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CRITICALLY EVALUATE DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOURISM IN KAZAKHSTAN
Kuttybayeva Gulmira, University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom Taraz State University, Kazakhstan
E-mail: g.kuttybayeva@yahoo.com
Abstract. This paper presents a case study of Kazakhstan, where the main purpose of tourism development is creation of conditions for a modern highly efficient and competitive tourist complex. Author also researched the main indicators of tourism industry and different types of tourism in Kazakhstan. The results indicate therefore the necessity of work connected with the increase of income tourism and the о necessity of informational actions. Despite the positive aspects of tourism and ? industrial development in Kazakhstan, there are a number of unsolved problems.
Key words: tourism, Kazakhstan, tourism industry, types of tourism.
Tourism is one of the most important sectors of the economy, because it makes a significant contribution to the development of the world economy. Every year tourism attracts more and more people, whose paid billions of dollars. According to the World Tourism Organization, tourism generates 5 percent of the global gross national product and 30 percent of world exports of services [1]. In the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index 2013 published by the World Economic Forum, Kazakhstan held on 88 place, having progress five positions between 2011 and 2013 [2]. Kazakhstan has developed in a number of indicators, which show how to improve the tourism industry of the country.
Kazakhstan is a unique country in the world, because of its location, size and rich ancient history. Kazakhstan is the world’s 9th largest country and located in the centre of Eurasia, it is also the largest landlocked country in the world with the peculiar climate. Moreover, the nomadic lifestyle and complicated history of Kazakh people, have led to an exceptional and authentic culture of the region. The potential of Kazakhstan’s tourism is rich and varied and has unique opportunities for the development of many types of tourism. They are authentic cultural tourism, pilgrim tourism, business tourism, nature-based activities, including ecotourism, bird watching in national parks and protected areas, skiing or trekking in mountains, water sports, sunbathing and swimming in lakes and rivers of Kazakhstan, and many others [3]. 11
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Tourism in the Republic of Kazakhstan is a priority sector. The main purpose of tourism development in Kazakhstan is creation of conditions for a modern highly efficient and competitive tourist complex. The largest volume of incoming tourism is observed in the cities of Astana, Almaty. Outbound tourism is more developed in the said cities along with Almaty, Karaganda, and North-West Kazakhstan regions. The domestic tourism is mostly developed in the cities of Astana, Almaty, East Kazakhstan, Karaganda, Almaty and Akmola areas. The objectives of tourists traveling in these regions are mostly business and professional purposes, leisure, recreation and shopping.
Table 1
The main indicators of tourism industry
Source: www.state.kz
Indices 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 %
Value added gross of tourism, bln. Tg 229,6 259,5 364,1 415,1 473,2 206,1
Number of tourist firms, units 1276 1350 1715 1994 2189 171,6
Number of placements, units 1235 1494 1494 1526 1678 135,9
Outbound tourism, thousand people 5423 6019 8020 9065 10143 187,0
Incoming tourism, thousand people 3774 4097 5685 6163 6841 181,3
The indices show the sustainable growth of all indicators. Value added gross for 4 years doubled and was equal in 2013 to 473, 2 bln. tg. According to indices outbound tourism exceeds incoming tourism as 1,5:1. It means that more Kazakhstan citizens go abroad than foreign guests come to our country. Number of tourist firms raised to 2189, what influenced on tourist flows. Number of places increased only for 35 % in comparison with incoming tourism. It means that we have not problems with accommodation. I mean the quantity, but not the quality of accommodation.
Two next two pie charts provide the dada on the structure of outbound and incoming tourism by purpose in 2013. Statistics divides purposes in 4 main groups: business, tourism, private and transit. The largest share belongs to the private in both cases: 80 and 69 % respectively. On the second place is the business purpose with practically equal percentage. The share ot tourism purpose is very small and equal to 3% for outbound tourism and 1% for incoming tourism.
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Fig. 1 Outbound tourism by purpose in 2013, % (Source: www.state.kz)
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%
f 14 i6 у ■ Business
..Л \ ■ Tourism
■ Private
69 ■ Transit
Fig. 2 Incoming tourism by purpose in 2013, % (Source: www.state.kz)
7 и
6 -
5 -
4 -
3 - ■ thousand people
2 -
1
l-J A
Total CIS Countries out
of CIS
Fig. 3 Number of visitors for incoming tourism (Source: www.state.kz)
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More than 91 % of incoming tourists are the residents of CIS countries. Only 9 % of visitors are coming from other rather than CIS countries. Analysis of visitors
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together with the purpose of visits permits to resume that most of the visitors come to their relatives and they are not active consumers of tourist industry.
Fig. 4 Number of visitors for outbound tourism (Source: www.state.kz)
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Figure 4 has the same trends as figure 3: 90% of visitors going abroad prefer CIS countries.
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Fig. 5 Number of placements, units (Source: www.state.kz)
The line graph shows the movement of places for accommodation during the period of 4 years. In the 2011-2012 years there were no any changes, but afterwards the number of places increased significantly with positive trend in future.
