Kazakhstan Plans “7-10 Ski Resorts” With Some Linked By Gondolas
3rd October 2018
Kazakhstan may become a leading player in ski tourism in the 2020s if the governments plans to expand the country’s ski area network and link some resorts by gondola lifts comes to fruition.
Minister of Culture and Sport Arystanbek Mukhamediuly, has announced plans to inter-connect the country’s existing mountain resorts in Almaty city by a gondola to encourage tourism, noting that Kazakhstan is well-placed to attract skiers from the EU, Persian Gulf, Iran, India, China and Southeast Asia.
“In this light, the mountain cluster of Almaty region was chosen as the key driver for the development of domestic and inbound tourism. The cluster includes the locations from Kaskelen to Turgen through Shymbulak, Almatau, Butakovka, Tabagan, and Ak Bulak,” he said. “Almaty region may become one of the largest centers of mountain skiing tourism. We have there the Shymbulak ski resort, the mountain skiing cluster in Tabagan… If we link them by a cableway system, we will have a mountain skiing infrastructure in place. It will spur not only winter sports, but summer sports as well. In case we launch the cableway system, tourists will be able to conveniently travel from one ski resort to another.”
Mr Mukhamediuly also unveiled plans to add 7-10 more ski resorts in the Almaty region by 2025.
Those will be split into three clusters, including the Eastern cluster – Turgen mountains, the Central cluster – Almaty and Western cluster – Kaskelen mountains.