National Geographic Traveler Awards are annual international awards in the sphere of tourism focused on selecting the best destinations, companies, cruises and airports all over the world.
The editorial staff of the National Geographic Traveler magazine (Russia) have presented Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, with a special award “City of the Future” for its dynamic development and high potential for tourism.
“Next year, Astana is hosting one of the most spectacular fairs in the world: EXPO 2017 dedicated to Future Energy. I am confident that this global event will attract tourists from all over the world to Kazakhstan’s capital,” said Roza Asanbayeva, Deputy Director of the Tourism Promotion Department at National Company Astana EXPO-2017, after accepting the award.
She pointed out that the guests of the exhibition will have an opportunity to attend 3,000 themed and entertainment events, including magnificent and exciting shows, concerts, parades and special performances.
The National Geographic Traveler Awards 2016 (NGTA) ceremony took place on Thursday night in Moscow.
Olga Yakovina, the editor-in-chief of National Geographic Traveler, emphasized that the international NGTA are the Oscars of the tourism industry.
“This year, Kazakhstan, and National Company Astana EXPO-2017 in particular, became the partner of the Awards. Kazakhstan is a promising destination with immense potential. It has been increasingly attracting interest and, as a leading international and Russian magazine on tourism and traveling, we could not overlook this,” she stated.
Besides, as a partner of the Awards, National Company Astana EXPO-2017 presented one of the participants in the competition for the best tourist route in Kazakhstan with an invitation to the exhibition. It was Russian citizen Maria Meshcheryakova who beat 45 contestants and scooped the first prize in the category “Kazakhstan: Time for Discoveries” with a colorful essay describing a trip to Kazakhstan and to Lake Kaindy, which is a submerged birch grove in the Tian Shan Mountains.
“I have not actually been to Kazakhstan, but my fellow students who come from this country told me about the amazing Kolsay Lakes, and Lake Kaindy is one of them. I was so interested in all this that I decided to take part in the competition and mapped out my dream route,” explained Maria Meshcheryakova.
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