Almaty hosts KITF 2019
According to tourism department head Maksat Kikimov, last year above one million tourists visited Almaty, of which 365,000 are foreign tourists from Europe, the U.S., Russia and Central Asia. It is 3.2% more than in 2017 despite EXPO and Universiade. Foreign guests arrive in Almaty to enjoy mountain hiking and get acquainted with nomadic culture traditions.
"Almaty focuses largely on domestic tourism. It grew by 17%. Therefore, we will develop mountaineering cluster. Currently, the Almaty ski resorts have 46 km of ski runs on the whole. We plan to increase them up to 456 km. We also plan to boost carrying capacity from current 7,500 to 65,000 people. There are 2,500 restaurants, 128 shopping malls, 50 markets, 19 museums and 20 theatres in Almaty. Ecotourism stirs great interest among foreign tourists, including hiking and rafting in summer, skiing in winter, and nomadic culture as well. That's all contributes to attraction of tourists to our great city," Kikimov said.
1,200 memorandums will be signed following the exhibition. Besides, workshops on digitalization, medical tourism and traveler's forum will be held as part of the event.
The exhibition is open to public until April 19.
