Issyk-Kul has become the leader in terms of growth in the hotel and restaurant sector

The tourist season is already beginning to show up in the statistics. Over the first six months, the Issyk-Kul Region recorded the highest growth in the volume of hotel and restaurant services of all regions in Kyrgyzstan.

Specifically, between January and June, the value of services provided by hotels and restaurants reached 720.6 million KGS, compared with 469.3 million KGS a year earlier.

In monetary terms, the market grew by 251.3 million KGS, or 53.6 per cent. However, official statistics also provide a separate index of physical volume, calculated at constant prices, which stood at 130.1 per cent. This means that, taking price changes into account, the sector’s real growth reached 30.1 per cent — the highest figure among all regions of Kyrgyzstan.

By way of comparison, the volume of hotel and restaurant services across the country as a whole grew by 10.3 per cent in constant prices. Issyk-Kul thus outperformed the national average by almost three times.

The growth of the resort region is particularly noticeable when compared with other regions. In the Naryn region, real growth stood at 18.2 per cent; in the Chui region, 17.8 per cent; in the Talas region, 14.1 per cent; and in the Batken region, 12.1 per cent. In the Jalal-Abad region, by contrast, the volume of services in constant prices fell by 0.6 per cent.

In total, hotels, restaurants, bars and other catering establishments in Kyrgyzstan provided services worth 27.7 billion KGS in January–June. A year earlier, the figure stood at 22.3 billion KGS. In nominal terms, the market grew by around 5.4 billion KGS.

Catering continues to account for the bulk of turnover. Restaurants, bars and establishments providing ready-made meals provided services worth 23.65 billion KGS, which, at constant prices, is 9.4 per cent more than a year ago.

Hotels, tourist resorts and short-stay accommodation accounted for 4.06 billion KGS. Real growth in this segment was higher, at 16.4 per cent.

Despite leading in terms of growth rates, the Issyk-Kul region’s share of the sector’s total volume remains relatively small at around 2.6 per cent. Bishkek remains the main hub for the hotel and restaurant business. The capital accounted for 17.28 billion KGS, or over 62 per cent of the total volume of services.