Abstract
The Great Silk Road is a historical place for Kazakhstan, promoting mutual understanding and peace between peoples, connecting cultures, developing tourism, trade and business. Therefore, a comprehensive study of the tourism and recreational potential of the sites of the Kazakhstan section of the Great Silk Road, the socio-economic significance of tourism development and tourism attractiveness is very important. The purpose of this study was to determine the socio - economic significance of tourism development in the Kazakhstan section of the Great Silk Road. In the study of tourism and recreational resources of the Great Silk Road, the methods of analysing the theoretical basis, studying statistical data and questionnaires were used comprehensively. As a result, the socio-economic significance of tourism development in Kazakhstan, favourable socio-cultural impact of the Great Silk Road in connection with improving the welfare of the population of the territory, increasing the flow of tourists, income from the tourism industry and improving infrastructure was revealed. The survey showed that 40.9 % of respondents rated the level of satisfaction with transport infrastructure from 5 points to 3 points. 34.1 % of respondents rated the quality of roads as 4 points and 13.6 % as 5 points. It was also found that the most visited tourist sites on the Kazakh part of the Great Silk Road in recent times are the mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Otrar State Archaeological Museum-Reserve, mausoleum of Aisha Bibi and Karakhan. Thus, it was proposed to form an information base of tourist sites of the Kazakhstan part of the Great Silk Road, to attract qualified personnel in the ser vice sector, to popularise tourist sites by improving Internet resources, advertising and shooting feature films.