Development of Entrepreneurial Activity Using the Integration of

Human Capital and Green Technologies to Optimize the Sustainable

Development of the Tourism Sector (A Case Study of the Republic of

Kazakhstan)

GULMIRA RAKHIMZHANOVA1, ZAURESH NURGALIEVA1,

LILIYA SHAYAKHMETOVA1*, ADIL TOLEPOV2

Mangilik el, 11, Semey city

*Corresponding Author

Abstract: - The development of the tourism sector faces serious challenges, which are related to its

environmental transformation, digitalization, and integration of new technologies, as well as competitiveness.

Tourists' behavior is also changing. The future demand for tourism is likely to be driven by growing

environmental awareness, increased use of digital services and new technologies, a shift towards a more

personalized travel experience, and ensuring well-being and better engagement with local communities and

culture. Meeting the requirements of the modern tourism industry is a problem not only for the Republic of

Kazakhstan but also for other countries that strive for sustainable development of the tourism sector.

measures to integrate human capital and green technologies into entrepreneurial activities in the tourism sector

in the East Kazakhstan Region, have been identified. The authors have concluded that the introduction of green

technologies and the integration of human capital with them provide new standards for the quality of tourist

services while preserving the natural resources of the region.

Key-Words: - strengths, weaknesses opportunities, and threats analysis, business, natural resources, ecology,

benefits, real estate.

significant potential for implementing the

principles of sustainable development. According

to the United Nations World Tourism Organization

(UNWTO), tourism comprises "the activities of

persons traveling to and staying in places outside

their usual environment for not more than one

consecutive year for leisure, business, and other

purposes not related to the exercise of an activity

remunerated from within the place visited, or a

form of outdoor activity outside their place of

mutually exclusive terms. This is a global

phenomenon, but it has the greatest impact on local

communities [2, 3]. It has both a mass nature and a

niche character [4]. The preamble to the Charter of

Sustainable Tourism [5] states: "Tourism, as a

worldwide phenomenon, touches the highest and

deepest aspirations of all people and it is also an

important element of socio-economic and political

development in many countries".

of expansive human actions [6, 7]. However, every

global action echoes field actions [8]. The

intensification and coordination of initiatives with

the specifics of a particular tourist market begins at

this level [9]. The task is so difficult that often the

characteristics of the local tourism market deviate

from general assumptions.

The task is to create solutions that will not

remain just a concept but will be used in practice.

Moreover, one region is a set of domestic local

the East Kazakhstan Region (EKR) as a territory

potentially interesting for the integration of human

capital and green technologies into tourism

activities.

Thus, the relevance of the paper and the

formulation of the problem are justified by the

possibility of optimizing the sustainable

development of the tourism sector of the Republic

of Kazakhstan through the integration of human

capital and green technologies into entrepreneurial

The purpose of the paper is to identify

ways to develop entrepreneurial activity by

integrating human capital and green technologies to

optimize the sustainable development of the

tourism sector.

In this paper, we tried to answer the

following research questions: (1) What are the

strengths and weaknesses, as well as the main ways

for the promotion and development of sustainable

tourism in the EKR? and (2) What are the strengths

and weaknesses, as well as the main measures to

integrate human capital and green technologies into

business activities in tourism in the EKR?

To answer these research questions, the

study uses a qualitative and quantitative approach

based on the results of expert surveys and

The rest of the paper is organized as

follows. In the next section, we review the

literature on sustainable tourism, as well as

integrating human capital and green technologies as

one of the ways of sustainable tourism

development. Further, the research method and the

results of the study are presented and discussed.

The conclusion of the paper defines the theoretical

and practical conclusions and limitations of the

study.

2.1. Tourism concepts in the context of

protecting, and prioritizing quality over the number

of services offered, striving to provide a sense of

security for both tourists during their stay and for

local communities [10]. Table 1 shows the different

concepts of tourism in the context of sustainable

development.

Table 1. Tourism in the context of the

concept of sustainable development

participation [27], 3) offering non-monetary and

monetary compensation to members of the

organization based on environmental achievements

[28]. Green hiring involves the practice of

attracting environmentally conscious and

environmentally oriented innovations, green

technologies, environmental knowledge, etc. for

employees of the organization [29]. Green hiring,

green training and development, and environmental

development.

3.2 Empirical context

Russia, Commonwealth of Independent States

(CIS) countries, and the rest of the world. The

unique natural potential, well-preserved historical

monuments, as well as the geographical location of

the EKR determine the availability of a competitive

regional tourism product, which includes such

types of sustainable tourism as ecotourism, sports

tourism (mountain skiing, cross-country skiing,

etc.); medical and wellness tourism; cultural and

educational tourism.

The EKR has a significant potential for the

development of sustainable tourism due to the

presence of recreational tourism, represented by

health resorts and sports and wellness tourism

organizations [39]. Significant opportunities to

increase the sustainability of recreational tourism

are due to the stable demand of the EKR

only Kazakh tourists but also tourists from

neighboring countries. The historical, cultural, and

natural potential of the EKR, combined with the

growing interest in the historical heritage,

traditions, and culture of Kazakhstan, contribute to

the sustainable development of historical and

cultural tourism [31, 32].

Sports tourism has a significant potential

for sustainable development (especially winter

region.

Citation Index (RSCI) database, as well as the

international Web of Science and Scopus databases

for the keywords "sustainable tourism", "human

capital", "green technologies", and "green human

resources" in English and Russian, with the

publication date limit of 15 years.

