«Alas, today’s tension reduces tourist flows to Kyrgyzstan and redistributes them,» the head of the Tourism Association of Kazakhstan Rashida Shaikenova told Kazakhstan’s information and analytical portal 365info.kz.
According to her, 2-3 years ago, during the political instability in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstani tourists practically stopped going to Issyk-Kul Lake. «In recent years the situation has stabilized, and our tour operators have again opened sales of tours to Issyk-Kul. But, experience shows, after such incidents, when demand decreases and sales stop, the restoration of previous volumes of tourism is a long process,» Rashida Shaikenova said.
According to her, today there are a lot of agreements with Kyrgyzstan on mountaineering, which, alas, remain unsettled.
«Many foreigners come to Kazakhstan, then go to Kyrgyzstan to climb the Khan-Tengri peak. Two years ago, on the part of our government, the Government of Kyrgyzstan made an offer to open temporary seasonal crossing points for tourists traveling along mountain routes. This would allow reducing the road almost for a day,» Rashida Shaikenova said.
But, according to the expert, taking into account the current situation, this issue is unlikely to be solved in the near future. In such situations, first of all the tourist suffers.
According to her observations, among the Kazakhstanis, the demand for tourism has been redistributed in the direction of Kazakhstan’s resorts over the last two years.
