EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON TOURISM AND TRADE

European Council on Tourism and Trade high level delegation opens his visit on SILK ROAD with a three -day stop over in Almaty, on Monday April 20, 2015, to observe the potential role of the city as the starting point of SILK ROAD touring program.

It is worth mentioning that Almaty is also a strong candidate for World Winter Olympics of 2022. 

Almaty-the starting point of ECTT Silk Road visit in Kazakhstan

The visit is part of a larger tour to assess the region role in international tourism and the chances to revive a Silk Road of tourism in XXI century with the support of European Council on Tourism and Trade prowess. 

Almaty, known as the gate to the ancient Silk Road and crossroad between Europe and Asia, is competing against Beijing in a race that was reduced to two candidates after the withdrawal of four bidders because of financial and political concerns.

Tien Shan mountain ridge towering over Almaty-the perfect winter sports place

The 5-member ECTT promotion commission, chaired by ECTT President Anton Caragea, will visit the proposed sports venues and meet with Kazakhstan government leaders to discuss their plans and promotion strategies in case of wining the bid. 

European Council on Tourism and Trade has a long track record of promoting international candidature on a world level. 

During last year`s European Council on Tourism and Trade has successfully supported Dubai as candidate city for World Expo 2020,Astana as host of World Expo 2017, both, candidatures crowned with clear successes.

We have to asses the growing demand for winter sport infrastructure in the region, but also the significance and relevance for the host city and region, and country of hosting winter games and sporting events, President Dr. Anton Caragea said.

Kazakhstan hosted the 2011 Asian Games, and will stage the Winter University Games in 2017 and also the World Expo in Astana. 

Almaty must be marketed as a clean, open, friendly city, with sophisticated touristic and sport infrastructure, with incredible landscape and powerful history, offering true winter conditions and plenty of real – not man-made – snow. 

Almaty city is presenting the most compact bid in three decades, with all venues within a 30-kilometer (18-mile) radius of the Olympic Village. 

Almaty has a projected a budget of $1.859 billion and an adjacent infrastructure budget of $1.636 billion. 

It will be a pleasure for us to measure the developments of Almaty, a city that is capital for the region future and development, that is marked as the open gate towards Silk Road and that have a pivotal role for tourism in Central Asia, stated Professor Dr. Anton Caragea-ECTT President