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Kazakhstan Tourism Statistics for November 2026
Kazakhstan recorded 15.74 million foreign visitor arrivals at its borders in 2025, 3.1% more than in 2024; 11.09 million of them stayed more than one day. Foreign visitors spent US$2.89 billion, up 12.4% and the highest in the series since 2000. In January–September 2026 there were 11.74 million arrivals.
How many people visit Kazakhstan, which countries they come from, why they travel, what they spend and where they stay, compiled from the latest official statistics. Full sources are listed at the bottom of the page. Headline numbers are for 2025, the most recent full year, with 2026 year-to-date where available. Arrivals are border crossings by foreign citizens, so one person entering several times is counted each time.
Inbound visitors
International visitors to Kazakhstan
Foreign citizens crossed into Kazakhstan 15.74 million times in 2025, up 3.1% on the 15.26 million of 2024. Of these, 11.09 million stayed more than one day and count as tourists, 6.8% more than a year earlier. In January–September 2026 there were 11.74 million arrivals.
View data table
| Period | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 15.26m | |
| 2025 | 15.74m | |
| Jan–Sep 2026 | 11.74m | part year |
Arrivals are entries by foreign citizens recorded at border checkpoints, counted as crossings, and exclude entries for work or permanent residence. Same-day visitors are included: 4,654,428 arrivals in 2025 (29.6%) stayed less than a day. In 2025, 42.1% of arrivals came by road, 41.1% on foot, 12.1% by air and 4.5% by rail. Almaty airport handled 1,156,052 arrivals and Astana airport 545,778. 2026 so far: 3.00 million in January–March, 4.08 million in April–June and 4.65 million in July–September. No comparison with January–September 2025 is published in the current table. Earlier years are not shown because no series on the same crossing basis was found.
Visitor spending
What international visitors spend
Foreign visitors spent US$2.89 billion in Kazakhstan in 2025, up 12.4% on 2024 and 17.6% above the US$2.46 billion of 2019. It is the highest figure in the series, which starts in 2000. Spending fell to US$613 million in 2020 and US$608 million in 2021, during the pandemic. The measure is travel exports in the balance of payments, in nominal US dollars.
View data table
| Period | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | US$2.46bn | pre-pandemic |
| 2020 | US$613m | pandemic |
| 2021 | US$608m | pandemic |
| 2022 | US$1.49bn | |
| 2023 | US$2.26bn | |
| 2024 | US$2.57bn | |
| 2025 | US$2.89bn | record |
Travel covers goods and services bought by non-residents during their stay, for business and personal purposes. It made up 22.5% of Kazakhstan's services exports in 2025, which totalled US$12.82 billion. International passenger transport is recorded separately and is not included. No 2026 figure is shown in the current table.
Source markets
Where Kazakhstan's visitors come from
Most arrivals come from neighbouring Central Asian countries and Russia. Uzbekistan was the largest source in 2025 with 5.59 million arrivals, 35.5% of the total, followed by Kyrgyzstan (3.55 million) and Russia (3.50 million). China grew fastest among the large markets, up 46.8%. Bars show 2025 arrivals by citizenship; the muted figure is the change on 2024.
Markets are by citizenship and count border crossings, so frequent cross-border trips by residents of neighbouring countries add to the totals. Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia together accounted for 80.3% of arrivals. South Korea sent 50,906 (+26.7%) and the United States 38,525 (+7.1%). 2026 so far (January–September): Uzbekistan 3,972,346, Russia 2,770,722, Kyrgyzstan 2,441,285 and China 937,635.
Why they come
Purpose of visit
Most foreign arrivals are recorded at the border as private trips: 85.6% in 2025. Transport crew and drivers made up 9.4%, transit 2.1% and trips with a declared tourism purpose 2.1%. Business trips accounted for 0.3%.
- Private 85.6%
- Transport crew and drivers 9.4%
- Transit 2.1%
- Tourism 2.1%
- Business 0.3%
- Other 0.5%
Shares are of 15,740,539 arrivals in 2025 by the purpose recorded at entry. "Transport crew and drivers" is the border category for vehicle and transport servicing. "Other" covers official and diplomatic trips, study, medical treatment, investor visits, pilgrimage and unknown purposes. These purpose groups are border record categories and are not the same as the purpose-of-visit groups used in visitor surveys.
Seasonality
When they visit
Accommodation records show a summer peak. July–September brought 463,893 non-resident guests in 2025, 32.5% of the year, and January–March was the quietest quarter with 257,174.
