Shymbulak near Almaty, Kazakhstan is a popular tourist destination, especially in winter. — Visit Almaty
Border port cities in northwest China’s Xinjiang have seen a boom in cross-border tourism propelled by a visa-free agreement between China and Kazakhstan, in effect since November 2023.
“This summer, I made two trips to Alakol Lake in Kazakhstan,” said Tao Qin, from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Lake swimming and mud bath are among the attractions in the increasingly popular tourism destination. The lake resort is just a two-hour-plus bus trip from the Baktu land port located in the city, Tao said.
Many tourists like Tao and others from across China opt for a three-day tour programme to the Kazakh lake offered by the local office of Shaanxi Gaoke International Travel Agency. Wang Long, the Tacheng branch manager, said that this past summer, they dispatched two tour groups every 10 days to the Alakol Lake.
The China-Kazakhstan visa-free agreement has brought the lake – a distant view for Tacheng residents – into easy reach, according to Wang.
The designation of 2024 as the “Year of Kazakhstan tourism in China” and 2025 as the “Year of China tourism in Kazakhstan” has significantly boosted cross-border traveller traffic through Xinjiang’s border ports, including Alashankou. Popular Kazakhstan-bound itineraries – such as a one-day tour to Dostyk, a three-day tour to Alakol Lake, and a seven-day tour to Almaty – are receiving growing numbers of bookings.
Almaty received 54,100 Chinese tourists in the first half of 2025, up by 33.4% from a year earlier, according to data from the tourism department of the largest Kazakh city.
Kazakh travel agency Nur-Gany and Xinjiang Tacheng Travel Service have been jointly developing cross-border tour routes, including local reception services. “We regularly receive tour groups from China,” said Kalym-zhanova Nazym, Nur-Gany’s general manager.
She said prospective programmes include those on eco-tourism and cultural exchange, while the Tacheng company said it is planning a joint operation of Xinjiang-bound tours for Kazakhs.
In May, Kazakhstan’s low-cost carrier FlyArystan launched a direct flight service between Almaty and Xinjiang’s Yining city; in October, it will increase the flight frequency from two to three per week.
In response to growing tourist arrivals, Xinjiang’s border ports have been working to provide greater facilitation.
Take the Horgos Cross-border tourism one-stop service centre. The service centre became operational in August and has drawn in dozens of businesses to set up services, such as travel agencies, customs declaration firms, translation agencies, insurance companies, and car rental businesses.
According to immigration officer Zhang Yongpeng, passenger traffic through the Horgos port this year exceeded one million in late August, a 60% jump from the previous year.
In the port’s entry inspection hall, streams of people were using AI-powered self-service terminal machines for swifter entry registration, a process taking just over 10 seconds at its fastest, thanks to automatic identification and capture of individual passport information and native language checks, according to Zhang.
A special tour group consisting of motorcycle enthusiasts from countries including Poland, Canada and Greece was waiting to clear customs. Their journey started from Kyrgyzstan and passed through Kazakhstan, and will end in Nepal.
Grzegorz Brzeczyszczykiewicz, from Poland, said that the motorcycle team would ride all the way to Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital. “This is a great country with great culture and great history.”
The hospitality industry in Xinjiang has been actively enhancing its services to meet the growing and diverse needs of international visitors.
Ma Qiang, a young entrepreneur from the Liuxing Street of the Yining city, is running a homestay, a restaurant and an ice cream shop in the designated historical and cultural district, which he said has played host to a large number of foreign visitors this year.
“They are intrigued by the architectural style here and are drawn to the singing and dancing scene of young people dressed in ethnic costumes on the street,” he said.
To better serve foreign tourists, he plans to customise the multilingual menus and enhance the foreign language communication skills of his employees.
“Deep in my heart, the Liuxing Street doesn’t only belong to Xinjiang, to China, but also to the world,” said Ma. – Xinhua
