Mangystau oblast’ of Western Kazakhstan plays an important role in the development of international relations. It affects various sectors of the national economy, including the industry of hospitality and tourism. An analysis of tourist flows into Mangystau oblast’ shows that it remains not enough attractive for foreign tourists. Possessing uniqueness, the tourism product is not enough competitive and loses to foreign counterparts in terms of availability, the level of service and price of tourism services. Identifying opportunities for development of tourism involves a deep understanding of what needs and values tourists have, and how to improve their satisfaction and loyalty. The task of studying the needs of different segments of consumers have high relevance for creating popular tourism products and identifying the optimal trajectory of hospitality and tourism development. The purpose of the research is determination of the personal preferences of tourists, their level of knowledge about local attractions and possible attractors, important accompanying services for them during traveling in Mangystau oblast’. For implementation of the tasks, a marketing research was carried out in the form of an anonymous survey of real and potential tourists in the Mangystau oblast’ using the online questionnaire in the Google Forms program based on a specially designed questionnaire. The questionnaire contains 16 questions. The sample type – “snowball”. The survey method – a questionnaire survey. The survey of respondents aged 18 to 60 years was conducted, and the following results were obtained: the most attractive places of interest include the Beket-Ata and Shopan-Ata mosques, Sherkala mountain and the Kenderli region (The Caspian Sea); the preferred period of stay of tourists is from 7 to 14 days; from respondent’s point of view, the most comfortable accommodation in order of importance include: hotels, guest houses, tourist bases; a serious problem hampering the development of tourism is the lack of necessary tourism information and the remoteness of tourism attractors from tourist’s accommodation areas.
Mangystau oblast’ of Western Kazakhstan plays an important role in the development of international relations. It affects various sectors of the national economy, including the industry of hospitality and tourism. An analysis of tourist flows into Mangystau oblast’ shows that it remains not enough attractive for foreign tourists. Possessing uniqueness, the tourism product is not enough competitive and loses to foreign counterparts in terms of availability, the level of service and price of tourism services. Identifying opportunities for development of tourism involves a deep understanding of what needs and values tourists have, and how to improve their satisfaction and loyalty. The task of studying the needs of different segments of consumers have high relevance for creating popular tourism products and identifying the optimal trajectory of hospitality and tourism development. The purpose of the research is determination of the personal preferences of tourists, their level of knowledge about local attractions and possible attractors, important accompanying services for them during traveling in Mangystau oblast’. For implementation of the tasks, a marketing research was carried out in the form of an anonymous survey of real and potential tourists in the Mangystau oblast’ using the online questionnaire in the Google Forms program based on a specially designed questionnaire. The questionnaire contains 16 questions. The sample type – “snowball”. The survey method – a questionnaire survey. The survey of respondents aged 18 to 60 years was conducted, and the following results were obtained: the most attractive places of interest include the Beket-Ata and Shopan-Ata mosques, Sherkala mountain and the Kenderli region (The Caspian Sea); the preferred period of stay of tourists is from 7 to 14 days; from respondent’s point of view, the most comfortable accommodation in order of importance include: hotels, guest houses, tourist bases; a serious problem hampering the development of tourism is the lack of necessary tourism information and the remoteness of tourism attractors from tourist’s accommodation areas.