Kazakhstan wants a Palace on Wheels along the Silk Road

Astana, June 10 (IANS) Spurred by the success of the Palace onWheels and other luxury train services in India, Kazakhstan hassought help from India’s tourism ministry for similarpackages along the famous Silk Route that dates back over twomillennia. “We would like to have a luxury train along theSilk Route, which is similar to India’s luxury trains,including the Palace on Wheels,” Kazakh Vice Minister forTourism and Sports Kairbek Uskenbayev said. “We could even consider joint partnerships to improve thequality of our product,” Uskenbayev told IANS after attendinga presentation organised here by the Indian tourism ministry. The presentation, at the invitation of the Kazakh government, wasto address tour operators, hoteliers, investors and officials onbrand and logo development for the hospitality industry and sharetheir expertise in luxury trains. Officials said a train service on the Silk Route via Kazakhstanruns through Central Asia covering Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan,Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, but the tracks needed to bestandardised to broad gauge and wagons upgraded. The new luxury train will be a part of five tourism projects onKazakhstan’s list of priorities for which it has a budgetexceeding $30 billion, explained the Kazakh tourism and sportsminister. The Silk Route, which dates back to around 110 BC, stretched fromChina and the Indian subcontinent to Central Asia and Europe. Itwas used not only by the traders to transport their merchandise butalso by monks, pilgrims and soldiers. Kazakhstan’s economy is expanding as fast as India’sand China’s with a growth of 10 percent expected this year,due mainly to its huge hydrocarbon reserves and mineral resources. M.N Javed, deputy director with India’s ministry of tourism,said as part of the growing bilateral ties, a two-day road showwill be held in Almaty this September to push the relationshipfurther, especially in the hospitality sector. The event will coincide with a meeting of mayors from citiesfalling on the Silk Route train service to discuss common visas topresent the region as a single tourist destination. “We would like to learn from India’s experience inbrand building to build our own brand,” said Uskenbayev,referring to the Incredible India campaign of the Indian tourismministry that has secured worldwide acclaim. At present Kazakhstan receives around six million visitors a yearwith a target to grow to 10 million by upgrading its infrastructureover the next four years. With business and tourism traffic between India and Kazakhstanexpected to grow further in the near future, Air Astana is hopingto expand its services to India, the airline’s PresidentPeter Foster said. The airline, 51 percent owned by the Kazakh government and the restwith BAE Systems of Britain, wants to step up its scheduledservices to New Delhi to three this summer from the present two,Foster said. The professionally managed Air Astana was recently declared thefourth fastest growing airline in the world by Airline Businessmagazine. It plans to induct two more A-320s in the next two monthsto expand its fleet to 21 aircraft.