Kazakhstan enters top five travel destinations for Chinese tourists

Data from the major online tourist company Tongcheng Travel indicates Kazakhstan is in the top-5 of fastest-growing international hotel booking destinations during the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday in China, further strengthening its foothold in the Chinese tourist market, said the company in a statement. 

This year, China has been experiencing a surge in long-haul group tours abroad, doubling year-on-year. There was a significant uptick in international hotel bookings from China across several countries of Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa during the holidays.

The top 5 most booked international destinations for Chinese travelers were Saudi Arabia, Egypt, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, and the UAE.

In nine months alone, over 675,000 tourist arrivals were recorded from China to Kazakhstan, up from 655,000 a year earlier. The growth is fueled by simplified visa processes and new direct flights between the two countries, said Daniel Serzhanuly, Acting Chairman of Kazakh Tourism’s Board.

Kazakh Tourism reveals up to 430,000 daily searches for Kazakhstan on China’s Baidu search engine, with the highest numbers recorded in Guangdong, Zhejiang provinces, Beijing, as well as XIAR and Shandong province.

Earlier, it was reported Kazakhstan draws over 80,000 medical tourists since January.