Tension between countries to reduce flow of tourists to KR from Kazakhstan

09:26, 14 ноября 2017, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Anastasia MOKRENKO

«Alas, today’s tension reduces tourist flows to  and redistributes them,» the head of the Tourism Association of Kazakhstan Rashida Shaikenova told ’s information and analytical portal 365info.kz.

According to her, 2-3 years ago, during the political instability in , Kazakhstani tourists practically stopped going to . «In recent years the situation has stabilized, and our tour operators have again opened sales of tours to . 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 on mountaineering, which, alas, remain unsettled.

«Many foreigners come to , then go to  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.

We hope that by the summer season of 2018 the situation will stabilize.

Rashida Shaikenova

According to her observations, among the Kazakhstanis, the demand for tourism has been redistributed in the direction of ’s resorts over the last two years.