LocationsAround Issyk-Kul, where tourism brings millions of visitors each year, small tourism and craft businesses once competed for the same customers. Then they began lending each other bicycles, customers and craftswomen. With support from UNDP’s Aid for Trade project, funded by the Government of Finland, individual businesses began connecting into a network where tourism operators, artisans, retailers and service providers create value for one another. Today, a guest can pick up a bicycle in Karakol and leave it on the south shore, where the souvenirs on the shelf may have been made by women in a village along the same lake.
Cooperation builds a Green Tourism Value Chain in Issyk-Kul
September 23, 2026
"Taberik" craftwomens group, Kok-Jaiyk, Kyrgyzstan
UNDP Kyrgyzstan
KARAKOL
The Shop That Became an Aggregator
On a street in Karakol, EthnoMir POINT looks like a souvenir shop. Its owner describes it differently.
Albina Alimova, "Ethnomir" souvernir shop, Karakol, Kyrgyzstan
UNDP Kyrgyzstan
"We are the Ethnomir point in Kyrgyzstan, in the Issyk-Kul region. Thisshop is one of the directions in our work, but it's very creative and my love, because we have more than 47 masters and handicraft women who work with us," says Albina Alimova.
Around Issyk-Kul, where tourism brings millions of visitors each year, small tourism and craft businesses once competed for the same customers. Then they began lending each other bicycles, customers and craftswomen. With support from UNDP’s Aid for Trade project, funded by the Government of Finland, individual businesses began connecting into a network where tourism operators, artisans, retailers and service providers create value for one another. Today, a guest can pick up a bicycle in Karakol and leave it on the south shore, where the souvenirs on the shelf may have been made by women in a village along the same lake.
Albina’s shop went through several versions before it found this one.
"It was a shop where we just took some good products and sold them, but it wasn’t sustainable because the groups or the providers closed or the quality iwasn’t there."
Albina shifted the approach. Instead of buying whatever craftswomen happened to make, she started with the problem.
"In one of the UNDP projects, we did research with all the craftswomen. We asked questions and made a deep analysis of what problems they have.”
Putting it together was obvious.
"They need a channel to market, and I need strong, good, sustainable products in my shop."
One of the problems turned out to be raw material.
"It's one of the big problems ... because they need to go to the capital, Bishkek, to find materials. And the quality was not there"
The shop soon signed a contract with Kyrgyz felt producer Tumar and began stocking the material. Village craftswomen can now buy felt in Karakol instead of travelling to Bishkek. " The products became cheaper, but higher quality. The arrangement became a lasting business link: a local producer gained a reliable market, while craftswomen gained access to quality raw materials closer to home.
The master-class space added another link to the chain beyond the souvenir goods, and sales rose from USD 9147 (KGS 800,000) to USD 48,000 (KGS 4.235 million.) Visitor numbers grew by 84 percent.
Then, a digital platform, to attract clients through Google reviews, support online sales, and showcase the different artisans."We really want people to see that behind every product there is a woman, a master, a craftsperson."
Albina is precise about what her role is and is not.
"For my shop, people often say, 'Oh, it's so cool that you support locals.' But they work and they receive money. It's not support. It's actual business. But my social impact is giving skills and knowledge."
EthnoMir is one node in a wider network. Its products and master classes connect with accommodation providers and tourism destinations around the lake, allowing value created in one part of the chain to generate income and experiences elsewhere.
Albina came into the Aid for Trade project as a trainer and expert before she was a beneficiary herself.
"I worked in the tourism sector for more than 15 years, and before that had a guest house, so I know the system from the inside. I work as a coach or mentor for small businesses who really want to come and grow in the tourism sector."
The distinction between beneficiary, partner and mentor is increasingly blurred: businesses that gained experience through the project are now helping other enterprises grow.
SKAZKA CANYON
One room and two beds
Royal Gate
At the other end of the lake, Asel Dildebaeva runs Royal Gate. She did not plan to.
Asel Dildebaeva, Canyon Fairy Tale, Royal Gate, Kyrgyzstan
UNDP Kyrgyzstan
She studied Business Administration in Bishkek, then worked for a hospitality group in Dubai. Two months into the job she was promoted to internal audit. Then her mother-in-law called.
"In Central Asian culture, parents often choose one of their children to stay and take care of them as they age. My husband was that child. So I returned from Dubai to take care of the family farm. That was a huge turning point in my life. "
It was 2018, and they started selling dairy products in nearby villages.
"At that time there was no infrastructure here. Everyone was moving away from the villages and small towns. Mostly only grandparents remained."
Then she noticed something. Nearby Skazka Canyon is among the most visited places on the lake - "almost 80% of people who come to Issyk-Kul want to visit" - and there was nowhere to stay.
"I started with just one room and two beds, and we started receiving guests, backpackers at that time."
The room became a four-room guest house. Then a yurt camp.
"We started with 10 yurts through financial support from the government tourism development fund."
Today there are 40 yurts, two restaurants, a horse stable and a souvenir shop (with Ethnomir products) serving around 6,000 guests annually. But growth created its own problem: nobody could say what Royal Gate actually was.
"We couldn't clearly define our concept. So I asked the project experts, including Albina, to help us understand how we could position ourselves so that people would immediately understand who we are. Together we developed the concept of Royal Gate as a cultural complex focused on Kyrgyz nomadic culture."
"With the support of the project, we were able to bring all our services together under one vision." That vision also positioned Royal Gate within a wider tourism network — connecting accommodation, food, cultural experiences and locally made products rather than treating them as separate businesses.
