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ecocultural elements: pine forests which grow on the granite rocks and
present particular interest for scientists being the most southern place of
the pine habitat in the Central Kazakhstan ecosystem, the granite sepul-
chers of “Begazy” and rock paintings dating from the Bronze age, stone
statues of the Turkic period and mausoleums of the period of the Kazakh-
Jungar wars dating from the XVIII century. The local population managed
to preserve skills of producing articles out of felt and numerous national
fermented milk products: 'koumiss” (horse milk), “shubat” (camel milk)
and local dairy products that are made available to the visitors. The tour
brochure notes “such combination of pristine nature, ancient historical
monuments and well-preserved way of life of the local population makes
the “Kyzylarai” ecocultural tour a great place to visit for those who like to
explore something new and interesting for themselves” (ETPACK, 2010b).
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Besides documentation and secondary data including travel brochures, in-
terviews represented the most important information sources. The study
employed 15 semi-structured interviews using open-ended questions with
various stakeholders who were directly and indirectly involved with the de-
velopment of ecocultural tourism and Community-Based Tourism (CBT)
in Kazakhstan. Different members (the director, marketing and logistics
specialists) of the tourism operator 'Nomadic Travel Kazakhstan' selling
ecocultural tours, international and local NGOs including the German Na-
ture and Biodiversity Conservation Union, 'Ecomuseum Karaganda' and
'Avalon historic-geographical society' were interviewed. The fieldwork
has taken place in Almaty, Karaganda and Astana cities as well as ecovil-
lages developed in Kazakhstan. International experts in nomadic culture
and ecocultural tourism selected from their publications about tourism and
ecotourism development in Kazakhstan have been included in the panel.
The political side was represented by government officials from the Min-
istry of Tourism and Sport of Kazakhstan as well as the promotional di-
rector of the Kazakhstan Tourism Association (KTA) responsible for the
development of ecocultural tourism in the country. Community members
selling local souvenirs, running local guesthouses and working in part-
nership with the operator “Nomadic Travel Kazakhstan” in the ecosite of
Kyzylarai, constituted the remaining of the interviewees.
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