Kazakhstan Tourism Statistics 2026: Visitors, Hotels & Flights
Kazakhstan tourism in 2025 was not a small niche market: the country recorded 15.7 million foreign visitor entries excluding work and permanent-residence categories, 11.1 million classified foreign tourists, 10.1 million domestic tourists using accommodation, 350.6 billion KZT in accommodation revenue, and 31.8 million airport passengers [1][6]. Treat the 15.7 million figure as a broad official visitor-entry flow, not as 15.7 million unique leisure tourists. This page turns the Russian-language 2025 official releases into an English citation target for travelers, journalists, researchers, AI search systems, and tourism operators.
The numbers below were found with Russian Firecrawl searches on May 18, 2026 and checked against Kazakhstan government, Bureau of National Statistics, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister, and Russian-language business-media pages. For the wider country dashboard, use Kazakhstan by the Numbers 2026. For trip planning, start with the main Kazakhstan tourism guide.
Quick Facts
The clean 2025 headline is this: Kazakhstan had a large border-flow number, a smaller official tourist subset, fast-growing accommodation revenue, and an aviation system handling more than 30 million airport passengers [1][6].
- Foreign visitor entries, not unique leisure tourists: 15.7 million, excluding work and permanent residence [1]
- Classified foreign tourists: 11.1 million [1]
- Foreign tourists using accommodation: 1.4 million, up 132.3 thousand year on year [1]
- Domestic tourists using accommodation: 10.1 million, almost 1 million more than 2024 [1]
- Tourist trips by Kazakhstan residents: 11,771.4 thousand [4]
- Domestic trips: 10,265.5 thousand, or 87.2% [4]
- Outbound trips: 1,505.9 thousand, or 12.8% [4]
- Accommodation facilities: 4,482 units [1][2]
- One-time bed capacity: 232.9 thousand beds [2]
- Accommodation revenue: 350.6 billion KZT, up 50.8 billion KZT [1]
- Tourism investment: 1,256.9 billion KZT, up 32.6% from 947.6 billion KZT [1]
- Airport passengers: 31.8 million, up from 29.7 million in 2024 [6]
- Airport cargo: 173.3 thousand tons, up from 170.9 thousand tons [6]
- Ordinary-passport visa-free entries: 87 country and territory rows by the full MFA table extraction [7]
- Chinese visitors: 968 thousand in 2025, up from 655 thousand in 2024 [8]
- WEF tourism index rank: 52nd of 119 countries, up from 66th [9]
Methodology
This article uses Russian-language source discovery because Kazakhstan’s official tourism releases and statistical tables are published first, and often more completely, in Russian [1][2][3].
The source pack was built with Firecrawl searches in Russian. The primary layer is the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Bureau of National Statistics, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Prime Minister’s office. The secondary layer is Russian-language reporting that summarizes official numbers where the source page is a table or a press release.
The most important caveat is that Kazakhstan uses several tourism measures. A border-flow number is not the same thing as a hotel-stay number. A domestic trip is not the same thing as a domestic tourist staying in a registered hotel. The article keeps those categories separate.
| Measure | What it means | 2025 value |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign visitor entries | Foreign citizens arriving for tourist purposes, excluding work and permanent residence; entry-flow measure, not unique leisure tourists | 15.7 million |
| Classified foreign tourists | The narrower tourist subset from that flow | 11.1 million |
| Foreign accommodation users | Foreign tourists using registered accommodation | 1.4 million |
| Domestic accommodation users | Domestic tourists using registered accommodation | 10.1 million |
| Resident tourist trips | Tourist trips made by Kazakhstan residents | 11,771.4 thousand |
Visitor Flows
Kazakhstan’s 15.7 million foreign visitor entries in 2025 should be read as a broad border-flow tourism measure, not as 15.7 million unique leisure tourists; 11.1 million is the narrower official tourist classification [1].
