Prime Minister gets insight into Visit Almaty tourism hub
At Visit Almaty, a new tourism hub which was opened at the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace in November 2018, the Prime Minister was told that every tourist can get all the necessary information at the consulting center: maps, guides, atlases of mountain routes, brochures of tour operators, announcements of cultural events, etc. In addition, consultants are called upon to assist in solving various problems - from emergency, law-related and health, to logistics, for example, "where to eat and how to get to Kok-tobe." Over the past 11 months, more than 25.2 thousand tourists received consultations at the center.
Sagintayev examined the tourist information hub. The director of the Qazaq Oner artisans center A. Zhanserikova presented a yurt and highlighted the appropriate location of the hub. Projects promoting tourism, analyses of the region's competitiveness and tourism development are being carried out here. In the are of the hub, there are seven educational zones, decorated in the national style, as well as a co-working platform for tourists.
Deputy mayor of the city Y. Aukenov, in turn, said that owing to the work being done, the number of tourists in the city in 2018 increased by 11 percent year-on-year. About 43.6% of tourists, or almost half of all foreign tourists coming to Kazakhstan, visited Almaty. The number of tourists arriving in Almaty in the second quarter of 2018 was 503,000 people.
One of the projects to increase the tourist attractiveness will be the reconstruction of Almaty-2 railway station scheduled for 2019-2020. During the site visit, Sagintayev was informed that the project covers the construction of an additional terminal, the second route between Almaty-2 and Almaty-1, underground passages, and new passenger platforms for suburban routes. In general, the modernization of the station will make its usable area as large as twice.
Here, the Prime Minister was informed about the development of the transport infrastructure of Almaty and was presented a new carsharing service system. The system allows issuing a per-minute car rental through the respective mobile application. This service is available to anyone with a driver's license. In Almaty, the service was launched in October 2018, today the number of registered users of the service exceeds 10,000 people. Sagintayev examined a number of new cars available for service users. In total, more than a hundred new cars have been launched, while the number in 2019 will be 500, and by 2021 there will be a fleet of 1,500 cars in the country. According to Anytime company, it is planned to launch the service in Astana in March 2019 and in Shymkent at the end of 2019.
According to Almaty City Hall, the renewal of the city's bus fleet will reach 80 percent in 2018. A vehicle park and a factory manufacturing third-generation electric buses have been built at the expense of private investment. The further launch on the routes of the city will have a positive impact on the environmental situation in Almaty. Besides, the first bus rapid transit line in Kazakhstan has been organized in Almaty. Two subway stations, which will make it possible to connect the downtown and other remote areas of the city, are under construction.
Today, 97% of all transactions in public transport in Almaty are non-cash. An automated dispatching control system with a GPS system and video cameras on buses and a system of fines for complaints from passengers have been introduced. The city has a system of photo and video recording of traffic violations, 709 lanes are monitored.
It is to be recalled that the Head of State gives particular attention to tourism development. In the State-of-the-Nation Address "New Opportunities under the Fourth Industrial Revolution", he noted that one of the promising sources for any region is the development of inbound and domestic tourism, which today creates every tenth job in the world. In this regard, the Government is carrying out comprehensive work on the development of infrastructure and the removal of barriers in the tourism industry. The 2023 Tourism Development Government Program will be made in 2019. The main indicator of the program will be the increase in the share of tourism up to 8% of GDP.