Friday, May 04, 2012 -
Kyrgyz tourism officials hope that the recently launched “Heart of Asia” tourism campaign will see results by 2020, and plans to group tourism spots into zones to facilitate upgrades to infrastructure in the economic sector.
“The project will give the first results in three to four years, and experience maximum results and will bring change to the Kyrgyz people by 2020,” Department of Tourism Director Bakyt Kenenbaev said, according to the Kabar.kg news agency.
“This project involves the selection of the most promising areas and facilities in Kyrgyzstan, which are most interesting for visitors,” he said. “Following their definition, they will be merged into tourism clusters.”
Kyrgyzstan hopes to attract $15 billion in foreign investment for the development of these tourism zones, Kenenbaev said.
“The program involves carrying out the reform and development of the tourist industry quickly,” Kenenbaev said. “By creating a cluster, and linking controls, all the problems in the tourism sector can be addressed comprehensively, in a unified manner. Since the state is not a very successful manager, it is assumed [that in control will be] a public-private partnership.”
Approximately 4 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s gross domestic product (GDP) is generated by the tourism sector, Kenenbaev said.
He also called on Kyrgyz citizens to travel more within their own country to bolster the domestic tourism sector.