The data was collected between October

10, 2023, and February 10, 2024, by analyzing the

scientific literature on the research problem,

selecting an expert pool, performing an expert

sustainable tourism in the EKR.

The expert pool consisted of two

aggregates: the first group included employees of

tourism enterprises of the EKR and the second one

consisted of heads of tourism enterprises

(entrepreneurs). Thus, the main ways of sustainable

tourism development through the integration of

human capital and green technologies into

entrepreneurial activity were formulated from the

point of view of employees working in the tourism

Emails with an invitation to participate in

the survey were sent to 63 respondents (46

employees of travel agencies and 17 entrepreneurs,

heads of travel agencies) from Kazakhstan. 55

people (40 employees of travel agencies and 15

entrepreneurs) agreed to participate in the survey,

after which they were sent emails with questions

that aroused our interest after completing the

analysis of scientific literature. In the emails, they

were asked to elaborate on the answers in a free

form. All survey participants had been warned

about the purpose of the survey and that the

and measures to integrate human capital and green

technologies into entrepreneurial activities in

tourism recorded during the study, assigning points

depending on the level of their importance. After

that, the rank of each of the ways and activities was

determined, according to the scores given by the

experts.

The final analysis of the data obtained

during the expert survey was carried out using a

SWOT analysis of integrating human capital and

3.4 Data analysis

For a more objective analysis of the data

of the items from the average value; n is the

number of experts; and m is the number of

evaluated items.

Further, the information obtained during

the expert survey was processed to determine the

weights of the obtained parameters with the

construction of a rank transformation matrix and

subsequent calculation of the arithmetic mean of

the individual weights for each of the parameters.

The final values of the weights determine the

triangulation of researchers when several

researchers participated in the project, each of

whom participated in the processing of

information. After that, a discussion was held on

each topic, and information that had been run by all

participants of the study was entered into the

report. The triangulation process made it possible

to increase the reliability of the expert survey data

and improve the quality of the information

received. All results obtained from the study were

recorded in the study report.

Based on the results of the desk study using

SWOT analysis, we performed an analysis of the

strengths and weaknesses of the promotion and

development of sustainable tourism in the EKR

into entrepreneurial activities in tourism in the

EKR, we assumed that the survey participants

would develop separate proposals for solutions. In

the course of the work, the developed proposals on

the ways of development and integration were

adapted to the specific needs of each of the

districts, considering the characteristics of the

entire EKR. The experts showed great awareness of

the needs in their areas and indicated specific ways

presented in Table 3.

Table 3. The main ways of promotion and

development of sustainable tourism in the EKR

survey, we identified the main ways of integrating

human capital and green technologies into

entrepreneurial activities in tourism in the EKR

(Table 4).

Table 4. The main steps for the integration

of human capital and green technologies into

entrepreneurial activities in tourism in the EKR

the value of the concordance coefficient W = 0.73

(p < 0.01), which indicates a strong consistency of

expert opinions

Based on the results of an expert survey

(Tables 3 and 4), using SWOT analysis, we

evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of

integrating human capital and green technologies

into entrepreneurial activities in the tourism sector

in the EKR (Table 5).

Table 5. SWOT analysis of the integration

of human capital and green technologies into

As the results of the study showed, the possibility

of increasing the integration of human capital and

green technologies in the tourism sector is

considered in the development of sustainable

tourism.

The main proposals of experts on the

promotion and development of entrepreneurship in

tourism in the EKR through the integration of

human capital and green technologies concerned

the following:

1. further work to expand the offer for

tourists, especially in the case of family, weekend,

and animal husbandry related to the tourism sector,

and, consequently, the production, promotion, and

distribution of local products on regional and

national markets.

4. increasing environmental awareness of

consumers of tourism services.

The experts noted that some organizations

and small and medium-sized enterprises in the

EKR were looking for methods of subsidizing their

activities in the introduction of environmental

entrepreneurial activity is also imposed by the

changing legislation of Kazakhstan in

environmental protection [35]. All this is a

sufficient reason for travel companies to implement

these solutions. However, based on the results of

the study, we cannot answer the question of

whether businesses are striving to develop this

approach or waiting for further assistance from the

state, without taking active initiative. We believe

that to change the situation, state and municipal

policy in this area should be more focused on

and Kazakhstan) represented by excessive

concentration of tourist flow and tourist

accommodation facilities. Besides, the lack of

tourist culture and education in this area leads to

the degradation of the natural environment, which

is also noted in the study [36, 37].

Other negative consequences, as noted, for

example, by an expert (head of company, Altai

district), include the following: "The problems of

our district are the seizure of land and water, as

well as the presence of industrial infrastructure that

uses large tracts of land. Therefore, we increasingly

have to deal with the impoverishment of the

landscape and cluttering" [38, 39]. This is

confirmed by the results of the data and the results

degradation [42] or subsidence of slopes and

destruction of vegetation or fragmentation caused

by skiing. To solve these problems, it is necessary

to actively promote integrating human capital and

green technologies to achieve the principles of

sustainable development [45, 46]. This promotion

should start from the lowest level, using public

events, conferences, seminars, and examples of

best practices. Such events may be organized by

tourism enterprises supported by local authorities

This paper answers the following research

questions: (1) What are the strengths and

green technologies with systemic state and regional

approaches.

Despite the theoretical and practical

contributions, this study is partially limited by the

size of the expert pool and therefore does not allow

generalizations. We are aware of the need to

conduct parallel research on this issue. The general

results of several studies distributed throughout

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technologies into entrepreneurial activity.

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