Promotion of Almaty as a tourism destination

The aim of this master’s thesis is to evaluate the tourism potential of Almaty and to examine current promotional strategies. The thesis captures the most important tourism attractions of Almaty among different stakeholders, including tourism business owners, residents, and international visitors. For this purpose, the promotional campaigns and the tools that the city uses to attract visitors will be examined. Also, the thesis examines the perceptions and attitudes of local tourism business owners, residents, and international visitors. The perceptions of different stakeholders will likely be different, so it is important to understand what message businesses are communicating about the city, how local residents feel about it, and how it resonates with foreigners. The methodology used in the research is thematic analysis based on the semi-structured interviews with 20 respondents from three key stakeholder groups. The findings show that all groups recognize strong tourism potential of Almaty, which lies primarily in its natural resources, such as mountains, the city’s hiking infrastructure, and its cultural heritage. However, several weaknesses were identified: notably weak international awareness, inconsistent tourism services, and traffic issues. It was concluded that Almaty should primarily invest in increasing its international visibility and, secondarily, in improving the integration of tourist routes.