COMPETITIVENESS OF TOURISM INDUSTRY IN KAZAKHSTAN - Tourism in Central Asia: Cultural Potential and Challenges - page 30

We can conclude that there is a positive trend in the international com-
petitiveness of Kazakhstan. Hence, Hypothesis 2 is not rejected.
OVERVIEW OF THE MAIN FINDINGS
COMPETITIVENESS OF LOCAL TOURIST COMPANIES
Most of the travel and tourism organizations in Kazakhstan are small
firms. The contribution of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) to
achieving and sustaining growth and performance in national economies
is increasingly recognized. SMEs play a critical role in the development of
employment, innovation, and social and economic growth (Baisakalova,
2003). “In order to create a viable and resilient economy, we consistent-
ly implemented difficult structural reforms, built up our export potential
and began to diversify by creating significant incentives for the develop-
ment of the noncommodity sector of the economy, and small and medium
business.” 7 In 2011, Travel & Tourism was expected to directly support
99,048,000 jobs or 3.4% of total employment in Kazakhstan (Travel &
Tourism Economic Impact: Kazakhstan, 2011).
The longitudinal study shows that most of the tourism firms are female-
led small firms with a good workforce. In spite of the high educational
level of the labor force small enterprises are in great need of training,
retraining, and consulting services in marketing, tourism, public relations,
human resource management, IT, marketing, business management, ad-
vertising, psychology, restaurants and hospitality, and foreign languages.
Today, among the main determinants of new firm survival, relevant expert
consultancy, easy access to information, managerial competence, and suf-
ficient marketing knowledge should be provided.
The respondents showed increases in profit and delivery of tourist
products from 2006 through 2008. In 2009, these indicators as well as the
total number of tourists decreased. It is interesting to note that the total
number of tourists decrease is explained by the reduction in the number
of outbound tourists. However, since 2006, the numbers of inbound and
domestic tourists have steadily increased by about 1.5 and 6 times, respec-
tively. In 2009, the number of tourists fell down three times in cultural
and cognitive tourism, in business tourism—two times, in ecotourism—by
20 percent, and in health tourism it remained at about the same level as