View data table
| Period | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 257,174 | Jan–Mar |
| Q2 | 365,746 | Apr–Jun |
| Q3 | 463,893 | Jul–Sep |
| Q4 | 340,313 | Oct–Dec |
Quarterly non-resident guests in accommodation establishments in 2025, derived from the published cumulative totals; they add up to the annual 1,427,126. Border arrivals follow a similar pattern in 2026: 3.00 million in January–March, 4.08 million in April–June and 4.65 million in July–September.
Accommodation
Hotels & occupancy
Accommodation establishments served 10.09 million guests in 2025, 10.6% more than in 2024. Non-residents were 1.43 million of them (14.1%), up 10.2% and 45.7% above 2019. Almaty city had 754,093 non-resident guests, more than half of the national total, and Astana 380,301. Russian citizens were the largest group of non-resident guests (429,761), followed by China (241,713, +38.9%) and India (131,034). The 4,482 establishments, with 94,523 rooms, provided 14.52 million bed-nights (+5.9%), and bed-place occupancy was 26.4%. In January–June 2026 guests rose 4.8% to 4.77 million.
Economic impact
Tourism in Kazakhstan's economy
Residents of Kazakhstan spent US$3.85 billion on trips abroad in 2025, 2.2% less than in 2024, so travel showed a deficit of US$957.7 million. Citizens crossed out of the country 11.82 million times. At home, the household travel survey counted 10.27 million domestic visitors, who spent ₸659.2 billion on their trips. Accommodation establishments earned ₸350.6 billion from their services, up 16.9% in nominal tenge.
Balance of payments figures are in nominal US dollars. Outbound crossings (11,816,627 in 2025, −1.2%) count each exit by a citizen of Kazakhstan. Domestic visitors and their spending come from a household survey and cover trips by residents within the country, including 1.81 million same-day visitors; they spent 19.31 million nights away. Accommodation revenue excludes VAT and is not adjusted for inflation.
At a glance
Fast facts
- 5.59m Arrivals from Uzbekistan, the largest market (2025)
- +46.8% Growth in arrivals from China (2025)
- 29.6% Share of arrivals staying less than a day (2025)
- 1,156,052 Foreign arrivals at Almaty airport (2025)
- 22.5% Travel share of services exports (2025)
- 754,093 Non-resident hotel guests in Almaty city (2025)
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How many tourists visit Kazakhstan each year?
Foreign citizens made 15,740,528 border crossings into Kazakhstan in 2025, 3.1% more than the 15,262,368 of 2024. Of these, 11,086,100 stayed more than one day and are classed as tourists. In January–September 2026 there were 11,735,527 arrivals.
How much do tourists spend in Kazakhstan?
Foreign visitors spent US$2.89 billion in 2025, up 12.4% on 2024, measured as travel exports in the balance of payments. That is the highest figure since the series began in 2000 and 17.6% above the US$2.46 billion of 2019.
Which country sends the most visitors to Kazakhstan?
Uzbekistan, with 5.59 million arrivals in 2025, 35.5% of the total. Kyrgyzstan (3.55 million) and Russia (3.50 million) came next, followed by China (961,627) and Tajikistan (883,715). The figures count border crossings by citizenship, so frequent trips across land borders add to them.
Why do foreigners travel to Kazakhstan?
At the border, 85.6% of foreign arrivals in 2025 were recorded as private trips. Transport crew and drivers made up 9.4%, transit 2.1% and trips with a declared tourism purpose 2.1%. Business trips were 0.3%.
How many tourists stay in hotels in Almaty and Astana?
Accommodation establishments in Almaty city served 2,487,889 guests in 2025, of whom 754,093 were non-residents. Astana had 1,604,825 guests, including 380,301 non-residents. Across Kazakhstan there were 10,087,057 guests, 1,427,126 of them non-residents.
Using these figures?
Cite this page
Journalists, researchers and bloggers are welcome to use the statistics on this page. Please credit Kazakhstan Tourism Statistics and link to this page.
Kazakhstan Tourism Statistics (2026). Visitors, spending and trends. Last reviewed 2 November 2026. https://www.globaltourismstatistics.com/kazakhstan
<a href="https://www.globaltourismstatistics.com/kazakhstan">Kazakhstan Tourism Statistics</a> Notes & sources
Methodology & sources
This page compiles publicly available official statistics from the Bureau of National Statistics of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms of Kazakhstan, including border data from the Border Service of the National Security Committee and balance of payments data from the National Bank of Kazakhstan; the sources for every figure are listed below. Caveats:
- Annual arrivals for 2024 and 2025 come from the Bureau's inbound visitor table updated on 23 April 2026. The January–September 2026 total (11,735,527) comes from the quarterly table updated on 14 October 2026, which gives 2026 only, so no year-on-year change is shown. Accommodation figures to June 2026 come from tables updated on 9 September 2026. Travel receipts for 2025 come from the services trade table updated on 27 July 2026; no 2026 figure was in that table.
