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More than a half of tourism sector of Kyrgyzstan works in shadow

More than 60 percent of the tourism sector in Kyrgyzstan works in the shadow. Maksat Damir uulu, head of the Tourism Department of the Ministry of Culture, Information and Tourism of Kyrgyzstan, stated at a round table discussion.

According to him, more than 5 million people entered Kyrgyzstan in 2018. Most of them are labor migrants and people engaged in cross-border trade.

According to our calculations, about two million tourists arrived. On average, they spend $ 500 per person.

Maksat Damir uulu

«Multiply the amount by the number of tourists. How much money it is, and collected taxes amounted to only 85 million soms. Take Issyk-Kul region in terms of taxes. Over 60 percent of the tourism sector is in the shadows. The reason is tax administration. Why are entrepreneurs hiding incomes? There are ways to do this through tax inspectors,» he said.

Maksat Damir uulu added that three control points were chosen for the development of the tourism sector — advertising and marketing in the countries where tourists come from, creation of favorable conditions for entrepreneurs and comfortable conditions for tourists.

«We are adopting a program for the development of the tourism industry, there we have registered all the activities for the creation of favorable conditions. Some laws must be brought into conformity,» he noted.

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