About Destination Karakol

Discover the organization behind the information.

Karakol’s unique blend of history, cuisine, culture, and nature make the city a natural draw for travelers in Kyrgyzstan. With this in mind, the non-profit Karakol Destination Marketing Organization (DMO), founded in March 2016, began with a clear mission: create a strong, vibrant tourism industry that makes Karakol a better place to live for local people.

Comprised of more than 50 stakeholders — including accommodation providers, restaurants, tour operators, local businesses, and local government authorities — the DMO focuses its efforts in several key areas: the improvement of guest service standards; coordination of tourism marketing and product development efforts; reinforcement of the city’s infrastructure; availability of high quality tourism information through its Visitor Center; and the establishment of partnerships with local, national, and international entities.

Destination Karakol is a registered non-profit organization. Some of the ways that it maintains financial sustainability and independence is by organizing and guiding local tours, earning commission from travel bookings, and selling postcards, maps, and other useful travel information at its Visitor Center. Anything you book through this website or buy through the Destination Karakol Visitor Center supports the DMO and its ongoing tourism and community development activities.

Note: Destination Karakol members are highlighted in a different color in the listings for accommodation providers, restaurants and coffee houses, and tour operators. These businesses and entrepreneurs are actively invested in promoting tourism and community development in Karakol by being engaged in Destination Karakol.

Opening celebration for the Karakol River Park

Local festival at the Karakol River Park

Operating as “Destination Karakol,” the DMO has enjoyed a number of remarkable successes. During its first year of operations, it created and launched a range of travel experience offerings which have shifted the city’s image with international tourists and press. Whereas travelers once viewed and interacted with Karakol only as a jumping-off-point for outdoor activities and treks in the Lake Issyk-Kul region, the newly available tours and services have successfully positioned Karakol as a multi-dimensional destination where culture, cuisine, history, and nature together find expression in each of the experiences available to visitors.

The DMO funded and developed the River Park Project, both as a suitable location for tourism festivals and local festivals, as well as an outdoor space to be enjoyed by the local community. DMO members also partnered with the local government to crowd-fund a much needed road repair. Finally, the organization has sponsored a new free WiFi initiative, which provides connectivity in main areas of the city to locals and visitors alike.

These infrastructure projects have simultaneously made the city a better place to live for local residents, just as it has broadened the city’s positive reputation among international travelers. Winning “Best Tourism Destination of 2017” at the Kyrgyz Tourism Awards was a culminating and rewarding acknowledgement of the DMO’s many achievements since its founding.

"Quality is one whole and proof of this is Destination Karakol. When ordinary people who simply love their town and work as a team for the benefit of its development, it gives great inspiration and hope for a bright future in our Karakol! Love for our town is our main motivation."

Ahmet Makaev

Owner of Hillside Karakol Hotel

"The importance of Destination Karakol is an invaluable contribution to the development of the tourism sphere of the city of Karakol. First and foremost in partnership, we can achieve the main objectives in improvement of the tourist services, develop Karakol as a tourist destination, which contributes to the improvement of the socio-economic condition of the population, raising the living standards."

Anastasia Stytsenko

Head of the Youth Volunteer Organization "Leadership"

"Destination Karakol turned out to be a bridge for uniting the efforts of local authorities and business community with the purpose of developing a specialized sector."

Baibolot Asanbaev

Head of the Secretariat of the Council for Business and Investment Development in Issyk-Kul Oblast

"From Destination Karakol we receive a lot of information on tourism, we were given the opportunity to cooperate with each other, visit many places and offer new tour products to our tourists. As a member of the DMO we can all gather and discuss our ideas, opportunities, problems in the town."

Guliia Muratbek kyzy

Owner of Altamira Hotel

Meet the Destination Karakol & Visitor Center Team

Destination Karakol is more than a collection of business, it's a group of people — professionals, entrepreneurs, executives, government employees, and citizens — who have banded together to create an organization committed to building a strong tourism industry in Karakol that benefits locals as much as tourists. Meet the team of people making this dream a reality.