Published
09/02/2026, 18:17In Kyrgyzstan, the grand opening of the 6th World Nomad Games took place just a few days ago, and our athletes are already beginning to win gold. But the question ‘How much?’ is already keeping our editorial team restless. How much will such a large‑scale event ultimately bring to the country? And to what percentage will the expenses from the state budget be recouped?
But let us begin with the figures already known.
The opening of the 6th World Nomad Games on August 31 in Bishkek brought together world leaders — from Xi Jinping to Vladimir Putin — as well as around 30,000 spectators at the new Bishkek Arena stadium.
Kyrgyzstan is breaking past records. This year, applications for participation were submitted by 113 countries, and about 3,000 athletes arrived in the country. Previously, the maximum number of countries represented at the Games did not exceed 102.
Moreover, the prize fund this year increased by 40.4% and reached 730,000 USD.
At the same time, Kyrgyzstan’s budget for hosting the Games amounted to about 336 million KGS, or 3.8 million USD. This is several times less than what Kazakhstan spent on a similar tournament in 2024.
It is expected that during the Games the country will be visited by about 200,000 tourists, and the economic impact of the event will amount to 100–120 million USD.
Tourists, according to forecasts, came from more than 100 countries, including large groups from neighboring CIS states. During the days of the Games, hotel occupancy was close to 100%. Booking.com showed 98–99% of rooms in Bishkek unavailable on August 31. In other words, there were almost no free places left in the city.
Based on the average consumer prices for 2025, a basic tourist day in Kyrgyzstan costs about 4,540 KGS per person. This amount includes one night in a hotel, three meals, and two taxi rides of 5 kilometers each.
In a week, such a tourist will spend about 31,800 KGS, or approximately 364 USD at the official exchange rate of 87.45 KGS per 1 USD.
At the same time, excursions, souvenirs, shopping, car rentals, and other additional expenses are not included in the calculation. Therefore, the actual bill for a tourist may be significantly higher.
Under the optimistic scenario, the average bill may reach 52,470 KGS, or about 600 USD. If this amount is multiplied by the expected 200,000 tourists, the result will be around 120 million USD. It is precisely this economic impact that the organizers are counting on.
As a result, the World Nomad Games themselves may bring Kyrgyzstan 31.6 times more funds than were spent on hosting them.
The 2014 World Nomad Games in Kyrgyzstan turned out to be relatively inexpensive. About 84 million KGS were allocated for the reconstruction of the old hippodrome.
By the time of the 2016 World Nomad Games, the authorities had already spent about 1.7 billion KGS from the budget, which amounted to roughly 20–24 million USD. Almost 90% of this sum went to the construction of a new hippodrome. At that time, sponsors from Turkey and private companies were also involved. In total, nearly 3 million USD was raised, which helped reduce the burden on the budget.
The 2018 World Nomad Games in Cholpon-Ata were financed through a mixed scheme. The state budget allocated 303 million KGS, while another 163 million KGS came from sponsors. The total funding amounted to 466 million KGS.
At that time, the country’s Tourism Department reported that "the costs were fully recouped". About 150,000 people came to the Games, of whom roughly 50–60 thousand were foreigners. The economic impact was assessed as "substantial".
For comparison, let us take the example of Kazakhstan. In 2024, Astana spent about 5.7 billion tenge on the Games, or around 12 million USD. However, the officially declared economic impact turned out to be significantly lower than the expenses and amounted to about 625 thousand USD.
At that time, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Sports and Tourism noted that even a flow of half a million tourists could not offset the expenses of hosting the event.
The success of the Games as an international brand is often assessed not only by direct revenues but also by the long-term promotional effect for the country. Nevertheless, practice shows that the costs of hosting such events may exceed the immediate returns by an order of magnitude.
