THE KITF-2022 ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION RETURNS IN ITS TRADITIONAL FORMAT!

Finally, the most best-loved and expected event in the world of the tourism industry returns in the usual format!

For three days, from April 20 to April 22, 2022, the largest audience of representatives of the tourism industry not only from Kazakhstan, but also from all over the world will gather in Almaty at the Atakent Business Center.

 The Kazakhstan International Exhibition "Tourism and Travel" dates back to 2001. During this time, KITF has become the largest and only industry b2b event in Central Asia, the performance of which is growing from year to year, annually attracting about 400 companies, more than 5,000 travel industry specialists, and the geography of participants and visitors covers more than 30 countries. During the days of the expo-event, more than 1,200 transactions are concluded annually by domestic and foreign accommodation facilities.

KITF is not just an exhibition, not just new tourist products and stands. This is a strategically important professional event that will allow us to once again feel the pulse of the market, help determine the further course of the industry, and reveal new opportunities for certain trends and areas.

In 2022, the site of the anniversary KITF will again present all kinds of directions and novelties of the tourism industry, the exhibition will be presented in the following sections:

• International tourism;
• Domestic tourism;
• Medical and health tourism;
• MICE - Business tourism;
• Real estate abroad.

KITF 2022 will delight visitors with a variety of participants, including tour operators, travel agencies, major airlines and hotel chains. Despite the current difficult situation with moving around the world, the exposition will feature many National groups and collective stands that will allow you to travel to the most diverse parts of our world without leaving the walls of the exhibition pavilion. Taking into account the new normality of travel, we can safely say that international tourism is returning to pre-quarantine indicators and even exceeds the indicators of 2019. According to the Civil Aviation Committee, the number of air passengers in 2021 was 10 per cent higher than in pre-pandemic 2019, when airlines carried 8.6 million people. In 2021, domestic airlines transported 7.6 million people on domestic routes (in 2020 and 2019 - 4.6 million people each), 1.8 million people - on international routes (2020 - 0.8 million people, 2019 - 3, 3 million people). Increased passenger traffic and the renewal of international flights demonstrate the attractiveness of Kazakhstan as a promising area for tourism development.

The Tourism and Travel Exhibition serves as a reliable platform for strengthening interregional and international industry relations. Special attention is paid to the event by representatives of state-owned companies and diplomatic missions that accompany their national stands.

Traditionally, an extensive business program is planned for 2022, the events of which will help to plunge into the atmosphere of long-awaited meetings, live negotiations, networking and professional exchange of experience. The content of business events will include a round table with representatives of "trend directions", a Travel Club, a forum on medical tourism and many interactive zones at the expo event site, including the Taste&Travel Fest gastronomic site.

One of the most important goals of the exhibition is to promote the development of tourism. Special emphasis is placed on domestic tourism, because Kazakhstan has a huge tourist potential that needs to be developed. Tourists who visit Kazakhstan are interested in active recreation at ski resorts, extreme tourism (rafting on rivers, climbing mountain peaks), as well as ecotourism and travel to historical and cultural attractions, including following the Great Silk Road. The exhibition serves as an effective tool to promote and popularise the national tourist destination. At KITF, 16 regions of Kazakhstan annually demonstrate their tourism products, including Lake Alakol, a ski resort in the Almaty region, Bayanaul, Balkhash, a beach resort on the Caspian Sea, the Shchuchinsko-Borovskaya resort area, the Turkestan region and others. Evidence of the increased interest and investment attractiveness to different parts of Kazakhstan on the part of foreign players and the state apparatus was the KITF Travel Park project that took place in the summer. This event carried out a smooth restart of domestic tourism and revealed the full potential of tourism in Kazakhstan.

International events at KITF, such as the signing of memoranda, agreements, interregional and cross-border cooperation programmes between the countries, as well as national agreements, plenary sessions, road shows, seminars, presentations and other industry events, demonstrate the effectiveness of the exhibition for the Kazakhstan and Central Asian tourism market.

Antaal Life, EcoPark Tour, KOMPAS Touroperator, SCAT, AIR ASTANA, KazTour and many others have already confirmed their participation in this anniversary year.

Experts of the exhibition industry have awarded the KITF with the UFI (Global Association of the Exhibition Industry) quality mark for compliance with international standards of a B2B platform.

The official partner of the KITF 2022 Anniversary exhibition is KOMPAS.

KITF is organised by the Kazakhstan exhibition company ITECA.

For more information and details on the list of participants, please visit: www.kitf.kz