Almaty region is one of the regions with stable socio-economic dynamics, this region claims to be agro-industrial one.

Growth of entrepreneurship in the region is very impressive: number of operating small and medium-sized businesses in 2018 was 115.6 thousand units, which is 5.2% more than in 2017.

In addition, since 2015, the region began to revive the former glory of sugar beet. The acreage of sugar beet was increased from 3.8 thousand hectares in 2015 to 11.2 thousand hectares in 2018, that is, almost 3 times. Last year a record harvest was collected: over 441 thousand tons of sugar beet.

Along with beet-growing, the cultivation of corn is actively supported. More than 2,500 entities are engaged in corn farming, the harvest is processed at new two service-collection centers.

In addition, there is an intensive development of gardening in the region. The total area of gardens is 17.8 thousand hectares; the volume of production amounted to 126 thousand tons and showed an increase of 177.7% in 2018.

There is also a steady increase in livestock and poultry farming. To date, 70 dairy farms operate in the region, and these are 14,017 thousand heads of cattle. Also, compared with 2013, the volume of poultry meat production increased by 123.8%.

The region is famous for Shin-Line Company’s Bomba, Bakhroma and other ice cream products. The company has already succeeded in neighbouring countries. This company is the first Kazakhstani exporter of ice cream  that entered the Chinese market.

It is worth noting that products Made in Zhetysu have long become a popular brand. It has the presidential awards - Altyn Sapa.

Blessed Land of Seven Rivers

There is another fairly promising area for business in the Almaty region - tourism. The region has great touristic potential, known under the poetic name “Blessed Land of Seven Rivers”. One third of Kazakhstan’s tourist flow falls on the Almaty region.

The competitive advantage of this region lies in its rich culture, the presence of picturesque nature and opportunity to engage in all types of tourism.

According to the results of 9 months of 2018, in the Almaty region, 721.4 thousand tourists were provided with accommodation. The volume of services rendered amounted to 8.7 billion tenge, which is almost 2 times more than in 2015. At the same time, in terms of the volume of services rendered, the region is in 3rd place, followed by Astana and Almaty. Its indicator is 11% of the republican volume. 17% of the total tourist flow falls on the Almaty region.

There are 729 tourism infrastructure facilities in the region: 189 hotels, 185 guest and hunting houses, 250 recreation areas, 31 camps and a sanatorium, 67 holiday homes, 7 other objects.

In addition, analyzing the queries of popular search engines like video hosting, you can see that from the

According to search queries in Google, Yandex and Youtube, five places of the Almaty region such as Charyn canyon, Kaiyndy, Kolsay, BAO, Alakol lake, are among top 10 best places to visit in Kazakhstan.

The development of tourism has become possible due to the purposeful development of the coast of Lake Alakol with the provision of transport accessibility and recreation areas. Thus, it is planned to reconstruct the airstrip, shore protection works, as well as the construction of water supply and sewerage networks.

Also, a mountain cluster is being constructed, the first ski park Oi-Qaragai - Lesnaya Skazka was opened in the region. The amount of private investment is more than 30 billion tenge. As part of the mountain cluster, it is planned to develop a master plan for the development of the territory of the Charyn Canyon. Its implementation is considered with the development of tourism in the thermal springs of the Uigur region, the Kolsai lakes and the Khorgos International Center of Boundary Cooperation. Ecological, mountain-sports, adventure, ethno-cultural and business tourism is planned to develop under the project.

Chairman of the Atameken Presidium Timur Kulibayev emphasizes on tourism, noting that the tourism industry is a real opportunity to fully expand SMEs and the service sector, since it has a wide potential for attracting business resources, job creation, it  does not require large capital investments.

“Tourism is a good example of the economy of simple things. The opportunities of the tourist industry allow solving a wide range of social and economic problems: improvement of infrastructure, development of regions and provision of employment of the population. This is an industry where it is possible to use potential of small and medium-sized businesses,” he said.

The National Chamber suggested combining the existing infrastructures: Shymbulak - Medeu - Butakovka – Lesnaya skazka - Almatau into a single mountain cluster to revive the tourism sphere in Almaty and the Almaty region.  It is also necessary to develop infrastructure for mass visits and recreation in the Almarasan gorge and on the Big Almaty Lake.