Destination report: Almaty

Eastern delight

Almaty has grown from an eastern backwater to a modern business centre, says Jonathan Hart

Forget Borat or notions of Kazakhstan being backward. The opposite is the case for a fast developing country that's commercially keyed up, rich in raw materials and on a fast track to independent wealth.

True, it's easy to laugh up your sleeve at some of the curious national customs or eating habits cheekily embellished by Sacha Baron Cohen's fictional movie character.

After all, it's not every day you can see polo played with a dead goat or be served with a delicacy of boiled pelvic bones. Not every day that you'll be confronted with whipping as a sport or horse as the meat of the masses.

In Almaty, though, you'll find a city as advanced as any this side of The Urals, with all the pleasures and pitfalls that come with growing western interest and influences in a former Soviet territory alternately treated as a bread basket, nuclear guinea pig and dumping ground for dissidents by Stalin or some of his successors.

With broad boulevards and plentiful parks fringed by the snow-capped peaks of the Tien Shan, the commercial and cultural centre of Kazakhstan enjoys a surprisingly serene setting on a collision course with 21st-century demands: a city newly choked with traffic, construction, designer shops, sleazy clubs and a spirit of get-rich-quick.

Located on the old Silk Route close to the Chinese border, Almaty may have lost its capital status to the more central Astana, currently being nurtured with grandiose edifices to become a global showpiece by 2032.

However, the former capital, with a one million population comprising a dozen disparate cultures or ethnic origins, is still the largest city, still the seat of education and training and still head honcho for trade throughout a vast country the size of western Europe. A chief conduit and deal maker for the oil, gas and minerals that the rest of the world is eager to get its hands on.

Almaty is core, for example, to EU efforts to establish a trans-Caspian pipeline that bypasses a Russian stranglehold on energy supplies from the region. Chiefly, says Riza Elibol, general director of the InterContinental Almaty, because Kazakhstan is widely viewed as the most stable and independent of Central Asian states, capable of politically 'sitting on the fence' between East and West.

Neighbouring states, he says, are economically more dependent on the diktats of Moscow, despite the fact that Kazakhstan and its hard-line president Nursultan Nazarbayev have retained close ties with The Kremlin since independence in 1991.

Although courting controversy for allegedly rigging elections and clinging to power until probably 2012, Nazarbayev's introduction of business reforms with PPPs, tax incentives and the easing of barriers to foreign investment are credited with putting Kazakhstan in the regional driving seat, with near double digit annual growth in recent years. In addition, high oil prices are helping to offset the current economic squeeze.

As the second largest foreign investor, chiefly in oil and gas, agriculture, power generation and manufacturing, Britain exported £297 million worth of goods to Kazakhstan last year, according to UK Trade & Investment. It says significant additional opportunities exist in the country's modernisation programme in road, rail, aviation, construction and telecommunications.

UKT&I identifies opportunities for SMEs, as does InterContinental's Elibol, who has worked in Central Asia for a number of years and has witnessed the rapid success of small foreign businesses introducing western goods.

Together with the phased construction of Astana as the capital, Almaty has changed beyond all recognition in the past few years, he says, transformed from a 'Wild East' outpost to a westernised corporate-friendly city.

Increased labour costs, infl ation and higher consumer prices are an inevitable consequence, he adds. But there remains a powerful business elite that defies the squeeze.

"Before, they would have had to ask, 'Where's the Krug?' Now, they only have to click their fingers to bring it on."

Airlines
Air Astana flies twice weekly non-stop from Heathrow to Almaty. Flights are on Tuesdays, departing 21.05, arriving 09.15, and Saturdays, departing 16.30, arriving 04.40. Flights are from T2 with Business Class use of the Air France lounge.

Return flights to Heathrow are on Tuesdays and Saturdays, departing 12.30, arriving 15.15. Flight time in each direction is about 7hrs 15 mins.

From May, bmi (www.flybmi.com) has also launched a non-stop Heathrow-Almaty service with a newly leased B757-200 as part of a three -times weekly service to the region on routes inherited from BMED. Flights are from T1.

Fast growing national carrier Air Astana is hoping to add a third-weekly Heathrow-Almaty flight later this year.

The additional service, on Thursdays, is subject to resolving 'issues' with the UK DfT, according to the airline's director of commercial planning, Ibrahim Canliel.

He says increased frequencies are planned across the network in line with fleet expansion. Air Astana is taking delivery of three additional aircraft this summer, expanding its all Airbus and Boeing fleet to 21. New orders will see the fleet expand to 63 aircraft by 2022.

Increased frequencies this summer include a doubling of Frankfurt-Kazakhstan flights from three to six weekly; a doubling of Istanbul services from two to four weekly; double daily flights to Moscow, daily flights to Dubai and twice weekly flights to Urumqi. The carrier code-shares with KLM on Amsterdam-Almaty services and also operates Amsterdam-Atyrau.

A joint venture between Samruk State Holding and BAe Systems, Air Astana increased carryings by 50 per cent to more than two million passengers last year. It has increased code-share flights and co-operation with Lufthansa to include the earning and redemption of Miles & More frequent flyer points on Air Astana flights from London, Frankfurt and Hanover.

Accommodation
New JW Marriott and Holiday Inn properties open this year in a city where demand often outstrips supply. The Grand Tien Shan, Hotel Kazakhstan and Dostyk Residence are good local properties. The InterContinental Almaty remains the primary business international hotel brand.

Airport
Almaty International Airport is about a 30-minute drive by official taxi (about £25) or pre-requested hotel minibus (about £12) from downtown.

Meetings & Exhibitions
InterContinental has five meeting rooms, plus the region's largest ballroom for up to 1,200. Atakent Exhibition Centre is the city's main trade hall.

Entertaining
Top business venues include the Members' Bar, rooftop Belvedere and Bosphorous restaurants at the InterContinental. Restaurants in the city are mostly of the pizza and pasta variety. Dostyk is the principal street for upscale dining and shopping.