The central Asian nation of the Kyrgyz Republic also known as Kyrgyzstan is looking to double its tourist arrivals from India and has stepped up its trade engagements to meet the target.
The Kyrgyz Republic has recently appointed Salvia Promoters as its representative office in India. Salvia Promoters and the Tourism Development Support Fund of Kyrgyz Republic organised a two-city road show in India, covering New Delhi on June 7th and Mumbai on June 8th.
“Our prime objective at present is to create awareness in the Indian market about various tourism products and experiences available in the Kyrgyz Republic. We are looking to promote our untouched nature, nomadic heritage and silk route sites in the Indian market. We also want Indian companies to invest in our country’s tourism and hospitality projects,” said Elena Kalashnikova, President, Tourism Development Support Fund, Kyrgyz Republic.
Kyrgyz Republic formed its Tourism Development Support Fund two months back with an initial corpus of around US$ 13 million. “This fund will support tourism infrastructure development in the country besides pushing the tourism-related marketing activities of the Kyrgyz Republic. We expect to work closely with private entities to grow this fund manifolds,” said Kairat Itibaev, Managing Director on International Relations and Investments, Tourism Development Support Fund, Kyrgyz Republic.
“Kyrgyzstan has untapped potential and is a fantastic short-haul tourist destination for the Indian market. We are planning familiarisation trips for travel agents and wedding planners as part of our trade engagements. We will organise roadshows in South India cities too in the near future,” said Prashant Chaudhary, Managing Director, Salvia Promoters.
Kyrgyzstan has also recently opened a visa processing centre in New Delhi to support its tourism activities.
Neeraj Malhotra, Chairman, Northern Region, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) said, “Salvia Promoters has vast experience in dealing with CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) markets. I am confident that their partnership with the Kyrgyz Republic will help to grow tourism ties between the two nations. There is a need of educating Indian travel agents about tourism products in Kyrgyzstan.”
Presently, Aero Nomad operates direct charter flights between the two countries mainly catering to the student traffic. However, connecting flights to the Kyrgyz Republic’s capital Bishkek are available from destinations like Dubai, Moscow and Almaty.
However, direct scheduled flights are expected to begin soon. “Promotion of Tourism would facilitate more and more Indian travellers to visit our beautiful country and further strengthen our people-to-people relations that are centuries old. Carriers including Air Manas and Aero Nomad will soon begin direct flights between India and the Kyrgyz Republic which we expect will boost the tourist flow,” said Asein Isaev, Ambassador of the Kyrgyz Republic in India.