler Awards
"I'm delighted to receive this prestigious award on behalf of our young capital. Especially since Astana will host the EXPO 2017 event next year and welcome thousands of tourists from all over the world. Come and visit us," deputy director of the Tourism Promotion Department of JSC "NC Astana EXPO 2017" Roza Assanbayeva said at the awarding ceremony in Moscow.
"Winners of the 6th National Geographic Traveler Awards were selected in 24 nominations, including the best tourist directions, services and tourist companies. Internet users were welcome to cast in their votes in all nominations at nat-geo.ru," editor-in-chief of National Geographic Traveler Olga Yakovina said.
In her words, Astana won in "The City of the Future" nomination because this young, dynamically developing and beautiful capital city is a must-see place not only for Russian but for international tourists.
"The country [Kazakhstan] is developing rapidly that is why we have launched the special nomination for Astana," she stressed.
"This year I had a chance to visit Astana and see everything for myself. Honestly, I was very surprised how quickly the city is developing. It's like a Central Asian Dubai. The EXPO complex looks quite impressive," said Yakovina adding that EXPO is a grandiose event held for the first time in the CIS member states.
