Empire of the Ring

Chapter 712: Further Efforts (1)

As Eriksson asked, Kazakhstan also began to prepare for the aftereffects of the global economic war.

Now, Kazakhstan’s economic power, which had entered the ranks of middle-power countries, could hardly easily weather the high waves of economic war.

However, the leaders of Kazakhstan should try their best to prepare for it.

To strengthen the weak economic constitution, fixing the property prices, the main culprit behind the overspending, was necessary.

“You said we should set a real estate price, do you think that’s artificially possible? Rising consumption and rising real estate prices are proof that the economy is improving, but if the administration adjusts it, it’s like a socialist country.”

“Your Highness, Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world, but isn’t it strange that real estate prices are skyrocketing? It is because the development of land is concentrated only in large cities and foreigners are driving property prices by buying buildings in the suburbs of big cities at random. We need to hurry up and cool down this overheated overspending trend.”

“Aren’t foreigners investing more because Kazakhstan’s economy is stable?”

“It’s highly likely that they are speculators who just raise the price and then slip away at some point.”

“Speculators?”

“We can’t rule out the possibility of a foreign force behind them.”

“We’ll have to take a closer look at foreign real estate transactions. Ask the Ministry of Home Affairs for data.”

“We have already asked for foreigners’ property transaction data.”

“Sir Eriksson. What measures do I need to take to tackle the real estate price?”

“We should build satellite cities around big cities. That will naturally lead to a drop in property prices. It’s one of the ways we can pull out those who caused the prices of buildings and land soar. It’s also going to improve the environments of the overpopulated cities.”

“I guess we should start building satellite cities near Almaty and Astana first.”

“That’s not enough. To prevent ballooning effects, we need to include both the federal capital and the second city.”

As in any country, announcing the development plan of a new city plan would reduce the attractiveness of existing cities by half.

If satellite cities of the capital and second cities of the Federal Kingdom of Kazakhstan, speculators’ intention would lose its power.

“Your Highness. You have to announce the development of new towns to the press first. We need a little show to cool down the hyped-up property market. They’ll believe because you have a history of establishing a residential town for 15 million people in a short period.”

The world’s media described the creation of the city for Kurdish and Syrian refugees as a miracle of the Ural River.

No other country in the world had ever created a residential area in such a short period of time.

Although construction was still underway, most of the residential areas had been completed.

“Really? Then I’ll talk to Prime Minister Kasim and announce it right away.”

“That’s the way to go. If there’s a new investment destination, people will save money. Naturally, overconsumption will decrease.”

***

These days, Kazakhstan was like a construction site all over the country.

With economic indicators improving, the government budget also had some leeway, so construction work was underway for railway projects, highway projects, and tourism development projects.

In particular, the tourism development project was led by the royal family and world-class construction companies, so the process was very smoothly progressing.

The future of Kazakhstan was uncertain to rely on exports of the underground resources, and there were limitations in building factories to make high-tech products due to the lack of high-quality manpower, so the country turned to the tourism industry.

There was nothing like the tourism service industry as a way to make money without ravaging the country with resources development.

In European countries, tourism was a big part of the national economy.

This was because the natural scenery alone could raise the income of residents without the need for large-scale investments like factories.

The natural scenery of the Federal Kingdom of Kazakhstan was as beautiful as Switzerland and Austria.

The mountain areas of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were especially jaw-droppingly beautiful. Not to mention the mountains and valleys covered with thousands of meters of snow that were untouched by humans, and the mountainous lakes called for awes.

Although the scenery was beautiful, there was a lack of roads or railroads to approach it. However, the tough geographical features did not allow people to construct infrastructures without accidents, injuries, and high costs as there were frequent landslides and road maintenance costs.

So, a simple alternative was suggested, which was to build airfield facilities that allowed the access of propeller planes with a short take-off and landing distance.

Youngho and Eriksson were at Lake Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan.

The first thing Eriksson did when he returned to the royal territory was to look around Youngho’s business sites to see if there were any problems.

“Your Highness, I think it would be better to target Southeast Asian tourists than European tourists.”

“Don’t you think European tourists are going to spend more money?”

“South Asian tourists spend more than European tourists. I’ve been watching tourists in Greece, and generally, Southeast Asian tourists were the people who spent the most.”

