New tourism destinations on show at KITF 2012

From 25 to 27 April 2012, Central Asia’s largest tourism exhibition will take place in Almaty - KITF 2012, the 12th Kazakhstan International Tourism & Travel Exhibition. Over 550 companies are set to exhibit this year from 38 countries, including 19 national stands.

KITF will provide a broad coverage of both the inbound tourism market of Kazakhstan and
the outbound tourism. The exhibition will be held in different pavilions to demonstrate the full range of offers in the tourist industry. Pavilion 10 of Atakent Exhibition Centre will feature national stands, ministries of tourism of different countries, and, of course, tourist opportunities of Kazakhstan. As in previous years, there will be a separate pavilion solely for national tourism organisations, where a central place will be occupied by the stand of the Committee
of Tourism Industry of the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It should be noted that KITF 2012 is attended by the business and industry departments of all regions of Kazakhstan (14 oblasts and the cities of Astana and Almaty). The exhibition space of Pavilion 11 will be shared by private companies: travel agencies, hotels, and resorts of different countries and regions.

KITF 2012 has experienced a 15% growth in exhibitor numbers this year. Israel and the Dominican Republic will present national stands for the first time in the exhibition’s history, joining the likes of India, Spain, Croatia, Sri Lanka, and many others as countries with national representation at KITF 2012. Turkey, the exhibition’s official partner country, will be represented by over 100 hotels and tour operators, and along with Kazakhstan has the most exhibiting companies at the event, followed by the UAE, South Korea, and China.

The Netherlands and Kenya are two new destinations on offer, and Argentina, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, and Morocco have returned to the exhibition after several years’ absence.

The Medical & Health Tourism section will be held at KITF for the first time, where a joint exhibition of clinics, hospitals, resorts, and spas from around the world will be presented by companies from countries such as Azerbaijan, Israel, Lithuania, and Turkey.

Both variants of the Olympics will also come under the spotlight at KITF: the British Embassy will deliver a presentation on this year’s London Olympics, and visitors can find out more about the 2014 Winter Olympics from the Sochi City Government’s stand.

KITF is organised by the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of the Republic of Kazakhstan alongside ITE Group plc and Iteca, and is officially supported by the World Tourism Organization and the Almaty City Administration.