Central Asia Ski Industry

The season may be drawing to a close at Central Asian Kazakhstan's Chimbulak winter sports resort. For experienced practitioners of the sport who long for the freedom and risks of virgin snow, Kazakhstan's 95 percent mountainous southern neighbour Kyrgyzstan is emerging as a haven. The landlocked region is witnessing a growing number of locals and foreigners head to its abundant mountains to savour the snow. "Chimbulak is a national treasure where it hosted 180,000 ski tourists alone in 2015 and expects more than a third more in 2016. Both Kyrgyzstan and energy-rich Kazakhstan have broken with form in closed-off Central Asia by introducing visa-free entry procedures for citizens of economically developed states in an effort to boost tourism in recent years.