Kazakhstan’s tourism industry ranked 81st out of 136 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitive-ness Index 2017. This indicates that the country’s rank has moved up from the 85th position in 2015. If we compare it with the rankings of other post-Soviet countries, we can see that Russia is ranked 43rd, Georgia is 70th, Azerbaijan is 71st, and Kyrgyzstan is 115th. Step 57 of the “Plan of the Nation – 100 concrete steps to implement the five institutional reforms” set out by President Nursultan Nazarbayev envisaged the attraction of strategic (anchor) investors, who have successful experience in creating tourist clusters.
Daulet Zhailybayev is a research fellow at the Eurasian Research Institute of Khoja Akhmet Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University. In 2009, he received a bachelor’s degree from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, faculty of history. In 2013, he graduated from the faculty of ethnology of KazNU with a master’s degree. The thesis topic is “The Azerbaijanis in Kazakhstan: Ethno-Cultural Processes”.