Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
URUMQI, June 1 (Xinhua) — The first China-Central Asia international tourist train on the Xi’an-Almaty route with more than 200 passengers left China via the Khorgos railway checkpoint in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Saturday and headed to Almaty in Kazakhstan.
The tourist train departed from Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, Northwest China, on May 29. According to the schedule, it will leave Almaty on June 5 and return to Xi’an on June 7.
The Khorgos railway checkpoint administration worked closely with local customs, border inspection and other agencies to ensure that passengers could exchange tickets smoothly, undergo inspection at the checkpoint and leave the country efficiently.
Let us recall that 2024 was the Year of Kazakhstan Tourism in China, and 2025 has been declared the Year of China Tourism in Kazakhstan.
According to Li Jiang, deputy head of Horgos Customs, the launch of the above-mentioned international tourist train has laid a new foundation for deepening connectivity and promoting people-to-people exchanges between China and Central Asian countries.
According to available information, Almaty will host the Week of Humanitarian and Tourist Exchanges between the cities of Xi’an and Almaty, which will include a number of exhibitions, meetings, lectures and friendly football matches.
The activities will include a display of intangible cultural heritage, an exhibition of cultural relics, promotion of traditional Chinese medicine culture, academic exchanges in archaeology, and a meeting of female entrepreneurs from the two countries.
In May 2023, China and Kazakhstan signed an intergovernmental agreement on mutual exemption from visa requirements, which officially came into force in November of the same year.
Kazakhstan is becoming a popular destination among Chinese tourists. According to statistics, by the end of 2024, the Chinese tourist flow to this Central Asian country amounted to 655 thousand people-times, which is 78 percent more than the previous year. -0-