charyn.kz an independent guide to wild Kazakhstan

Hotel occupancy in Kazakhstan by region and resort area, 2025–2026

Kazakhstan's hotels were a third full in 2025: 33.4% of rooms on average. Almaty and Lake Alakol top the table, but at Alakol a bed sells for fewer than three weeks a year. Here is what the official numbers say about when and where rooms are easy to find.

Verified: 2026-11

Engraving: guest houses and a small hotel on the shore of a steppe lake in the evening
IllustrationEngraving: guest houses and a small hotel on the shore of a steppe lake in the evening

Kazakhstan’s hotel rooms were 33.4% occupied on average in 2025, and hotel beds 26.4%. Almaty city (46.8%) and Shymkent (43.1%) were the busiest regions; Atyrau (15.5%) and Kyzylorda (17.5%) the quietest. Among 20 resort areas the Abai side of Lake Alakol led at 53.7%, while Zerenda and Katon-Karagay were less than a fifth full. We recalculated the Bureau of National Statistics (BNS) annual report and two 2026 updates, and added a measure the reports do not show: how many nights a year each bed is actually sold.

Key numbers

  • 33.4% of rooms occupied nationwide; 4,482 accommodation providers hosted 10.09 million guests in 2025.
  • Almaty 46.8%, Astana 35.9%. A bed-night in Almaty costs 1.77 times the national average.
  • Resort areas: 39.7% of rooms, with bed-nights 1.33 times the national average price.
  • Alakol (Abai region): 53.7% hotel occupancy, but only 18.8 nights sold per bed per year across all accommodation.
  • The Almaty mountain cluster hosted 2.98 million guests, 61% of all resort-area guests; a quarter were non-residents.
  • Burabay is busy in winter too: 116,747 guests in January–March 2026 and 135,310 in April–June.

Occupancy by region

Hotel room occupancy, 2025, %
  1. Almaty city 46.8 %
  2. Shymkent city 43.1 %
  3. Kostanay 37.8 %
  4. Astana city 35.9 %
  5. Almaty region 35.8 %
  6. Mangystau 34.9 %
  7. Pavlodar 34.5 %
  8. Kazakhstan average 33.4 %
  9. Zhetisu 32 %
  10. East Kazakhstan 31.4 %
  11. Karaganda 30.9 %
  12. North Kazakhstan 29.9 %
  13. Akmola 28.4 %
  14. Ulytau 27.5 %
  15. Abai 27.1 %
  16. Turkistan 25.1 %
  17. Aktobe 23.3 %
  18. Zhambyl 22.1 %
  19. West Kazakhstan 18.4 %
  20. Kyzylorda 17.5 %
  21. Atyrau 15.5 %

BNS, Accommodation activity, January–December 2025, tables 5 and 26

The three big cities and Kostanay region sit above the national average. If you are booking Almaty or Shymkent, rooms are nearly half full on an average day, so holidays and big events fill them quickly. In most regions a third of rooms or fewer are taken. Turkistan (0.62), Aktobe (0.63) and Kostanay (0.67) have the cheapest bed-nights relative to the national average.

Resort areas: crowded and empty

Hotel room occupancy in resort areas, 2025, %
  1. Alakol (Abai region) 53.7 %
  2. Almaty mountain cluster 46 %
  3. Mangystau 38 %
  4. Saryagash 34 %
  5. Alakol (Zhetisu region) 32.6 %
  6. Shchuchinsk–Burabay 31.2 %
  7. Altai 29.9 %
  8. Bayanaul 27 %
  9. Kapchagay 26.4 %
  10. Balkhash 25.5 %
  11. Karkaraly 24.3 %
  12. Imantau-Shalkar 23.2 %
  13. Bukhtarma 20.8 %
  14. Turkistan 20.1 %
  15. Katon-Karagay 17.2 %
  16. Zerenda 9.6 %

BNS, Accommodation activity, January–December 2025, tables 5 and 26

BNS reports 20 resort areas separately. Together they hosted 4.88 million guests in 2025.

Resort areaRoomsGuests 2025Non-residentsRoom occupancyNights per bedPrice index
Almaty mountain cluster15,8472,976,99725.7%46.0%115.71.55
Shchuchinsk–Burabay3,883463,1403.7%31.2%92.71.29
Mangystau3,063370,11911.5%38.0%72.91.22
Balkhash2,263182,9011.1%25.5%33.00.69
Alakol (Zhetisu region)5,829149,1800.1%32.6%21.11.47
Turkistan1,479148,52511.4%20.1%66.50.66
Altai567108,2201.2%29.9%45.31.82
Alakol (Abai region)5,090100,9260.4%53.7%18.8no data
Kapchagay1,807100,4430.1%26.4%20.61.36
Bayanaul1,86572,8760.1%27.0%27.71.00
Zerenda52640,3340.0%9.6%47.00.98
Katon-Karagay1467,977no data17.2%16.50.69

Why 53.7% at Alakol does not mean it is crowded

Nights sold per bed per year, 2025 (all accommodation, not just hotels)
  1. Almaty mountain cluster 115.7
  2. Saryagash 105.8
  3. Shchuchinsk–Burabay 92.7
  4. Mangystau 72.9
  5. Turkistan 66.5
  6. Zerenda 47
  7. Altai 45.3
  8. Balkhash 33
  9. Bayanaul 27.7
  10. Bukhtarma 22.1
  11. Alakol (Zhetisu region) 21.1
  12. Karkaraly 20.9
  13. Kapchagay 20.6
  14. Imantau-Shalkar 20.5
  15. Alakol (Abai region) 18.8
  16. Katon-Karagay 16.5

charyn.kz calculation: bed-nights provided ÷ bed capacity, BNS table 26, 2025

BNS states in its methodological notes that room and bed occupancy are published for hotels only. Bed-nights and bed capacity in the same table cover all accommodation, including lakeside camps and guesthouses. Dividing one by the other gives the nights each bed is sold in a year: 62.3 nationwide, 115.7 in the Almaty mountain cluster, 92.7 in Burabay, and just 18.8 and 21.1 on the two sides of Lake Alakol.

