665,000 Chinese tourists visited Kazakhstan in 2024
665,000 Chinese tourists visited Kazakhstan last year after introduction of non-visa travel and increasing number of flights, Kazinform News Agency quotes Vice Minister of Tourism and Sport Erlan Erkinbayev as saying at the Kazakhstan-China Cultural Forum in Astana.
Addressing the event, the vice minister said that year 2024 became a landmark year for the development of mutual tourism.
“In the spring of 2024, the official opening ceremony of the Year of Kazakhstan Tourism in China was held in Beijing. This was not just a symbolic event, but the beginning of a large-scale work to promote Kazakhstani tourism among the Chinese audience. 37 different events were held, the goal of which was to make Kazakhstan closer and more attractive for Chinese travelers,” he said.
As a result, according to Erkinbayev, 655,000 Chinese tourists visited Kazakhstan in 2024, which is 78% more than in 2023 figure (367,000).
In his words, this became possible due to the introduction of visa-free travel and increasing number of flights.
He added that new routes will be launched this year: Guangzhou - Almaty, Chengdu - Almaty, Shanghai - Almaty, Shanghai - Shymkent, as well as Xi'an – Shymkent.
Erlan Erkinbayev also reminded of the launch of the first Xi’an-Almaty tourist train on May 29 ahead of the II Central Asia-China Summit, aimed at bolstering cultural and humanitarian exchanges between the two countries.
Also, according to him, from January through May 2024, Kazakhstan welcomed some 280,000 visitors from China, which is 42% more in the same period in 2024 (197,429).
As it was reported, from June 22 to 24, 2025, Astana-based Nazarbayev University hosts a cultural event titled as "Bronze Meets the Golden Man" dedicated to deepening cultural exchanges between China and Kazakhstan.
