Kulibayev’s Company and Vietnamese Tour Operator to Modernize Aq-Bulaq Resort

The Almaty Region Tourism Department has signed a memorandum with two companies for the modernization of the Aq-Bulaq resort, Orda.kz reports.

The partners include the Vietnamese tour operator Crystal Bay and Kipros LLP, owned by billionaire Timur Kulibayev.

According to the regional administration, the memorandum was signed as part of efforts to develop the Almaty mountain cluster.

Investors intend to modernize the Aq-Bulaq resort: a golf club will be built and the hotel complex expanded. The total investment volume is 233 billion tenge with the creation of 700 jobs. A master plan is being developed, and topographic surveys have been completed,
 the Akimat said in a statement.

The authorities also announced plans to expand the Oi-Qaragay resort nearly tenfold with 83.2 billion tenge in private investment. Kipros LLP is not listed as an investor in that project.

An additional 70 million tenge was allocated for the development of tourism concepts in the Turgen and Kaskelen gorges.

Kipros LLP is fully owned by Timur Kulibayev, son-in-law of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev and one of Kazakhstan’s wealthiest businessmen, currently ranked fourth on Forbes Kazakhstan with a net worth of $5.3 billion. The company has previously been involved in land-related controversies: in 2024, it lost a plot on the grounds of  KazNU in Almaty, and in 2025, it was stripped of three hectares in the Aqmola resort area due to over a decade of inactivity.

Crystal Bay Group is one of Vietnam’s largest travel operators and has a representative office in Kazakhstan, focusing primarily on tourists from Kazakhstan. Notably, the group’s official website is available in Vietnamese and Russian, while its English-language version is non-functional.

Original Author: Nikita Drobny