Mariyam Ismailova | 11.11.2025
How Tourism Can Boost Kazakhstan’s Economy?
Tourism is one of Kazakhstan's most promising non-resource sectors; at the moment, it’s rapidly increasing. By utilising its beautiful landscapes, rich cultural history, and growing infrastructure, Kazakhstan can really increase its economic growth, diversify its sources of income, and improve social welfare.
2012-2022 research on Kazakhstan's tourism sector shows that tourism already strengthens Kazakhstan's GDP. In ten years, gross value added (GVA) in tourism was an average of 2050.5 billion tenge, reaching a top of 3270.1 billion tenge in 2022. Tourism contributed 3%-4.1% to GDP, which confirms that it's a stable contributor and has a stable economic role. Inbound tourism is the main contributor to growth as it brings new income into Kazakhstan. In contrast, domestic tourism has a small effect compared to inbound tourism, as it only redistributes money within the national economy. Also, more tourists don’t necessarily mean that GVA increases, unless they spend their money significantly, which means that Kazakhstan need to attract higher spending tourists.
Also, tourism plays a crucial role in employment. For example, in 2018, the tourism industry included 118,800 businesses and generated 463,700 jobs for people in the tourism industry, which is 5.3% of total employment. Inbound tourism also improves service exports, e.g. in 2018 it counted as 36% of all service exports. But tourism doesn’t really have a significant impact on exports because Kazakhstan’s main export is raw materials. Moreover, there was a 41.3% increase in tourism funding from 4.6 billion tenge in 2017 to 6.5 billion in 2018, as a result of changes, the simplification of visas, and the 2019-2025 Tourism development programme, which aims to increase competitiveness and attract more foreign tourists.
A study of Buiratau National Park in Kazakhstan states that in 2023, tourists spent approximately 19.86 million KZT, which generated a total result of 56.34 million KZT, as a result of a multiplier effect of 2.84 on expenditures and 2.58 on income. This means that tourism becomes popular in local businesses, jobs and services (tertiary sectors). In 2024, about 10.5 million domestic and 15.3 million foreign visitors spent 2.7 billion US dollars on goods and services in the tourism sector. More than 500,000 people worked within the tourism sector, and tourism generated 500 billion tenge in annual tax revenue. As a result, to support the economy further, the government wants to encourage the development of rural tourism, ecotourism, ski resorts, and higher tourist spending to ensure sustainable development.
To increase Kazakhstan’s economy even more, the government has introduced a “2023-2029 Tourism development concept” that develop tourism. Its goal is to reach 11 million domestic and 4 million foreign tourists, and to generate 800,000 jobs by 2030. The govt. plans to invest 260 billion KZT in hotels and food services, develop ethnic villages, and introduce cashback programs for domestic tourism. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlights that tourism can contribute to sustainable economic growth if it's additionally supported by effective policies, technological changes/investments, and infrastructural developments.
Tourism is crucial for Kazakhstan's sustainable economic development. Tourism helps to reduce Kazakhstan's dependence on resources by improving regional economies, creating jobs, investments, diversifying sources of income and tax revenues. As a result, it allows Kazakhstan to create long-term economic benefits from its natural and cultural resources
Sources:
https://ejebs.uib.kz/index.php/main/index
https://astanatimes.com/2025/03/tourism-is-growing-but-improvements-are-needed-says-kazakh-official/
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-tourism-trends-and-policies-2020_6b47b985-en/full-report/component-53.html
2012-2022 research on Kazakhstan's tourism sector shows that tourism already strengthens Kazakhstan's GDP. In ten years, gross value added (GVA) in tourism was an average of 2050.5 billion tenge, reaching a top of 3270.1 billion tenge in 2022. Tourism contributed 3%-4.1% to GDP, which confirms that it's a stable contributor and has a stable economic role. Inbound tourism is the main contributor to growth as it brings new income into Kazakhstan. In contrast, domestic tourism has a small effect compared to inbound tourism, as it only redistributes money within the national economy. Also, more tourists don’t necessarily mean that GVA increases, unless they spend their money significantly, which means that Kazakhstan need to attract higher spending tourists.
Also, tourism plays a crucial role in employment. For example, in 2018, the tourism industry included 118,800 businesses and generated 463,700 jobs for people in the tourism industry, which is 5.3% of total employment. Inbound tourism also improves service exports, e.g. in 2018 it counted as 36% of all service exports. But tourism doesn’t really have a significant impact on exports because Kazakhstan’s main export is raw materials. Moreover, there was a 41.3% increase in tourism funding from 4.6 billion tenge in 2017 to 6.5 billion in 2018, as a result of changes, the simplification of visas, and the 2019-2025 Tourism development programme, which aims to increase competitiveness and attract more foreign tourists.
A study of Buiratau National Park in Kazakhstan states that in 2023, tourists spent approximately 19.86 million KZT, which generated a total result of 56.34 million KZT, as a result of a multiplier effect of 2.84 on expenditures and 2.58 on income. This means that tourism becomes popular in local businesses, jobs and services (tertiary sectors). In 2024, about 10.5 million domestic and 15.3 million foreign visitors spent 2.7 billion US dollars on goods and services in the tourism sector. More than 500,000 people worked within the tourism sector, and tourism generated 500 billion tenge in annual tax revenue. As a result, to support the economy further, the government wants to encourage the development of rural tourism, ecotourism, ski resorts, and higher tourist spending to ensure sustainable development.
To increase Kazakhstan’s economy even more, the government has introduced a “2023-2029 Tourism development concept” that develop tourism. Its goal is to reach 11 million domestic and 4 million foreign tourists, and to generate 800,000 jobs by 2030. The govt. plans to invest 260 billion KZT in hotels and food services, develop ethnic villages, and introduce cashback programs for domestic tourism. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlights that tourism can contribute to sustainable economic growth if it's additionally supported by effective policies, technological changes/investments, and infrastructural developments.
Tourism is crucial for Kazakhstan's sustainable economic development. Tourism helps to reduce Kazakhstan's dependence on resources by improving regional economies, creating jobs, investments, diversifying sources of income and tax revenues. As a result, it allows Kazakhstan to create long-term economic benefits from its natural and cultural resources
Sources:
https://ejebs.uib.kz/index.php/main/index
https://astanatimes.com/2025/03/tourism-is-growing-but-improvements-are-needed-says-kazakh-official/
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-tourism-trends-and-policies-2020_6b47b985-en/full-report/component-53.html
