OREANDA-NEWS. On December 05, 2007 at the 17th session of the UNWTO General Assembly in Columbia, Kazakhstan was for the first time ever elected a member of the Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). This was announced by Temirkhan Dosmukhanbetov, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Tourism and Sports, at a press-conference.

“In 2009 Astana will host the XVIII session of the UNWTO General Assembly. Representatives of 160-180 nations are to be in attendance. This will be the largest tourism forum ever held in Kazakhstan and it is expected to contribute to tourism development and attract international tourists’ attention to the country. Our country has a vast tourism potential, but the infrastructure needs to be put in place. Notably, we feel lack of hotels in the capital. We have to take further efforts in this direction”, Mr. Dosmukhanbetov said.

As of today, three large-scaled tourism centers are planned to be constructed involving foreign investments - in Borovoye resort zone (vicinities of Astana), at the shores of Kapchagai Lake (Almaty) and at the shores of the Caspian Sea (Aktau). The project is to be completed within 5-7 years and the investments required are estimated at hundreds of millions of US Dollars.

Kazakhstan’s Minister of Tourism and Sports has been elected Vice President of the UNWTO General Assembly for four years – from 2007 to 2011. UNWTO General Assembly holds its sessions once every two years and is the largest tourism forum in the world. Its sessions are attended by over a thousand representatives of 153 nations.