Kazakhstan a favourite tourist destination for Qataris

The Kazakh Almaty City Council, in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Doha, held an event for the local media in order to promote tourism in the city of Almaty.Moqbal Abdulqadir, an official in the city's tourism authority, said in exclusive statements to Gulf Times on the sidelines of the event: "There are increasing numbers of Qataris especially families who are keen to spend their holidays in the city, due to its charming nature and mild atmosphere.”She stressed that the purpose of the event is "to encourage more Qataris to visit our city, which is called the city of apples, as it provides an integrated tourist experience in terms of exempting Qataris from the visa, as well as it has a modern and luxurious tourism infrastructure, whether from hotels or means of transportation, restaurants and wonderful resorts, as well as the environment.The charming city has a thousand mountain peaks that are able to instill all its details in the memory of visitors.” At the same time calling on Qatari investors to explore opportunities for establishing investment partnerships in the city, which is located in southern Kazakhstan and enjoys an attractive climate for tourism investment, in her presentation at the event that was held at the Sharq Hotel.Moqbal Abdulkader said: "Almaty is the largest financial, cultural, tourist and educational city in Kazakhstan, with a population of more than 2 million people. It is a tourist city par excellence, where tourists can go for walks, witness the beauty of nature, and relax in a ski resort in the tourism region. Almaty is proud that it has great tourist options, as there are 337 tourist facilities of hotels, resorts and other distinguished tourist infrastructure.There are 12 mountain hotels in Almaty, for skiing and mountaineering enthusiasts, and adventures, and tourists can also take master lessons in archery and horseback riding, or in cooking national Kazakh dishes. Tourists can watch horse shows and how to play the national games.”From a cultural point of view, Moqbel confirmed that Almaty is rich in its ancient history and distinguished culture, as there are two museums and two theaters in the city, and "we would like to reassure our visitors from Qatar that we have many restaurants and hotels that provide authentic Arabic and Gulf dishes,” she added.HE Bayzan Khamzin, Deputy Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Qatar, said that "Kazakhstan has recently become a favourite tourist destination for Qataris, adding that in recent years Kazakhstan has firmly imposed itself on the world tourism map as a country that must be visited by those who love eco-travel. By choosing one site, a tourist in Kazakhstan can fully experience all seasons. These unique tours are actively offered in the vicinity of Almaty, East and South Kazakhstan.”He told reporters that this event is dedicated to Kazakhstan's main tourist city - Almaty, which is located in the foothills of the Almaty Mountains, where you can see mountain peaks from almost anywhere in the city. The Deputy Ambassador stated that "Qatar has also become an attractive tourist destination in Kazakhstan, as 17,000 Kazakh tourists visited Doha this year.”He continued: "We are grateful to Qatar for opening direct daily flights by Qatar Airways to Almaty, and we welcome the decision to increase it to 14 flights per week. We also hope to open direct flights to our capital, Astana.” On the other hand, the Deputy Ambassador confirmed that the Kazakh companies "Fly Aristan" and "Skat" have opened direct flights to Doha since this year.Noting that "thanks to these steps, in addition to the mutual cancellation of visas, we expect that the tourism potential of Kazakhstan and Qatar will be fully revealed on a larger scale to the population of our two countries. This will certainly give impetus to our cultural, human, economic and commercial relations.” Khamzin concluded.