A Cluster Analysis of Tourist Sites in the Regions of Kazakhstan
Abstract
Natural and cultural sites is a basic elements of tourism development in all over the world. Kazakhstan has a significant number of objects of nature reserve fund and the historical and cultural heritage, which, along with the development of health-improving, ecological, ski tourism, also contribute to the development of ethnographic, gastronomic, cultural and educational and other types of tourism. The purpose of the study is to identify traits of the most attractive tourist destinations, as well as to study the degree of importance of natural, cultural and dual (natural and cultural) sites for target consumers. In this regard, a comparative analysis of the level of tourism development in 14 regions of Kazakhstan was carried out, using a two-step cluster analysis, the degree of significance of three types of sites for target consumers was determined. The findings of the analysis suggest that the Akmola, Almaty, East Kazakhstan and Karaganda regions are in the greatest demand among tourists. Along with this, natural sites are the most important determinants of tourism, cultural sites are the least important. Thus, tourists in Kazakhstan are more attracted by regions with a rich natural reserve fund than by historical and cultural heritage. In this regard, it is proposed to pay more attention to promoting the cultural sites of Kazakhstan. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that analyses 14 regions of Kazakhstan according to their basic tourism characteristics, identifies attractions that are underutilized, and proposes strategies to identify opportunities for the tourism industry in Kazakhstan. In this regard, its results can be very useful in justifying the feasibility of implementing the relevant regional initiatives and making a decision to reorient the efforts of interested government agencies to develop alternative types of tourism.
References
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[34] Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 932 dated September 28. 2006 “On approval of the list of objects of the state natural reserve fund of republican significance’. Available at: http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/P060000932_
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[2] Alexandrova, A.Y. 2007. Tourist clusters: content, borders, functioning mechanism. Contemporary Problems of Service and Tourism, 1: 51–61. (in Russian)
[3] Arimond, G., Elfessi, A. 2001. A clustering method for categorical data in tourism market segmentation research. Journal of Travel Research, 39 (4): 391–397. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/004728750103900405.
[4] Berikov, V.B., Lbov, G.S. 2008. Contemporary Tendencies in Cluster Analysis. Novosibirsk: NB RAS Institute of Mathematics named S.L. Sobolev, 26. Available at: https://biocomparison.ucoz.ru/_ld/0/49_berikov_lbov.pdf
[5] Blasco, D., Guia, J., Prats, L. 2014. Heritage tourism clusters along the borders of Mexico. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 9 (1): 51–67. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2013.862537.
[6] Blasco, D., Guia, J., Prats, L. 2014. Tourism destination zoning in mountain regions: A consumer-based approach. Tourism Geographies, 16 (3): 512–528. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2013.851267.
[7] Burnham, K.P., Anderson, D.R. 2002. Model Selection and Multimodel Inference: A Practical Information-Theoretic Approach (2nd ed.). NY: Springer-Verlag, 488. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/b97636.
[8] Derek, M., Woźniak, E., Kulczyk, S. 2019. Clustering nature-based tourists by activity. Social, economic and spatial dimensions. Tourism Management, 75: 509–521. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2019.06.014.
[9] Ditton, R.B., Goodale, T.L., Johnsen, P.K. 1975. A cluster analysis of activity, frequency, and environment variables to identify water-based recreation types. Journal of Leisure Research, 7 (4): 282–295. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/00222216.1975.11970244.
[10] Dunets, A.N. 2011. Spatial tourism organization in a region: theoretical basis of cluster approach. Contemporary problems of service and tourism, 1: 37–44. (in Russian)
[11] Fredline, E., Faulkner, B. 2000. Host community reactions: A cluster analysis. Annals of Tourism Research, 27 (3): 763–784. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(99)00103-6.
[12] Gooroochurn, N., Sugiyarto, G. 2005. Competitiveness indicators in the travel and tourism industry. Tourism Economics, 11 (1): 25–43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5367/0000000053297130.
[13] Gurieva, L.K., Sozieva, Z.I. 2009. Tourist cluster of a region: problems and prospective of creation. Regional Economy: Theory and Practice, 22 (115): 72–80. (in Russian)
[14] Gu, X., Hunt, C.A., Lengieza, M.L., Niu, L., Wu, H., Wang, Y., Jia, X. 2021. Evaluating residents’ perceptions of nature-based tourism with a factor-cluster approach. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13 (1): 1-19. DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010199.
[15] Jackson, J., Murphy, P. 2006. Clusters in regional tourism: An Australian case. Annals of Tourism Research, 33 (4): 1018-1035. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2006.04.005.
[16] Jain, A.K. 2010. Data clustering: 50 years beyond K-means. Pattern Recognition Letters. 31 (8): 651-666. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patrec.2009.09.011.
[17] Kostryukova, O.N., Karpova, E.G. 2011. Methods of identification of tourist clusters in the system of regional tourism. Problems of contemporary economy, 4 (40): 374–378. (in Russian)
[18] Kurchenkov, V.V., Fetisova, O.V., Tyutyusheva, A.G., Matina, A.S. 2016. Issues of regional tourist clusters’ typology. Bulletin of AGTU. Series: Economy, 1: 7–13. (in Russian)
[19] Lascu, D.-N., Manrai, L.A., Manrai, A.K., Gan, A. 2018. A cluster analysis of tourist attractions in Spain: Natural and cultural traits and implications for global tourism. European Journal of Management and Business Economics, 27(3): 218–230. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMBE-08-2017-0008.