So a high occupancy figure at a seasonal lake describes its hotels in season, not the whole resort. Outside its short summer, Alakol has plenty of free beds. When Kazakhstan searches for lakes, month by month, is shown in our study of the summer lake peak.

What a night costs, relative to the national average

Average price of a bed-night, index to the national average (1.0), 2025
  1. Altai 1.82
  2. Almaty mountain cluster 1.55
  3. Alakol (Zhetisu region) 1.47
  4. Kapchagay 1.36
  5. Shchuchinsk–Burabay 1.29
  6. Mangystau 1.22
  7. Bayanaul 1
  8. Zerenda 0.98
  9. Imantau-Shalkar 0.73
  10. Katon-Karagay 0.69
  11. Balkhash 0.69
  12. Turkistan 0.66
  13. Karkaraly 0.61
  14. Saryagash 0.55
  15. Bukhtarma 0.46

charyn.kz calculation from BNS tables 5 and 26, 2025; no price is given for Alakol (Abai region)

We show an index rather than prices: 1.0 is the national average cost of a bed-night. The Altai area is the priciest (1.82), followed by the Almaty mountain cluster (1.55) and Alakol on the Zhetisu side (1.47). Bukhtarma (0.46), Karkaraly (0.61) and Turkistan (0.66) are the cheapest. We left out the Kostanay resort area: with four providers, its index of 2.04 reflects a handful of hotels.

Seasons by quarter, 2026

Resort areaRoom occupancy, Q1 2026Room occupancy, H1 2026Guests, Q1Guests, Q2
Almaty mountain cluster36.0%39.7%509,280713,798
Shchuchinsk–Burabay25.7%30.8%116,747135,310
Mangystau23.9%30.4%53,295106,336
Balkhash11.2%21.5%8,71166,217
Altai46.1%33.1%30,31815,048
Alakol (Zhetisu region)9.6%19.5%1,39114,321
All resort areas29.0%34.6%802,0291,258,554

Three patterns appear. The Altai area peaks in winter. Balkhash and Alakol are almost empty in winter and start filling in spring, with the main summer peak still to be published. Burabay and the mountains above Almaty work year-round.

What it means for your trip

Burabay’s hotels were below the national average over the year and each bed sold 92.7 nights, so pressure comes from weekends and holidays rather than the whole summer. See our Burabay National Park guide. Alakol is the opposite: a short, intense summer and near-empty camps the rest of the year; details on the Lake Alakol page. Mountain and city stays around Almaty are covered in Almaty mountains.

Methodology

  1. We downloaded three BNS “accommodation activity” reports: January–December 2025, January–March 2026 and January–June 2026.
  2. Table 5 gives regions and cities, table 26 resort areas, table 27 resident and non-resident guests.
  3. The price index is the average cost of a bed-night divided by the national average (table 5).
  4. Nights per bed is “bed-nights provided” divided by “bed capacity”. This is our measure; BNS does not publish it.
  5. Q2 2026 guests are the half-year minus Q1. Occupancy cannot be derived that way, so the table shows Q1 and H1 values.

Our approach to sources is described in the methodology.

What we don’t know

Not verified yet Monthly and peak-week occupancy: BNS publishes quarters and years only, so July at Burabay or Alakol is not visible. The report does not say whether occupancy for summer-only hotels is calculated over the calendar year or over days of operation. Unregistered short-term rentals and self-organised holidays are outside the data: resort-area figures exclude self-organised tourism.

How to cite

Suggested credit: “charyn.kz calculation based on Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan, accommodation activity reports, 2025–2026”. Example: “In 2025 a bed in the Abai part of the Alakol resort area was sold for 18.8 nights on average, compared with 115.7 in the Almaty mountain cluster (charyn.kz, based on BNS data).”

Regional and resort-area data for 2025 and the first two quarters of 2026 are in a CSV file under CC BY 4.0. What foreign visitors spend on lodging is covered in visitor spending in Kazakhstan; more datasets are on the open data page.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average hotel occupancy rate in Kazakhstan?
33.4% of hotel rooms and 26.4% of hotel beds were occupied on average in 2025, according to the Bureau of National Statistics. In January–June 2026 room occupancy was 30.9%.
How busy are Almaty hotels?
Almaty city had the highest hotel occupancy of any region in 2025, at 46.8% of rooms, and the highest prices: the average bed-night cost 1.77 times the national average. Astana was at 35.9%.
Is it hard to find a hotel in Burabay?
Over 2025 as a whole, hotels in the Shchuchinsk–Burabay resort area were 31.2% full, below the national average. Monthly figures are not published, so peak summer weekends are not visible in this data.
When is Lake Alakol quiet?
In winter and early spring. In January–March 2026 accommodation in the Zhetisu part of the Alakol resort area hosted 1,391 guests, against 14,321 in April–June.
Which resort areas in Kazakhstan are the most expensive?
The Altai resort area, where an average bed-night costs 1.82 times the national average. The Almaty mountain cluster is at 1.55 and Alakol (Zhetisu region) at 1.47; Bukhtarma is the cheapest at 0.46.
How many foreign guests stay in Kazakhstan's resorts?
17.3% of resort-area guests in 2025 were non-residents, concentrated in the Almaty mountain cluster (25.7% of its guests), Mangystau (11.5%) and Turkistan (11.4%). At Alakol and Bayanaul they were under 1%.

Sources

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