Almaty 2022 Accommodation Plan A Key Asset

Almaty, July 20, 2015 - After a nearly two year bidding race, Almaty 2022 is ready and excited to welcome the international community to its beautiful city. Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city has seen a rapid rise in its tourism sector. With annual growth rates of almost 11% in hotel rooms, Almaty is one of the fastest growing tourism destinations in all of Central Asia.

The city attracts visitors from all around the world due to its close proximity to world-class ski resorts, picturesque mountains, newly developed casino and entertainment resorts and vibrant Kazakh culture. In addition, the city continues to benefit from increased tourism through the hosting of major international winter sports events, such as the 2011 Winter Asian Games, as well as many FIS and ISU World Championships.

Consistent with the growth in its tourism sector, Almaty has developed a robust accommodation plan to meet the needs of its many visitors and quickly growing domestic population. Almaty 2022 has worked closely with the city to ensure that Almaty’s bid to host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games fits perfectly with the city’s long-term objectives.

President of Kazakhstan Tourism Association, Ms Rosa Assanbayeva said:

«Tourist arrivals to Almaty have been steadily growing over the past years. Besides housing for the city's growing population, the demand for hotels across all categories is rising. The Almaty 2022 Games Accommodation plan is in line with our long term city development plan».

Importantly, Almaty has secured legally binding guarantees from hotel owners, real estate developers and city authorities for over 31,000 rooms.

Almaty’s real accommodation plan includes:

• 10,580 rooms in dedicated Villages for the Olympic Family,

• 15,475 rooms in newly built serviced apartments, including IF and NOC serviced apartments,

• 5,175 rooms in existing hotels and wellness resorts in all categories, including the 1,000 rooms in the IOC hotels in the Olympic City.

Mayor of Almaty city, Mr Akhmetzhan Yessimov:

«Almaty’s guarantees exceed all IOC requirements. All client groups will find comfortable accommodation in our city across all categories - from 5-star hotels to university residences for low-budget visitors. All rooms are either already built, under construction, planned or guaranteed by individual contracts».

«However, there is much more to our beautiful city then first-class accommodations. Almaty will also offer all visitors a unique Winter Games experience with its stunning nature, perfect winter conditions, hospitable people and a multi-cultural lifestyle. All guests will rest easy knowing that our compact Games Plan allows for quick and easy travel to all sporting events, and will awaken to invigorating views of Almaty’s stunning backdrops and snow-capped mountains right from their rooms».

With regards to spectators, Almaty offers a diverse array of choices from twenty-five thousand options that are either existing, or guaranteed by individual contracts. These include rooms in existing and planned hotels and resorts, nearly 7,500 guaranteed university residencies for low budget visitors and guaranteed apartment hotels that will be used for residential housing after the Games.

Finally, Almaty will draw on Kazakhstan’s experience of hosting major events to ensure the successful delivery of its accommodation plan. In 2017 Kazakhstan will host the EXPO 2017 in Astana and the 28th Winter Universiade in Almaty. Beyond attracting visitors from around the world, these events will also ensure the adoption of the latest building techniques in Kazakhstan’s construction industry.

Vice-Chairman of Almaty 2022 Bid Committee, Mr Andrey Kryukov concluded:

«Our guarantees and strong track record of delivering major events is further proof that Almaty is ready to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. It also proves that our vision for a sensible, affordable and sustainable Winter Games is real. This is just another example of what we mean by Keeping It Real, and we are excited to share this vision with the Olympic Movement and the world».

For more information, please contact:

Almaty 2022 Candidate city

Media Relations

Ms Zhuldyz Baimagambet

Mob.:+7 (707) 8081111

@: z.baimagambet@almaty-2022.org

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only