[20] Limonina, I.G. 2007. Territorial differences of tourist infrastructure potential development in the Leningrad region. Vestnik Sankt-PeterburgskogoUniversiteta, SeriyaGeologiyaiGeografiya, 2007 (2): 117–127.
[21] Mandel, I.D. 1988. Cluster Analysis. Moscow: Finance and Statistics, 176. (in Russian).
[22] Mazanec, J.A. 1984. How to Detect Travel Market Segments: A Clustering Approach. Journal of Travel Research, 23 (1): 17–21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/004728758402300103.
[23] Michael, E.J. 2003. Tourism micro-clusters. Tourism Economics, 9 (2): 133-145. DOI:https://doi.org/10.5367/000000003101298312.
[24] Perles-Ribes, J.F., Ivars-Baidal, J.A., Ramón-Rodríguez, A.B., Vera-Rebollo, J.F. 2020. The typological classification of tourist destinations: The region of Valencia, a case study. Tourism Economics, 26 (5): 764–773. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354816619838413.
[25] Rodríguez, Y., Hernández-Martín, R. 2020. Expert consensus versus statistical techniques in the delimitation of tourism destinations. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12 (6): art. no. 2540. DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062540.
[26] Rodríguez, Y.R., Martín, R.H. 2019. Foundations and relevance of delimiting local tourism destinations. Investigaciones Regionales, 42: 185–206.
[27] Rudchenko, V.N. 2016. Clusters in tourism: features of classification, formation process and evaluation methods. Society. Environment. Development, 4: 12–18. (in Russian)
[28] Vasiliadis, Ch.A., Kobotis, A. 1999. Spatial analysis – an application of nearest-neighbour analysis to tourism locations in Macedonia. Tourism Management, 20 (1): 141–148. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0261-5177(98)00062-4.
[29] Waits, M.J. 2000. The added value of the industry cluster approach to economic analysis, strategy development, and service delivery. Economic Development Quarterly, 14 (1): 35-50. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/089124240001400106.
[30] Wang, X. 2020. Characteristics of tourist sources in coastal tourism market based on cluster analysis. Journal of Coastal Research, 103: 1065–1069. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2112/SI103-222.1.
[31] Weaver, D., Lawton, L. 2005. Using cluster analysis to segment a sample of Australian ecotourists. In Ritchie, B. W., Palmer, C. (Eds.), Tourism Research Methods: Integrating Theory with Practice, 211-220. Wallingford, England: CABI. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1079/9780851999968.0211.
[32] Young, C.A., Corsun, D.L., Baloglu, S. 2007. A taxonomy of hosts visiting friends and relatives. Annals of Tourism Research, 34 (2): 497–516. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2006.12.003.
[33] Zhou, B., Qu, H., Li, N. 2016. How tourist attraction agglomeration affects a regional tourism economy. Tourism Analysis, 21 (6): 603-616. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3727/108354216X14713487283129.
[34] Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 932 dated September 28. 2006 “On approval of the list of objects of the state natural reserve fund of republican significance’. Available at: http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/P060000932_
[35] Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 406 dated June 30. 2017 “On approval of the Concept for the development of the tourism industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2023’. Available at: http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/P1700000406_
[36] Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 360 dated May 31. 2019 ‘On approval of the State program for the development of the tourism industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2019-2025’. Available at: http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/P1900000360
[37] Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 333 dated March 6. 2001 ‘On the Concept of Tourism Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan’. Available at: http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/P010000333_
[38] Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 3859 dated February 27. 1998 ‘On the State Program of the Republic of Kazakhstan’ Revival of the historical centers of the Silk Road, preservation and successive development of the cultural heritage of the Turkic-speaking states, creation of tourism infrastructure ‘. Available at: http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/U980003859_
[39] Order of the Minister of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 88 dated April 14. 2020 “State list of historical and cultural monuments of republican significance, history and culture of republican significance. Available at: http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/V2000020397
[40] Tourism of Kazakhstan. Statistical collection. 2016. Astana: Committee on Statistics, 83 p.
[41] Tourism of Kazakhstan. Statistical collection. 2017. Astana: Committee on Statistics, 86 p.
[42] Tourism of Kazakhstan. Statistical collection. 2018. Astana: Committee on Statistics, 67 p.
[43] Tourism of Kazakhstan. Statistical collection. 2019. Astana: Committee on Statistics, 66 p.
[44] Tourism of Kazakhstan. Statistical collection. 2020. Astana: Committee on Statistics, 99 p.
[45] Tentative list of UNESCO. Kazakhstan. Available at: http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/state=kz
[46] UNESCO World Heritage List. Kazakhstan. Available at: http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/kz
[47] World Economic Forum. The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report .2019. Available at: http://reports.weforum.org/travel-and-tourism-competitiveness-report-2019/country-profiles/#economy=KAZ
Published
2021-06-30
How to Cite
ASKEYEV, Abylkair; BAIZHOLOVA, Raissa.
A Cluster Analysis of Tourist Sites in the Regions of Kazakhstan.
Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, [S.l.], v. 12, n. 4, p. 1043-1051, june 2021.
ISSN 2068-7729.
Available at: <https://journals.aserspublishing.eu/jemt/article/view/6196>. Date accessed: 11 july 2025.
doi: https://doi.org/10.14505//jemt.v12.4(52).17.
Section
Article
Copyright© 2025 The Author(s). Published by ASERS Publishing 2025. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of CC-BY 4.0 license.