Kazakhstan recorded more than $4.8 billion in tourism investment in 2024 and 2025. Current projects include new hotels and mountain resorts, while the government is upgrading transport links to tourist areas as foreign visitor numbers rise.
Investment in tourism reached 947.5 billion tenge ($2.08 billion) in 2024 and rose to 1.26 trillion tenge ($2.75 billion) in 2025. Kazakhstan has 328 tourism projects under way worth about 1.3 trillion tenge, or roughly $2.85 billion.
These include new Hilton and Mandarin Oriental properties, as well as an expansion of the year-round Oi-Qaragai mountain resort near Almaty. The government expects the projects to create 25 new international-standard hotel complexes and around 10,000 permanent jobs.
Revenue from hotels and other registered accommodation facilities also rose from 229 billion tenge, or roughly $500 million, in 2023 to 350.6 billion tenge, or about $770 million, in 2025. In the first quarter of 2026, the figure rose 13.9% year-on-year.
Kazakhstan is also trying to extend the tourism season through year-round mountain tourism and a growing events calendar.
Kazakhstan received 15.7 million foreign visitors in 2025, of whom authorities classified 11.1 million as tourists because they stayed in the country for more than one day. Spending by foreign visitors in the country totaled about $2.9 billion.
Around 1.43 million foreign visitors used registered hotels and other accommodation facilities, although the figure excludes those staying with relatives or friends and those using unregistered accommodation.
From Football to the World Noman Games
The 2025 UEFA Champions League match between Almaty’s Kairat and Real Madrid attracted more than 5,000 foreign visitors to the city. Fans arrived from China, India, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Japan, and other countries. Kairat reached the league phase of the Champions League in 2025/26 but was eliminated in the third qualifying round this season, making the Real Madrid match a one-time attraction rather than a recurring source of visitors.
Concerts offer a more repeatable version of the same model, with Jennifer Lopez and the Backstreet Boys performing in Almaty in 2025 and Deep Purple, Megadeth, Ricky Martin, and Enrique Iglesias following in 2026. Cirque du Soleil performances and major music festivals have also become part of the city’s events calendar.
According to Mastercard, spending on international cards in Almaty during the Kairat-Real Madrid match rose 16% compared with the average for the two weeks before and after the event. It rose 11% during the Jennifer Lopez concert and 3% during the Backstreet Boys concert, while spending on Mastercard cards issued in Spain rose 81% during the Real Madrid match.
The Jennifer Lopez concert attracted around 7,000 foreign spectators from 35 countries. Authorities estimated their direct tourism spending at more than 5 billion tenge, or roughly $11 million.
The fifth World Nomad Games in Astana in 2024 attracted international visitors and extensive global coverage. Organized tours from the United Kingdom had sold out before the competition opened.
Neighboring Countries Still Dominate Arrivals
In the first half of 2026, Kazakhstan reported around 7 million foreign arrivals. The largest source markets were Uzbekistan, with about 2.5 million people, Kyrgyzstan with 1.6 million, and Russia with 1.5 million. Traffic from China is growing rapidly, with visitor numbers exceeding 960,000 in 2025, up 46.8% from the previous year.
Across Central Asia, much international travel consists of short cross-border trips for work or family visits rather than conventional tourism. Border crossings therefore cannot be directly equated with the number of conventional tourists using hotels and other tourism services.
New tourism airports are being built in Katon-Karagai, Zaysan, and Kendirli, while road and rail connections to resort areas are being upgraded.
For the Almaty mountain cluster, authorities plan to integrate and expand existing resorts. The project includes 30 cable cars and 161 kilometers of ski slopes, with the goal of attracting 5 million visitors a year.
The domestic market is also expanding, with the number of Kazakhstan residents traveling within the country increasing from 7.1 million in 2023 to 8.7 million in 2025.
Kazakhstan is also considering creating new gambling zones for foreigners in several regions. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has said the initiative could increase the number of foreign gambling tourists from around 100,000 to 200,000 a year.
Whether the investment pays off will depend less on border-crossing totals than on visitors staying longer and spending more.