- An inbound visitor is a foreign citizen entering Kazakhstan on a temporary visit for any main purpose, except entry for work or permanent residence. The Border Service counts crossings, so a person who enters several times is counted each time. Tourists are inbound visitors who stayed more than one day (11,086,100 in 2025, against 10,381,568 in 2024). The purpose shown is the one recorded at the border. Totals in different breakdowns of the 2025 table differ slightly (from 15,740,099 by mode of transport to 15,740,539 by purpose); the headline uses the published annual total of 15,740,528. An earlier Bureau table gave 9.20 million inbound visitors for 2023, but it could not be confirmed that this figure is on the same crossing basis, so it is not compared with 2024 and 2025.
- Travel receipts are travel exports in the balance of payments compiled by the National Bank of Kazakhstan, as republished by the Bureau, in nominal US dollars. Resident spending abroad is travel imports. Figures may be revised. The travel balance and the 22.5% share of services exports are our calculations from the published values.
- Accommodation figures come from the quarterly 2-tourism survey of accommodation establishments and count guests served, split into residents and non-residents. Quarterly values for 2025 are differences between published cumulative totals. Non-resident guests by citizenship are given for the ten largest countries only. Occupancy is the bed-place occupancy rate by days of operation. Domestic visitors and their spending come from the Bureau's household survey of spending on trips; tenge values are nominal.
- No official tourism share of GDP, visitor counts for individual attractions or 2026 travel receipts were found, so those items are omitted. A sample survey of inbound visitors run in January and July is also published but is not used here because it covers only two months.
Primary sources
- Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan: Number of inbound tourism visitors : Dynamic table (updated 23 Apr 2026): inbound visitors (border crossings) by citizenship, length of stay, purpose of trip, age, border checkpoint and mode of transport, 2024 and 2025, from Border Service of the National Security Committee data.
- Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan: Number of inbound tourism visitors by quarter : Dynamic table (updated 14 Oct 2026): inbound visitors (border crossings) by citizenship, January–March, January–June and January–September 2026.
- Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan: Number of outbound tourism visitors : Dynamic table (updated 22 Apr 2026): outbound visitors (border crossings by citizens of Kazakhstan) by country of entry and length of stay, 2024 and 2025.
- Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan: Export and import of services (National Bank of Kazakhstan data) : Dynamic table (updated 27 Jul 2026): exports and imports of services by type, including travel, in US$ million, 2000–2025.
- Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan: Number of visitors served in accommodation : Dynamic table (updated 9 Sep 2026): all guests served by accommodation establishments by region, cumulative quarters, 2003 to January–June 2026; residents shown in a companion table.
- Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan: Visitors served by accommodation, inbound tourism (non-residents) : Dynamic table (updated 9 Sep 2026) from the quarterly 2-tourism accommodation survey: non-resident guests by region, cumulative quarters, 2004 to January–June 2026.
- Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan: Visitors served by accommodation, domestic tourism (residents) : Dynamic table (updated 9 Sep 2026): resident guests by region, cumulative quarters, 2004 to January–June 2026.
- Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan: Inbound visitors served by accommodation, by citizenship : Dynamic table (updated 9 Sep 2026): non-resident guests for the ten largest citizenships, cumulative quarters, 2021–2025.
- Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan: Occupancy of accommodation (bed-places) : Dynamic table (updated 9 Sep 2026): bed-place occupancy rate by region, per cent, 2005–2025.
- Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan: Bed-nights provided by accommodation : Dynamic table (updated 9 Sep 2026): bed-nights by region, cumulative quarters, to January–June 2026.
- Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan: Number of accommodation establishments : Dynamic table (updated 9 Sep 2026): accommodation establishments by region, cumulative quarters, to January–June 2026.
- Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan: Volume of services provided by accommodation : Dynamic table (updated 9 Sep 2026): services provided by accommodation establishments excluding VAT, thousand tenge, by region, to January–June 2026.
- Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan: Household spending on trips in Kazakhstan, 2025 : Spreadsheet release of 17 Apr 2026 from the household travel survey: domestic and outbound visitors by purpose, length of stay and spending, 2025.