The city of Nur-Sultan was a center of attraction for foreign tourists from all over the world in 2019: more than 600 events of various formats and scales were held in the capital, and 180 of them were international. According to the Department of Investment and Business Development, the city received 1.9 billion tenge direct income from all of these activities.

Events occurred in Nur-Sultan in 2019 included the Exhibition of domestic manufacturers “ULTTYQ ÓNIM”, Astana Economic Forum 2019, 14th Conference of the International Association for Judicial Administration (MACA), PATA Travel Mart 2019 International Tourism Exhibition, XII KAZENERGY Eurasian Forum, Digital Bridge 2019 and Seedstars Summit CEE 2019.

In the framework of the Routes Silk Road 2019 airlines and routes development forum held in July, the Civil Aviation Committee of the RK and the Department of Investment and Business Development of the city of Nur-Sultan signed memorandums with the China Eastern and Urumqi Air. These memorandums were on the opening of direct flights to Shanghai and Urumqi.

The 8th UNWTO Global Summit on Urban Tourism was held with the participation of 1.6 thousand delegates from 82 countries in October. In the course of bilateral meetings, several memorandums were signed. Mayor of Nur-Sultan – Altay Kulginov signed the memorandums on expanding and strengthening bilateral ties with the cities of Kazan and Tashkent; cooperation plan and cooperation program 2020-2024 with the capital of Turkey - Ankara. And finally, an agreement on cooperation and on the establishment of twinning relations between the capital of Mongolia - the city of Ulan Bator.

Also, following the results of the event, the intention to implement the “Flight over the Capital” project in the city of Nur-Sultan was signed. Moreover, coordination of efforts to use the Mastercard Tourism Insights platform in the framework of digitalizing the tourism industry and improving statistical reporting was agreed.

2019 was a very fruitful year for all industry participants. We hope this is just a beginning.