Melco Resorts & Entertainment is set to explore opportunities to develop tourism infrastructure in Kazakhstan after meeting with the country’s Prime Minister, Olzhas Bektenov, last week.
Melco Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho was in attendance, alongside Executive Vice President and CFO Geoff Davis.
According to information from the Press Service of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the parties discussed the prospects for cooperation in the development of Kazakhstan’s tourism infrastructure, as well as the opportunities for investors to participate in the implementation of projects in the territory of the city of Alatau.
Kazakhstan is in the process of building out Alatau as a “future city” with tourism as one of its core pillars. Located to the north of Almaty, Alatau is planned to feature a large tourism and recreation zone known as the Green District featuring hotels, entertainment zones, restaurants and public waterfront areas as well as various wellness and outdoor recreation areas, with Kapchagay Reservoir as the centerpiece.
The city is also envisioned to boast convention and business tourism, event spaces and cultural attractions, with the goal of attracting more than 4 million tourists annually by 2050.
The Kazak press service said the President is paying special attention to the implementation of the Alatau City project and the construction of the necessary infrastructure for it. A new Constitution, as well as the Constitutional Law “On the Special Legal Regime of the City of Alatau,” will come into force on 1 July 2026, providing for transparent mechanisms for interaction with investors, long-term stability of the conditions for the implementation of investment projects and modern mechanisms for protecting investments, it said.
In response to inquiries from Inside Asian Gaming, a Melco spokesperson said, “Melco regularly engages with governments and stakeholders to better understand potential tourism and hospitality opportunities. We appreciate Kazakhstan’s focus on developing its tourism sector. Our recent meeting was exploratory and part of a broader dialogue around long‑term tourism development.”
Aside from the Alatau project, it was recently reported that Kazakhstan has signed amendments to the law on “Gambling Business” that will allow new gambling zones to be created in four other areas nationwide: the Mangistau region on the Caspian Sea coast; Panfilov district and the shores of Lake Alakol in the Zhetysu region; Talgar district in the Almaty region; and the Markakol area and Zaisan district in the East Kazakhstan region.
Deputy Minister of Tourism and Sports, Baurzhan Rapikov, has stated that the zones are aimed at attracting high-spending international tourists to Kazakhstan.
“The expected economic impact includes around 500 jobs per casino, annual tax revenues of KZT 2 billion to KZT 4 billion (US$4.2 million to US$8.4 million), and an increase in the number of gambling tourists from the current 100,000 to 200,000,” he said.
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