Astana, Dec 28 (EFE).- Kazakhstan, the ninth largest country in the world, is relying on Spain’s assistance to boost its tourism industry and turn it into an important source of income for the Central Asian country, which this year for the first time in its history will receive more than one million tourists.
In the first nine months of the year, the local tourism sector attracted investments, according to official figures, worth 880 million dollars.
“All this offers enormous possibilities for Spanish companies, both large and small, which have experience in the field of tourism,” said Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko in an interview with EFE.
That is why “we rely on the assistance and mutually beneficial participation of companies from Spain, which is one of our key partners in Europe.”
Vassilenko said that cooperation in the field of tourism is expected to be one of the main topics during the official visit of the Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares to Kazakhstan next year.
“Currently, our embassy in Madrid has contacted the Spanish Institute for Tourism Quality (ICTE), which plans to help Kazakhs create a system for assessing the quality of tourism services,” he said.
He also noted that recently Kazakhstan’s Boshalak Center for International Programs and the Swiss company Les Roches Global Hospitality Education signed an agreement so that Kazakh students and specialists in the field of tourism can improve their skills in Spain.
The deputy minister said that next year Kazakhstan will host the second forum of rectors of Kazakh and Spanish universities, the first of which was held in Madrid eight years ago, an event in which higher education institutions in the field of tourism will also participate.
He added that along with training personnel for the tourism industry, Kazakhstan has taken other steps to promote tourism.
“Currently citizens from 80 countries can stay in Kazakhstan for up to 30 days without a visa, while those from 109 other states can obtain an electronic visa,” Vassilenko explained.
The senior diplomat stressed that the image of Kazakhstan as a country with an attractive investment climate has been corroborated by prestigious international agencies.
The deputy minister said that Kazakhstan and Spain will commemorate the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Strategic Partnership Agreement next year.
In 2022, Kazakh-Spanish trade was, according to data from Astana, $2.6 billion, 42% more than the previous year, and in the first eleven months of 2023, trade stood at $1.72 billion.
“Objectively assessing the potential of the two countries, we believe that we have all the conditions for our cooperation to reach a new qualitative level,” Vassilenko summed up.
EFE