Turkestan to be visited by 10 million tourists every year
"Azret Sultan project is expected to become a place of particular interest and pilgrimage for foreign guests and citizens of Kazakhstan, making it possible, by 2025, to increase the number of tourists and pilgrims from 1.5 million we now have to 10 million and the time of their stay from 3-4 hours to 3-4 days," the minister told reporters during a press conference at the Government.
He reminded that on September 29 of this year, as part of the Head of State's visit to Turkestan region, the ministry presented a long-term plan for the development of Azret Sultan Museum Reserve, one of the country's landmark sites and the spiritual center of the Turkic world. It is proposed to recreate the historical look of the medieval settlement of Turkestan over an area of 88 hectares as one of the largest UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
"The project was developed taking into account the best international experience in reconstruction and restoration of such historical complexes as the open-air museum of the ancient city of Pompeii, Jerusalem, the Ottoman Empire's largest palace - Topkapi, etc., which are also UNESCO sites and annually visited by hundreds of millions of tourists. To comply with all international standards and requirements, we involved leading international scientists and experts in the elaboration of the project, studied original sources, scientific historical evidence, and obtained approval for archaeological works from UNESCO representatives," said Arystanbek Mukhamediuly.
It is to be recalled that on June 19 of this year, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev publicly signed the Decree "On Certain Issues of the Administrative Territorial Division of the Republic of Kazakhstan", founding Turkestan region with Turkestan as its regional center. Additionally, the city of Shymkent was granted the status of the city of national significance.