Over 500 thousand tourists visited Astana in 2012

Over 500 thousand tourists visited Astana in 2012, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the press-service of Astana administration. “522.9 thousand tourists visited Astana last year, including 117.5 thousand people from abroad and 405.4 thousand of people from other regions of the country. For comparison, these numbers stood at 105.9 thousand and 373.1 thousand people, correspondingly, in 2011. This shows that the number of tourists increased by 43.9 thousand people in one year,” the department of tourism, physical culture and sport announced. The number of tourists traveling from Astana increased as well. They totaled at 27.3 thousand people in 2012 versus 24.4 thousand in 2011. The city administration links the surge of tourism with successful joint activities of local executive authorities and non-government organizations. There are currently 169 tourist companies operating in Astana. They all participate in international and regional tourist exhibitions promoting Astana at the international tourism market.