Austrians advised on development of mountain tourism in Zailiyskiy Alatau

Austrian Alpine Community representatives arrived to Almaty to discuss problems of mountain tourism in Almaty oblast and gave a number of helpful advises on regional mountain tourism development, a href="http://tengrinews.kz" target="_blank">Tengrinews.kz reports. They were invited to Almaty by famous Kazakhstan climber Maksut Zhumayev (he climbed all 14 8-thousanders of the world without oxygen) to help construct Kok-Zhailau skiing resort. The European community representatives visited Kazakhstan to evaluate Zailiyskiy Alatau mountains' tourism potential, share their experience of Alpine tourism development and to give some practical advises on organization of an all-year-round flow of tourists to the new near-Almaty resort. According to Wolfgang Auer, international marketing expert, there are four corner stones to be improved in order to spur Kazakhstan's mountain tourism development. The Austrian delegation spent two days traveling in Almaty mountains. First of all, the expert said, it is necessary to improve public transport infrastructure to enable any person easily access the mountain resort regardless of his/her financial standing. Auer added that to make the active recreation attractive for foreign tourists, Kazakhstan should develop mountain paths and to grade the routes in accordance of their level of complexity and distance. The next important thing is to keep the tourists informed about the existing routes and camp sites in the mountains. Safety is the fourth corner stone. The Austrian visitors say that there are rescue helicopter teams in the Alps that can arrive to a place of accident in ten minutes. “If Kazakhstan creates all the four conditions, then I don’t doubt that you will manage to develop an effective mountain tourism program. (…) Maksut could count on our support at any time. We are ready to provide professional aid for you,” Auer said. “All the routes in Austria are classified, but we don’t have any system here in Kazakhstan. Moreover, our mountain routes are not developed, not cared-for and that’s why they are not safe,” Zhumayev said earlier. I am sure that we could make our mountains more people-friendly by using green technologies.” Earlier Austrian Alpine Community reported that it is interested in including our mountain routes into their annual tourists’ guides as soon as they will be ready (i.e. developed, classified and described). Prominent Kazakhstan climber Maksut Zhumayev, who conquered all 14 world eight-thousanders supports the idea of construction of Kok Zhailau skiing resort near Almaty. He is planning to open a climbing school and to start training climbers.