The mountain capital at full occupancy: branded hotels at a record 69.5%, the airport past eleven million with a 19-million plan, the nightly train to Tashkent — and a skyline of cranes building 21 more hotels. Eight studies, one hub.
Almaty enters the TIO metropolis series as Central Asia’s most complete urban market: the city welcomed 2.49 million visitors in 2025 (+6.3%), tourism services grew 15.2% to ₸110.9 billion, and branded hotels ran a record 69.5% occupancy — the highest in the region — on a structurally undersupplied luxury shelf of just 659 keys.
The gateways are built for more: Almaty airport closed 2025 at 11.93 million passengers on the new Terminal 2, targeting 19 million by 2030; Kazakhstan’s railways set a transit record of 33 million tonnes, and the Khorgos dry port 300 km east now handles the China–Europe container trains the Middle Corridor counts on.
The hotel story is a queue: 21 hotels under construction for roughly ₸300 billion, six branded projects adding ~800 rooms, IHG’s Vignette Collection signed for 2027 and a ~200-room St. Regis in the pipeline — while the Ritz-Carlton in the Esentai Tower keeps the rate ceiling the whole region measures against.
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