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Table 2
Volume of services rendered by accommodation places in 2013
(Source: www.state.kz)
Total provision of hotels with restaurants provision of the hotels without restaurants provision of accommodation for the weekend and other short-stay tourist camps, parks. recreation and entertainment other accommodation
59 714 164,2 41 940 239,4 12 784 801,1 4 360 582.7 280 521,9 348 019,1
In the structure of volume of services the largest share belongs to hotels with restaurants, but at the same time we are lack of camps, recreation and entertainment.
According to experts of the World Tourism Organization, ecotourism in the last ten years has become the most popular and is one of the tools for the sustainable development of any country [1]. There is no doubt, that this definition of ecotourism is accurate and scientific. Moreover, ethical tourism is included in this term, as a о mandatory part of ecotourism.
One of the first countries in the world, which attracts ecotourists, is Kenya. Eight out of ten visitors come to Kenya with ecotourism purposes. Ecotourism is particularly notable in the fast-growing tourist market in India and Nigeria, which hold the ecotourism considerable hope in the areas of infrastructure and human development [5]. Kazakhstan also has turned to ecotourism as its key to economic development. In addition, ecotourism is a priority sector and contributes to sustainable economic development in Kazakhstan. Analysis of the tourist market of Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Tourist Association showed that Kazakhstan has great potential with lots of untouched nature and national parks and reserves, as well as an outstanding cultural heritage.
Kazakhstan has 118 Protected Areas, including 11 state national parks, which aimed to develop ecotourism. Defined regions with resources for ecotourism on the route of the Silk Road: Almaty, Zhambyl, South Kazakhstan, East Kazakhstan and the Akmola region. For ecotourism, these regions have natural diversity such as lakes, rivers, canyons, singing dunes and mountains. In addition, equestrian tourism is a popularity form of ecotourism, which has a connection with the ancient traditions [5].
The next popular and mass type of tourism is cultural tourism, which has developed in Kazakhstan. The country has a rich historical and cultural heritage, where many monuments was recognized by UNESCO as World Culture Heritage. The creation and development of tourist routes used scientific discoveries and recommendations of archaeologists which study and recreate the historical and cultural heritage of Kazakhstan with the State program "Cultural Heritage". Historians point to such historical places as the mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yassawi, dating to
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the 15th and 16th centuries, the sites of Aisha-Bibi and Babaji Khatun (10th to 12th centuries), the mausoleums of Karahan and Daudbek and other sacred places as new destinations for tourists [3].
One of the fastest growing global industry sectors today is event tourism [6]. Last decades, Kazakhstan hosted a number of international events, including the International Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference and the World Food Exhibition. The next few years, Kazakhstan will host the “Winter Universiade 2017” and most importantly “Expo 2017”. The Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev hopes that “Expo 2017” will become a strong mover for the innovative development of the country and will start a completely new chapter in its economic development. For instance, “Expo 2017” is expected to bring about five million visitors to Kazakhstan [7].
Despite the positive aspects of tourism and industrial development in Kazakhstan, there are a number of unsolved problems. In this regard, Kazakhstan should use a real economic, industrial approach based on the use of competitive advantages, which are a unique culture and a rich and a varied natural environment. Nowadays, the most serious obstacles to the development of tourism are a problem of ° training, poor infrastructure and poor positioning on the international market. The solution of these problems will allow Kazakhstan to rapidly tourism and to enter the international market with its unique product. In addition, the country needs to use the potential of increased business activity, which gives the opportunity to develop cultural, educational, environmental and business tourism.
In conclusion, it should be noted, that Kazakhstan has tremendous growth potential tourism. In general, the critical analysis of different types of tourism, offers the chance to see the real picture of the situation of in the global market of tourist services. While developing tourism in Kazakhstan the following trends have been observed:
- the growth of firms engaged in tourist activities;
- reorientation of domestic tourists from outbound tourism to the domestic;
- increase in volumes of incoming tourism.
There is no question, that Kazakhstan, with all the opportunities for development of tourism and will strive to reach the position of the region for the development of all kinds and types of tourism.
References:
1. UNWTO, (2013) Statistical Annex. World Tourism Barometer 10(4) pp. 22-23.
2. Blanke, J. (2013) The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2013: Contributing to National Growth and Employment. World Economic Forum [online]. Available at <http://www3.weforum.org/docs/>.
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3. Kazakh Academy of Science (2005) Kazakh Encyclopedia, Almaty: Bilim.
4. Honey, M. Gilpin, R. (2009) Tourism in the Developing World. United States institute of peace [online]. Available at <www.usip.org>
5. KTA, (2013) Information about Kazakhstan. Kazakh Tourists Association [online]. Available at <http://www.kaztour-association.com/>
6. Gets, D. (2007) Event tourism: Definition, evolution, and research. Science Direct [online]. Available at <http://www.sciencedirect.com>
7. Nazarbayev, N. (2013) The Strategy for development of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Official site of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan [online]. Available at <http://www.akorda.kz>
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