Abstract: The Belt and Road Initiative has become the key strategy for China to strengthen its opening up to outside world in the new period,and Xinjiang is identified as the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt. The construction of Sino-Kazakhstan international cooperation demonstration zone is crucial for the successful construction of the core area,and the development of border tourism is important for Sino-Kazakhstan international cooperation demonstration zone. On the basis of a comprehensive summary of other studies on border tourism, this paper combined qualitative methods and quantitative methods to analyze the foundation and limitations of the border tourism development between Xinjiang and Kazakhstan,then proposed a systematic analysis framework "development foundation and construction condition-construction goal and cooperation focus-spatial layout-policy guarantee". With this analytical framework,the space layout of the free tourism zone is determined as: "One core,four area,ten travel lines,and fifteen scenic spots" on the basis of the tourism resources endowment and distribution,infrastructure conditions and development difficulty. One core is the Sino-Kazakhstan international cooperation demonstration zone,four area is the Border oasis tourism area of Tacheng Basin,Bangel cultural tourism area of Hoboksar,leisure self-driving tourism area on the northern slope of Tianshan Mountain,Exotic sports and health tourism area of Alakol Lake. Finally this paper put forward several measures for the development of border tourism and construction of free tourism zone. This study has demonstrated that there is a good foundation for the development of border tourism between Xinjiang and Kazakhstan; both governments have shown willingness to strengthen cooperation in border tourism. With the construction of free tourism zone,the Sino-Kazakhstan international cooperation demonstration zone should vigorously develop sightseeing and shopping tour, self-driving tourism,health tourism,red tourism and sports; the tourism cooperation between China and Kazakhstan should focus on tourism resources development and infrastructure construction,tourism service and the production of tourism products,tourism training and cultural heritage protection. By all these actions,we will build Sino-Kazakhstan international cooperation demonstration zone to a famous health destination in Central Asia as well as an important tourist hub on the Silk Road Economic Belt. This study not only enriches the research on the development of border tourism in Western China,but also puts forward a systemic analysis method for the development of border tourism for the first time,which could provide references for other similar regions in China to develop border tourism. Since the development path varies from place to place due to their differences in resource endowment,geographic conditions and stage of development,quantitative techniques should be adopted more widely in future studies in order to make the results of border tourism research more scientific. Then the development of border tourism in Western China could be promoted on the right path,and the Belt and Road Initiative could be realized in the near future.

Key words: border tourism, Sino-Kazakhstan international cooperation demonstration zone, free tourism zone, space layout