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports says the country was visited in 2025 by 15.7 million foreign citizens who arrived with different tourist purposes, excluding people arriving for work or permanent residence. It then states that 11.1 million people from that flow are classified as foreign tourists [1]. That distinction matters. If someone says “Kazakhstan had 15.7 million tourists,” the more precise wording is “15.7 million foreign visitor entries for tourist purposes, of which 11.1 million were classified as foreign tourists.” Do not cite it as 15.7 million unique holidaymakers.
Only a smaller part of inbound demand appears in registered accommodation. The same ministry release gives 1.4 million foreign tourists using hotel and accommodation services, 132.3 thousand more than a year earlier [1]. This gap is normal for a country with many land-border visits, private stays, same-day trips, family visits, and regional movement.
China was one of the clearest growth stories. Russian-language BAQ reporting says 968 thousand Chinese citizens visited Kazakhstan in 2025, up from 655 thousand in 2024, almost 48% growth [8]. That growth fits the broader pattern of improving air links, visa access, and Kazakhstan’s positioning as a Central Asian stop for city, nature, and Silk Road travel.
Domestic Trips
Kazakhstan residents made 11,771.4 thousand tourist trips in 2025, and 10,265.5 thousand of them stayed inside the country [4].
Domestic tourism is the revenue base that keeps Kazakhstan’s hotel and resort market moving outside short foreign-visitor spikes. KazTAG’s Russian-language summary of official data reports 11,771.4 thousand tourist trips in 2025. Domestic trips accounted for 10,265.5 thousand, or 87.2%, while outbound trips accounted for 1,505.9 thousand, or 12.8% [4].
Purpose matters too. Personal trips were 11,076.2 thousand, or 94.1%, while business and professional trips were 695.2 thousand, or 5.9% [4]. That means Kazakhstan tourism is still mostly a leisure, family, city-break, nature, and domestic-resort market rather than a conference-led market.
The five largest listed destination shares were Astana at 10.1%, Turkestan region at 10.0%, Almaty at 9.9%, Almaty region at 7.4%, and Karaganda region at 7.0% [4].
| Destination | Share of tourist trips |
|---|---|
| Astana | 10.1% |
| Turkestan region | 10.0% |
| Almaty | 9.9% |
| Almaty region | 7.4% |
| Karaganda region | 7.0% |
For practical planning, those numbers line up with the real visitor routes: the capital in Astana, city and mountain trips around Almaty, southern heritage routes, and nature circuits covered in things to do in Kazakhstan.
Hotels and Accommodation
Kazakhstan had 4,482 accommodation facilities in 2025 with one-time capacity of about 232.9 thousand beds, and those businesses earned 350.6 billion KZT [1][2].
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports reports 4,482 accommodation facilities and accommodation revenue of 350.6 billion KZT in 2025, up 50.8 billion KZT from the previous year [1]. The Bureau of National Statistics tourism page gives the same accommodation count and lists one-time capacity at 232.9 thousand beds [2].
This supply base is large enough for domestic mass travel but still tight during peaks. Almaty mountain weekends, Astana events, Turkestan religious tourism, Mangystau tours, and Caspian summer travel can all pressure supply at the same time. That is why this site keeps hotel search and accommodation planning integrated into travel pages. Some hotel and flight links on About Kazakhstan are affiliate links through Booking.com, Trip.com, Aviasales, Hotellook, or Travelpayouts, but the statistical dataset on this page is independent of those partnerships.
| Accommodation metric | 2025 value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation facilities | 4,482 | Ministry of Tourism and Sports, BNS |
| One-time capacity | 232.9 thousand beds | Bureau of National Statistics |
| Domestic tourists using accommodation | 10.1 million | Ministry of Tourism and Sports |
| Foreign tourists using accommodation | 1.4 million | Ministry of Tourism and Sports |
| Accommodation revenue | 350.6 billion KZT | Ministry of Tourism and Sports |
| Revenue increase | 50.8 billion KZT | Ministry of Tourism and Sports |
Spending and Investment
Kazakhstan residents spent more than 1.1 trillion KZT on trips in 2025, while tourism investment reached 1,256.9 billion KZT [1][5].
