Slashdot Mirror
Borat Boosts Tourism In Kazakhstan
Kenzhebay Satzhanov, deputy chairman in Kazakhstan's tourism and sports ministry, said the boost to tourism in Kazakhstan is due to British comic Sacha Baron Cohen's character, Borat, and not important social reforms like, "women now permitted to travel on inside of bus" and "homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hats." Although initially angered by the movie, the country has seen a 13% increase in tourism after the film. "The first glance was not of course positive, it cannot be because you see a lot of not so good things, but then, after that, when we start seeing interest in our country, it was of course reflected better, it was positive. People, after looking at this film, they will like to come and see: 'is it real, is it the same or not?' It helps to learn more about our country," said Satzhanov.
I've been to KZ twice, will go again soon, and hang out in Almaty and Astana with a motley crew of clued-up locals and expats from a dozen countries. It's funny how the average Kazakh has no idea about this Borat character. Our cries of "Jagshemash!" upon entering shops or the gesture of pointing both thumbs up just baffle them. The film was never distributed in KZ, whether in theatres or on pirated DVDs, which means that only university students with broadband have downloaded it and know what the fuss is all about. But anyway, I'd highly recommend Kazakhstan for tourism. Almaty feels like one of those cities of the future, like Dubai or Singapore, with prices to match. Astana is interesting, yet another one of those capital cities build by administrative fiat like Brazilia or Canberra, and subsequently lacking much of a personality. It's so dull it's fun. And Kustanay and Ust-Kamenogorsk are Russian-dominated towns which have a Wild East feel to them. My big goal now is to explore the West of the country, Caspian Sea oil towns and endless steppe.
that it was a real country!
Surprises me to this day how little Borat has to do with actual country of Kazakhstan and how much with country of Romania. Start with his looks. They should have started at making him asian to resemble a native Kazakh.
o_O
"Satzhanov said Borat had still not taken up his invite to visit Kazakhstan."
Hehe.. I haven't been to Iran either after calling their "Supreme Leader" names. I'm sure they would send me a cordial invitation to tour the country along with a plane ticket if I told them it was me :-)