OREANDA-NEWS. April 14, 2011. The level of interest in Kazakhstan and the KITF tourism exhibition is staggering. Tour operators and travel agencies from 40 countries, including 19 countries represented by national stands, will come to Almaty. This week, several companies from Indonesia confirmed their participation as part of a national group stand. The event’s list of sponsors has also grown.

A successful exhibition is a brand in itself. Launched in 2001, KITF (Kazakhstan International Tourism Fair) is a leading international exhibition in Central Asia, which reflects the overall situation in the tourism industry today. The event is organised by the Ministry of Tourism and Sport of Kazakhstan and Almaty City Administration, together with Iteca (Kazakhstan), part of ITE Group Plc (UK).

In 2011, KITF will take place in the pavilions of Atakent Exhibition Centre in Almaty on 20-22 April. Leading tourist countries will take part in the exhibition. KITF 2011 will promote Kazakhstan and feature about 500 companies from 40 countries (for the full list, see below). In addition to qualitative growth (a record number of countries represented by the exhibitors and national stands) KITF has seen an increase in quantitative indicators: a 10% increase in the exhibition area compared with last year.

The new destinations presented at the exhibition this year include Peru, USA and Japan. 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 Ministry of Tourism and Sport of Kazakhstan and regional tourism offices. Nineteen countries will participate with national stands: Georgia, Greece, India, Indonesia, Spain, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Slovakia, Slovenia, Thailand, Turkey, Croatia, Czech Republic, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and South Korea. The tourism ministries of Croatia and Sri Lanka will participate with a national stand for the first time.

The major tour operators Gulnar Tour, TEZ Tour, Consul Travel, Sayat, KazTur, Travel System, and Kompas booked their space at KITF early. For them, the event is an essential component in the successful development of their business. Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) is the Official Carrier of KITF 2011. One of the exhibition’s sponsors is Gartour, which will present the Regal Travel brand.

Over the three days, KITF will present great international resorts, luxury hotels, comfortable flights, informative seminars, special holiday offers, new tourism industry products, and much more.

The exhibition’s target audience is travel agencies. At the event, there will be a series of seminars and consultations specifically for them. KITF’s business program will include presentations intended to introduce industry professionals to new destinations and tours from companies such as TravelSystem (Kazakhstan), TEZ Tour (Russia), Amadeus (Ukraine), SOL-V.I.P. Travel (Kazakhstan) and Viajes Ancodes S.L. (Spain). In addition, the business program will feature such seminars as: “Online hotel booking” by Hoteldiscount (Russia); “The features of organising assistance and settling claims in the main tourist regions” by CORIS Ukraine; and “Innovative technologies for travel agents” by SAMO-Soft.

Countries represented by KITF 2011 exhibitors: Australia, Brazil, UK, Hungary, Vietnam, Germany, Greece, Egypt, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Maldives, United Arab Emirates, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, USA, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, South Africa, South Korea and Japan.