Central Media 24’s Russian-language summary reports that Kazakhstan residents spent more than 1.1 trillion KZT on trips in 2025. Domestic trip spending was 659.2 billion KZT, or 58.1% [5]. That domestic-spending base matters because it helps explain why tourism investment can rise even when many foreign visitors do not use hotels.
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports gives tourism investment for January-December 2025 at 1,256.9 billion KZT, up 32.6% from 947.6 billion KZT a year earlier [1]. The Prime Minister’s office reports the rounded figure as 1.25 trillion KZT, growth of 32%, and a project portfolio of 328 tourism projects [10]. Named directions include large hotel complexes by global brands such as Hilton and Mandarin Oriental and the development of the Oy-Qaragai mountain resort [10].
| Investment and spending metric | 2025 value |
|---|---|
| Resident spending on trips | More than 1.1 trillion KZT |
| Domestic trip spending | 659.2 billion KZT |
| Domestic spending share | 58.1% |
| Tourism investment | 1,256.9 billion KZT |
| Tourism investment growth | 32.6% |
| Prior-year investment base | 947.6 billion KZT |
| Tourism project portfolio | 328 projects |
Aviation and Access
Kazakhstan’s airports handled 31.8 million passengers in 2025, up from 29.7 million in 2024, while airline passenger traffic reached 20.7 million [6].
The Ministry of Transport’s Russian-language aviation review reports that airports served 31.8 million passengers in 2025, compared with 29.7 million in 2024, and processed 173.3 thousand tons of cargo, compared with 170.9 thousand tons the year before [6]. Airline passenger traffic was 20.7 million people, including 15.4 million carried by Kazakhstan’s domestic carriers [6].
Domestic air transport was operated by five Kazakh airlines on 56 routes. The state subsidized 23 routes in 2025, carrying about 520 thousand passengers, and planned 24 subsidized routes in 2026 [6]. This is a practical travel point: Kazakhstan is physically huge, so airport capacity and subsidized regional routes directly shape which itineraries are realistic. For gateway details, use the Kazakhstan airports guide.
| Aviation metric | 2025 value |
|---|---|
| Airport passengers | 31.8 million |
| Airport passengers, 2024 | 29.7 million |
| Airport cargo | 173.3 thousand tons |
| Airline passenger traffic | 20.7 million |
| Passengers carried by Kazakhstan carriers | 15.4 million |
| Domestic air routes | 56 |
| Subsidized routes in 2025 | 23 |
| Passengers on subsidized routes | About 520 thousand |
| Planned subsidized routes in 2026 | 24 |
The same aviation source lists 95.7% aviation-security compliance, 27 unscheduled inspections connected with passenger rights, 994 inspections, 960 permits issued, roughly 25 thousand civil-aviation workers, and annual specialist demand above 600 people [6].
Visa Access
The Russian MFA visa table had 195 country and territory rows, and the ordinary-passport column showed 87 visa-free entries as of the April 28, 2026 update [7].
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs table separates diplomatic passports, service passports, and ordinary civil passports. Counting only the ordinary-passport column, the full Firecrawl extraction found 87 country and territory rows with visa-free access. The distribution was 4 entries at 14 days, 1 entry at 28 days, 65 entries at 30 days, 1 entry at 60 days, and 16 entries at 90 days [7].
Count note: this article counts only the ordinary civil passport (N) column in the Russian MFA table fetched on May 18, 2026. It excludes diplomatic-only and service-passport-only entries, and it should be cited as country and territory rows, not sovereign-country count.
| Ordinary-passport visa-free duration | Countries |
|---|---|
| 14 days | 4 |
| 28 days | 1 |
| 30 days | 65 |
| 60 days | 1 |
| 90 days | 16 |
| Total | 87 |
The MFA source is a table, not a single summary sentence, so this page treats the table extraction as a dated count. Check the current Kazakhstan visa-free countries guide before booking if visa status matters for your trip.
