Kazakh president proposes building new seaport in Aktau with berth for passenger shipsKazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed at a meeting on socioeconomic development of the Mangystau region on Friday that a new seaport in Aktau should be built to develop sea tourism."As for Aktau, it is a unique city in terms of transportation, logistics and tourism opportunities. We should efficiently make use of this potential. We should focus on sea tourism. This segment is attractive thanks to the proximity of the ports of five countries, the possibility of attracting tourists from ten million-strong cities in Russia, Iran and the Caucasus to the region," Tokayev was quoted by the presidential press service as saying."Transit corridors of air communications from such cities as Istanbul, Antalya, London, Moscow, Astrakhan, Tbilisi, Baku and others are intersecting here. This paves the way for the active development of tourism. The need to build a new seaport of Aktau with rebuilding the berths to receive passenger ships is urgent," Tokayev added.Last year saw the number of foreign tourists amounting to 43,000 and around 460,000 domestic tourists, he said. The total number of tourists has grown 1.5-fold over the past three years.Tokayev added that the hotels are occupied by more than 90% in the summer season. The Beket Ata Underground Mosque, Bozzhyra Valley, Airakty Valley of Castles and Torysh Valley of Balls remain the most popular attractions for tourists.The president drew attention to the need for comfortable conditions for tourists, including those with disabilities, recommending that the sacred significance of the tourist attractions should be taken into account and the issue should be discussed with the public and experts. Tokayev also stressed the importance of attracting private investment in the tourism sector."The government should complete a comprehensive plan for the development of the Mangystau tourist zone in the near future. It should be adopted in June. The akimat of the region with the support of the government should work on attracting private investment in this area. The next matter is event tourism. Aktau has been granted the status of the cultural capital of the Turkic world. The opening ceremony has recently been successfully held. Both our citizens and Turkic-speaking countries showed great interest in this event. More than 30 events will be held in the future. This will contribute to attracting tourists to the region," Tokayev said. (ICE ALMATY)

Fonte notizia: INTERFAX