Yessimov reports to President on Astana EXPO 2017
During the meeting, Yessimov told about the results of the ongoing international exhibition.
"It was planned that 2 million people would visit the exhibition within three months. To date, the number of visitors has amounted to 2.5 million. As to visits to the international pavilions, the number was supposed to be at least 5 million, now it has reached 20 million. The most popular pavilion among visitors is Kazakhstan's Pavilion - the Nur Alem Sphere. As of today, 831,000 tourists have visited it. It is expected that by the end of the exhibition this figure will have reached the level of 1 million. Since the opening of the EXPO-2017, 68 national days have been held. In addition, 106 high-ranking guests, including 19 heads of state, 16 prime ministers and their deputies, 11 heads of parliaments and their deputies, 60 ministers and their deputies, have visited the exhibition. Foreign countries have spent nearly $100 million for the preparation of their pavilions," said the CEO of the national company.
Nursultan Nazarbayev was also reported on a considerable increase in the tourism figures. Thus, according to Yessimov, the number of hotels and hostels in Astana has grown by 27 percent, the occupancy rate of which has reached 60 percent.
The Head of State highlighted the positive multiplicative effect on the development of the capital city and the country's economy as a whole resulted from the international exhibition. He said that the EXPO has positively affected almost all sectors of the economy as it increased the number of tourists at hotels and places of public catering. As a result, additional funds have been obtained by the capital budget, and 21,000 people have been employed. Nursultan Nazarbayev also noted that about 200,000 people representing 196 Kazakh companies had participated in the exhibition complex construction.
The CEO of NC Astana EXPO-2017 presented information on the saved resources that were allocated for the preparation and organization of the grand-scale event. According to Yessimov, the construction costs specified in the feasibility study had amounted to KZT816 billion, and, later, the amount decreased to KZT452 billion following the optimization.
In addition, a proposal for the post-exhibition use of EXPO-2017 facilities was voiced to the President. In particular, the Astana International Financial Centre and the IT Startups Park will be located on the exhibition territory. Moreover, a number of the exhibition pavilions will still operate as the EXPO heritage there.
At the end of the meeting, having remarked the work done by the CEO of NC Astana EXPO-2017, the Head of State gave him a number of specific instructions.
