Project’s IRN: AP09260144

Priority: Rational use of water resources, flora and fauna, ecology

Sub-priority: Management of water, soil and biological resources

Implementation period: 2021-2023 (36 months)

Customer: State Institution “Science Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan”

Research adviser: PhD, Associate Professor Zh.M. Assipova

• Relevance and idea of the project:

Assessment of tourist and recreational capacity is used as a factor of accounting for the anthropogenic impact of tourism on space and the environment. It is an important component of planning the spatial development of tourism and is one of the tools for setting standards for sustainable tourism. The capacity of the territory can be defined as the maximum number of tourists who stay in a certain territory and use the contents of the territory in such a way as not to cause unacceptable and irreversible changes in the ecological, social, cultural and economic structure of the destination, as well as not to reduce the quality of the tourist experience and impressions of the tourist.

The issues of rational use of tourist and recreational resources, their assessment and the impact of anthropogenic factors are the basis for optimizing the spatial and economic organization of territorial tourist and recreational systems, determining the value of individual resources and their combinations.

On the example of Lake Kobeytuz, one can observe how irrational approaches to natural resource management, overcrowding with tourists due to the lack of calculations of tourist and recreational capacity, as well as “unsustainable” approaches to regulation led to a sad result that disrupted the ecosystem of the lake.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a very negative impact on the development of tourism in the world and globally, but on the example of Kazakhstani tourism, we can observe a persistent interest in domestic tourism, and, as a result, new, unknown and previously unpopular destinations are developing. In order for new destinations of domestic Kazakhstani tourism to be formed on the basis of a sustainable approach, it is necessary to begin their development with an assessment of the tourist and recreational capacity of the territory.

The idea of the project: to identify poorly studied, undeveloped, but with a recreational potential, objects of tourist interest in order to involve them in tourism activities, develop interactive cartographic materials based on GIS technologies for graphical presentation of the distribution of anthropogenic load and identify areas of a tense ecological situation based on the results of an environmental assessment, tourist and recreational capacity and, on this basis, develop a mechanism for regulating the recreational impact by state and local authorities in order to preserve and rational use the natural tourist and recreational resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan and reduce the negative anthropogenic impact.

• Project goal:

Development of a mechanism for regulating recreational impact by state and local government bodies for sustainable development of territories through the rational use of natural tourist and recreational resources of Kazakhstan with recreational potential by reducing the negative anthropogenic impact.

• Expected and achieved results:

– for 2021:

conducting a systematic analysis of modern research in the world and in the CIS countries to assess the tourist and recreational capacity and methods of rational use of natural tourist and recreational facilities, that is, conducting a historical and chronological review and comparative analysis of existing approaches to identify the most suitable methodology for use in the Republic of Kazakhstan; development of an improved methodology that meets the conditions of Kazakhstan, that is, the development of an integral methodology, which involves the determination of a number of calculated coefficients that take into account the characteristic factors for Kazakhstan, which will allow assessing the state of tourist and recreational capacity and potential of individual territories; determination of natural tourist and recreational objects of the Republic of Kazakhstan and analysis of the attractiveness of destinations, that is, conducting a quantitative sociological study to identify natural tourist and recreational objects that are still poorly studied and are not in great demand, but have the potential for attractiveness and development as a destination.

– for 2022:

conducting field research to collect and process primary data on site and calculate the tourist and recreational capacity and the permissible anthropogenic load of the selected objects; verification of numerical results; conducting qualitative sociological research using the methods of semi-structured and/or in-depth interviews of the main stakeholders at the selected sites.

– for 2023:

visualization of the results obtained: geographic thematic maps, infographics and others, i.e. development of interactive cartographic materials based on GIS technologies for graphical presentation of the distribution of anthropogenic load and identification of areas with a tense ecological situation based on the results of assessing the tourist and recreational capacity; determination of the scenario for the development of tourist facilities; development of a mechanism for regulating recreational impact by state and local government bodies (with the participation of the main stakeholders) with the aim of effective and rational use of natural resources, taking into account the economic and social conditions of the territory, i.e. development of a master plan, reflecting the phasing and specific measures to reduce the negative anthropogenic impact on tourism and recreation facilities, aimed at the successful and dynamic development of tourism (positive experience can be extrapolated to other tourist and recreational areas / facilities with similar conditions).

• Research team members:

Protection documents:

1. Certificate of entering information into the state register of rights to objects protected by copyright (type of copyright object: work of science). No. 20253 dated September 14, 2021. “System analysis of modern research in the world and in the CIS countries on the assessment of tourist and recreational capacity and methods of rational use of natural tourist and recreational objects” / Assipova Zh.M., Tankibayeva A.G., Nuruly Ye., Aktymbayeva A.S., Bazarbekova M.M., Sapiyeva A.Zh., Makhambetzhan S.M., Karyspayeva A.Ye., Sakypbek M.A. Certificate.pdf

Reports to ISPC:

1. Makhambetzhan S.M., Mominov S., Zhilkibayeva M. Methodological support for the assessment of the tourist and recreational capacity of natural tourism objects // IX International Conference on Education and Research in Tourism and Hospitality. – 18-19 November, 2021.
2. Kaliyeva A.B., Aktymbayeva A.S., Sapiyeva A.Zh. Recommendations for determining and regulating the recreational load on the tourist routes of the national park “Tarbagatay” // IX International Conference on Education and Research in Tourism and Hospitality. – 18-19 November, 2021.