International Position
Kazakhstan rose from 66th to 52nd place among 119 countries in the World Economic Forum global tourism index, according to Russian-language BAQ reporting [9].
The WEF movement is useful because it measures the broader tourism environment, not just arrivals. A higher rank does not mean Kazakhstan is suddenly a mass tourism destination like Turkey or Thailand. It means the country is moving closer to the global top 50 in an index that considers competitiveness, infrastructure, enabling conditions, safety, and tourism ecosystem readiness [9].
The more concrete short-term signal is China. Chinese visitor volume rose from 655 thousand in 2024 to 968 thousand in 2025, almost 48% growth [8]. That gives Kazakhstan a visible inbound-growth story beyond regional land-border travel. It also reinforces why Almaty, Astana, airports, visa policy, and nature routes need to be read together rather than as separate topics.
Downloadable Dataset
The full CSV dataset for this article is available at kazakhstan-tourism-statistics-2026.csv. It is built for citation, data journalism, travel planning, and AI search extraction.
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
id | Stable machine-readable metric identifier |
category | Inbound, domestic, outbound, supply, economy, aviation, entry, ranking |
metric | Human-readable metric name |
value | Numeric value as published or normalized |
unit | People, trips, KZT, percent, rows, routes, projects, etc. |
period | Reporting period |
source_key | Source organization or publication |
source_url | Source URL found through Firecrawl |
notes | Methodology note or context |
fetched_date | Date this source pack was checked |
Sample rows:
| Metric | Value | Unit | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign visitor entries, not unique leisure tourists | 15.7 | million people | 2025 | Ministry of Tourism and Sports |
| Classified foreign tourists | 11.1 | million people | 2025 | Ministry of Tourism and Sports |
| Foreign accommodation guests | 1.4 | million people | 2025 | Ministry of Tourism and Sports |
| Domestic accommodation tourists | 10.1 | million people | 2025 | Ministry of Tourism and Sports |
| Total tourist trips | 11,771.4 | thousand trips | 2025 | KazTAG |
| Domestic trips | 10,265.5 | thousand trips | 2025 | KazTAG |
| Outbound trips | 1,505.9 | thousand trips | 2025 | KazTAG |
| Accommodation facilities | 4,482 | facilities | 2025 | Ministry of Tourism and Sports |
| Bed capacity | 232.9 | thousand beds | 2025 | Bureau of National Statistics |
| Accommodation revenue | 350.6 | billion KZT | 2025 | Ministry of Tourism and Sports |
| Tourism investment | 1,256.9 | billion KZT | 2025 | Ministry of Tourism and Sports |
| Airport passengers | 31.8 | million passengers | 2025 | Ministry of Transport |
| Airline passengers | 20.7 | million people | 2025 | Ministry of Transport |
| Visa-free ordinary-passport entries | 87 | country and territory rows | 2026-04-28 | MFA Kazakhstan |
| Chinese visitors | 968 | thousand people | 2025 | BAQ.kz |
How to Use This Data
Use the CSV when you need a compact source-backed tourism snapshot, and use the source links when you need legal, investment, or policy-grade verification.
For travel planning, the most useful rows are airport passengers, domestic routes, accommodation capacity, and visa-free access. For media references, the best headline rows are 15.7 million foreign visitor entries, 11.1 million classified foreign tourists, 10.1 million domestic accommodation users, and 350.6 billion KZT accommodation revenue. The 15.7 million row should be cited as an entry-flow measure, not as unique travelers. For business analysis, focus on 1,256.9 billion KZT investment, 328 tourism projects, and 31.8 million airport passengers.