According to Eriksson, Europeans tended to make thorough tour plans, eventually spending little or no extra spending, while Southeast Asians tended to be more spontaneous, carrying their travel expenses with them leisurely.

Eriksson meant to promote Central Asia to Southeast Asia.

“If you promote snow and glaciers in Central Asia, they will flock like clouds.”

“Even if there are crowds of tourists, there are no direct flights.”

“So I’m telling you, I think we should also operate our national airline to Southeast Asia.”

“South Asian people prefer Europe. Will they come here?”

“It’s possible if we compete with cheaper tour packages, but I don’t mean to make Central Asia a cheap tourist destination. It’s important to attract tourists first. When they come and experience Kyrgyzstan, soon it will be widely known through word of mouth.”

“It’s going to cost a lot of publicity.”

“You have to be prepared for that. It’s not even known to the Black Sea or the Caucasus countries. It’s to promote our country to the world. Fortunately, we have a relatively advantageous position because the royal family exists. If you take advantage of its fame and fantastical factor, there will be people who visit Kazakhstan.”

“Do we have to put the royal family in front?”

“Your Highness, it’s about generating revenue. And to dispel the perception that Central Asia is underdeveloped, the royal family must come to the fore. There are no poor countries in Europe where the royal family still survives.”

“…”

“The existence of the royal family is like having a superior culture. In fact, Kazakhstan is where fairytale-like stories live and breathe.”

‘Don’t tell me you’re opening a love story between me and Fatima.’

If Youngho did that, he would suffer a lot from Fatima.

This thought popped in his head, but the wrong response came out.

“It’s promoting Kazakhstan, and of course, the royal family should take the lead.”

Eriksson went through all the details and made up for problems.

He managed to establish an environment to elongate tourists’ stay by planning things such as building mountain railways and cable cars of the 60-kilometer section from Issyk Kul Lake to steep peaks.

The same was built in other tourist spots of Kyrgyzstan.

Youngho accepted it because it was cheaper than opening roads, but he was busy tapping the calculator.

Youngho was bitter as his pocket would be empty when he was done developing Tajikistan as well.

“Your Highness, you look very sorry. That doesn’t even cost you a couple of fighter jets.”

If it were to buy weapons, Youngho would have no hesitation to spend money, but he did not want to invest so much in tourism infrastructure that did not bring outcome right away.

“Who said it was a waste?”

“Then I understand that you allowed it.”

After making sure, Eriksson’s move was unhindered.

***

Eriksson, who had been pouring out orders for the tourism project, did not say anything since the two reached the Pamir Plateau.

“Your Highness, this is a perfect place for trekking. There’s nothing else to develop. I think Europeans will like it if we build a few cabin hotels around here.”

Although there were four seasons here, it was as if only winter and summer existed here as spring and fall were short. Winter lasted eight months and summer lasted only two months.

It was ridiculous to say that Europeans would like such a graceless place.

“Will they come to a desolate place like this without a tree?”

“Europeans tend to enjoy nature more than artificial places. Europeans prefer adventure if Asians seek convenience. It would be a big hit if we offered a tour package allowing them to trek around the mountain while watching the Marco Polo sheep.”

The Pamir Plateau was also home to the world’s rare mountain sheep, Marco Polo.

Even in the winter, the sight of mountain sheep flocking on the steep rock wall was spectacular.

It was amazing that Marco Polo sheep could be a tourist product.

Youngho had no idea that the sheep he spotted every time he came here was the rare Marco Polo sheep.

“Are they such great mountain sheep? I was going to hunt one and stuff it to decorate my wall.”

Eriksson gave Youngho a dumbfounded look and moved on to another question.

“I heard that there are wolves and snow leopards here. Have you ever seen them with your own eyes?”

“The militia that used to protect this place said they’ve been coming out from time to time. I don’t know about the snow leopard, but I’ve seen wolves a few times.”

“Then they must be still living here.”

“Of course they are. I’m sure they’re hiding now because of the sound of the engines of the armored vehicles.”

“Then Pamir has a great travel package in itself. Europeans will surely love this place.”

“Many people have worked hard to protect the Pamir Plateau, and I guess it was worth it.”

“The Pamir Plateau will change the tourism industry in the federal country of Tajikistan.”