COMPETITIVENESS OF TOURISM INDUSTRY IN KAZAKHSTAN - Tourism in Central Asia: Cultural Potential and Challenges - page 21

ment was emphasized. Porter (1990) introduced his “diamond” model as
an analytical tool to assess the general quality of the business environment
at the national, regional, or local level. The diamond includes four ele-
ments: factor conditions (e.g., physical infrastructure, skills, etc.), demand
conditions (e.g., sophistication of local customers, product and consumer
regulation), the context for strategy and rivalry (e.g. taxation structure,
competition laws, and the strategies of competing local companies), and
the presence of related and supporting industries (e.g., the breadth and
depth of the cluster).
Analyzing the business environment in Kazakhstan, Porter (2005) em-
phasized positive aspects such as good basic workforce skills, low elec-
tricity costs, modern airport infrastructure and a large pool of investment
capital. Negative aspects included weaknesses in the physical infrastruc-
ture, shortage of managerial skills and entrepreneurship, lack of advanced
technical skills, significant barriers for smaller companies to obtain credit.
The tourist cluster structure based on the Porter's recommendations for
Kazakhstan defines the core (tourist operators, travel agencies, accommo-
dation providers, etc.), key partners (food, service, trade, entertainment,
communications, etc.), regulatory bodies, consumers, auxiliary partners,
financial and legal service, and resources (objects of active and passive
leisure) (Mukanov, 2012). Kaygorodtsev (2009) identified three groups
of tourism cluster participants. The first group includes tourist and travel
agencies and organizations providing basic tourist services such as accom-
modation, catering and transportation. The second group includes control
and administrative authorities (border police, customs, quarantine services,
police, banks); sports facilities (stadiums, sports grounds, swimming pools,
tennis courts); businesses and cultural institutions (museums, theaters,
cinemas, exhibitions, galleries, dance clubs); tour operators, guides and
instructors, producers of souvenirs; the media; public utilities and public
services (baths, laundries, dry cleaners, photo studios); trading enterprises
(shops, markets, rental); communications companies, although their par-
ticipation is minimized with the advent of wireless remote communica-
tion. The third group of cluster participants involves industrial and agri-
cultural enterprises producing food, clothing, and other consumer goods.
Porter (2005) argues that the public and private sectors should play
different but interrelated roles in creating a productive economy. Govern-
ment policy has an impact on all elements of the cluster-specific diamond.
It often has responsibilities for large parts of the infrastructure, it sets key