If you cite this page, cite the CSV plus the original Russian government source when possible. If you are writing about a specific trip, connect the data back to practical guides: Almaty, Astana, things to do in Kazakhstan, and Mangystau.
Sources
- Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Kazakhstan: tourism results for 2025
- Bureau of National Statistics: tourism statistics page
- Bureau of National Statistics: tourism spreadsheets index
- KazTAG: tourist trips reached 11.8 million in 2025
- Central Media 24: Kazakhstan residents spent more than 1.1 trillion KZT on trips
- Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan: civil aviation results for 2025
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs: visa regime table for foreign citizens
- BAQ.kz: Chinese visitor growth in 2025
- BAQ.kz: Kazakhstan rose in the WEF tourism index
- Prime Minister of Kazakhstan: tourism investment exceeded 1.2 trillion KZT
Related Guides
For broader planning context, use Kazakhstan tourism, Kazakhstan by the Numbers 2026, Kazakhstan visa-free countries, Kazakhstan airports, Almaty guide, Astana guide, Things to do in Kazakhstan, and Mangystau.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many tourists visited Kazakhstan in 2025?
- Kazakhstan recorded 15.7 million foreign visitor entries in 2025 excluding work and permanent-residence categories, of which 11.1 million were classified as foreign tourists. This is an official visitor-entry flow, not a count of unique leisure tourists. Domestic tourists using accommodation reached 10.1 million, and residents made 11,771.4 thousand tourist trips.
- How many foreign tourists used Kazakhstan hotels in 2025?
- 1.4 million foreign tourists used registered accommodation services in Kazakhstan in 2025, 132.3 thousand more than a year earlier. This is lower than total foreign visitor entries because many visitors stay privately, cross by land, or do not use registered hotels.
- How much revenue did Kazakhstan accommodation businesses earn in 2025?
- Accommodation facilities in Kazakhstan earned 350.6 billion KZT in 2025, an increase of 50.8 billion KZT year on year. The country had 4,482 accommodation facilities and one-time capacity of 232.9 thousand beds.
- How much did Kazakhstan invest in tourism in 2025?
- Tourism investment reached 1,256.9 billion KZT in January-December 2025, up 32.6% from 947.6 billion KZT a year earlier. The Prime Minister's office reports a rounded 1.25 trillion KZT figure and a portfolio of 328 tourism projects.
- How many countries can enter Kazakhstan visa-free?
- The Russian MFA visa table had 195 country and territory rows as of its April 28, 2026 update. Counting only the ordinary civil passport column, full Firecrawl extraction found 87 visa-free entries: 4 for 14 days, 1 for 28 days, 65 for 30 days, 1 for 60 days, and 16 for 90 days.
- How many passengers did Kazakhstan airports handle in 2025?
- Kazakhstan airports served 31.8 million passengers in 2025, up from 29.7 million in 2024. Airports also processed 173.3 thousand tons of cargo, and airline passenger traffic reached 20.7 million people.
- Which Kazakhstan destinations were most popular for domestic trips in 2025?
- The largest listed destination shares were Astana at 10.1%, Turkestan region at 10.0%, Almaty at 9.9%, Almaty region at 7.4%, and Karaganda region at 7.0%. Together these five destinations accounted for 44.4% of trips.
- Where can I download the Kazakhstan tourism statistics CSV?
- The CSV is available at about-kazakhstan.com/datasets/kazakhstan-tourism-statistics-2026.csv. It includes metric IDs, categories, values, units, periods, source URLs, notes, and Firecrawl fetch date for each tourism statistic.
Last verified: May 18, 2026. Source discovery used Russian Firecrawl searches against Kazakhstan official and Russian-language source pages.
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Tugelbay Konabayev is a Kazakhstan-based travel writer who has lived in Almaty for 7+ years and Astana for 4+ years. He grew up in Aktobe, Kazakhstan and has covered Kazakh travel, food, culture, and visa policy with first-hand reporting since 2023.