Failed Olympic bid will boost Almaty tourism profile
Despite falling at the last hurdle, the Almaty Winter Olympics bid committee says its ultimately unsuccessful bid for the 2022 Games has greatly raised the city’s profile.
Almaty 2022 vice chairman Andrey Kryukov said the bid had given Almaty and Kazakhstan a good foundation for further developing tourism and attracting major sport events in the future.
"By bidding for the Winter Games we showed the world the amazing progress that Kazakhstan has made since its independence. This alone is a major victory for our country. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to showcase our country to the world," Kryukov said.
"I have no doubt that after seeing and hearing about our real venues, beautiful mountains, diverse culture and vibrant, cosmopolitan city the entire world now knows exactly what we mean by ‘Keeping it Real.’
Almaty was a huge underdog against winner Beijing which has a global pedigree as host nation of the 2008 Summer Olympics, but the IOC vote was a close call.
The final vote was 44-40 in Beijing’s favour and the Chinese capital will now have the distinction as the world’s only city to host both winter and summer games.
Almaty’s bid rested on its Olympic village and venues being all within a 30 mile radius and an unlimited supply of natural snow, however Beijing’s financial clout and global profile gave it the edge.
"Consistent with our long-term winter sports development plan, we will continue to develop our city into a winter sports hub for all of Central Asia. Our region will continue to benefit from our city’s abundance of winter sports venues, and we remain committed to bringing major events to our city," Kryukov added.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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