THE BICYCLE NETWORK
The two businesses sit at opposite ends of Issyk-Kul. In practice, they operate as one.
"We made a partnership to create a bike network, where tourist can rent bikes at either location and drop them off at any of the points in between including Fairytale Canyon.”
At a training session in Karakol, we realized that several entrepreneurs could work together and create a new tourism product that would help solve local challenges, support travelers and also be a viable business model, Asel explains.
This is a business model built on cooperation rather than competition.
"Yes, we are local businesses. It is very difficult for small businesses to survive because, as the tourism market grows, bigger companies are coming to Kyrgyzstan. I believe one way for us to succeed is to bring small businesses together — businesses that provide high-quality services and work together," says Albina.
"We have a high level of unemployment here. We decided to support each other and work together in order to remain competitive and sustainable," says Asel.
KELECHEK SARY-KOL
Seven Women and a Brand
In Tyup, on the eastern shore of the lake, Kelechek Sary-Kol brings artisans together under the name Tengri Wool, making wool souvenirs and running master classes for visitors.
The had been cooperating to produce goods for years.
"We participated in many other projects before joining the Aid for Trade network,, but we learned that we didn't know enough about handicrafts," says manager Sonun Boronchieva.
Sonun Boronchieva (on the right), "Kelechek Sary Kol" Tengri wool, Kyrgyzstan
UNDP Kyrgyzstan
Sonun remembers when Albina and Aid for Trade initiative staff came for their first visit. She laid out everything the group had made.
"Now I feel so ashamed for the quality I showed at that moment."
"It was just random, not systematic, one piece of this, one piece of another."
They made clothes, bags, slippers, using whatever materials they could find. And income came from one source only.
"We didn't have clients at that moment, and the only way we earned money was by going to social exhibitions and fairs so we could sell."
What came next was not a training course. It started with a diagnostic.
"The big problem for many of the women handicraft producers in Kyrgyzstan is that they're doing small things, everything," Albina says.
“I need quality and consistency as a shop owner. They also didn't know how to set prices, how to count and calculate everything."
Experts sat with the group one by one and tested what they were already producing before rebuilding it.
"And now they have the standards, they have this special wool, and zero waste."
Kyial Boronchieva went to the training with a question she had never thought to ask.
"One of the objectives of the UNDP training was to understand what tourists want. What kind of toys tourists prefer to buy, which materials they are made from. What is a souvenir? Because before it was just doing something at home, like, 'I will make something and sell it.'"
Kyyal Boronchieva, "Kelechek Sary Kol" Tengri wool, Kyrgyzstan
UNDP Kyrgyzstan
The answer? Depends on who’s buying.
"For example, European tourists are interested in the material it is made from and its natural colors, while Asians are interested in bright colors."
She went to an international exhibition in Uzbekistan to watch buyers for herself.
"For me, that was the breakthrough. It was a totally different level of everything."
Getting the business right took several steps.
First, narrowing the product range to three things: donkey and sheep figurines and panels. Then the wool itself. Instead of buying at the bazaar in Osh and cleaning it by hand, they use the supply line Albina had built, which now runs all the way to the village.
And then the group got a name.
"Kelechek Sary Kol" Tengri wool, Kyrgyzstan
UNDP Kyrgyzstan
"One of the key outcomes of the project was the creation of a new brand. During individual consultations, we developed the name Tengri Wool, its own logo and visual identity, presenting products more professionally," Albina says.
Now, they have non-stop orders. Their annual income, previously zero, has reached around $11,400 through the project support. They sell to tour agencies, the village souvenir shop, the tourist information centre and, of course, Ethnomir.
"It’s our biggest client, because they have two shops now, and they need a consistent volume."
The masterclasses came from the same analysis that produced the brand.
"Drawing on my 15 years of experience in the tourism sector, I analyzed what visitors are looking for and realized that handicraft workshops could become an important opportunity for local artisans. I began training groups to design and deliver engaging workshops for tourists. By the end of the project, artisan groups had developed workshop programs, pricing and descriptions, and gained the skills needed to host visitors professionally," says Albina.
That gave the group two income streams instead of one — the souvenirs themselves, and the masterclasses where visitors make them. Distribution channels widened. And the work created employment for women and for people with disabilities in a place where both are hard to come by.
One structural problem remained: tourism has a season, and a season ends. The answer was to sell the same skills to a different buyer.
"We started to use the local resources to make interior design work for hotels, restaurants and catering, so we can support the businesses all year round."
TABERIK
Felt and Bed in the Same Place
Taberik is another local business in the network: nine craftswomen working in traditional felt and running master classes for tourists. Training, consultations and grant support strengthened their production and connected the group to the wider craft-and-tourism network. Part of that tie-in is the Taberik Yurt and Cottage Camp, run by Mairambek Omurkanov. For a visitor, the practical result is simple: you sleep in a yurt, and the felt you learn to make in the morning is made by women working a few steps away.
It is a small-scale example of the model the project sought to build: accommodation creates demand for local experiences, local experiences create income for craftswomen, and both reinforce the attractiveness of the destination.
Learning, expert consultations and grant support improved service quality modernized the camp's infrastructure and doubled its solar generation capacity. Across the adventure tourism value chain, installations at yurt camps were among the eleven climate-resilient solutions put into operation with project support — in a landscape where grid connections are thin and the usual alternative is a diesel generator. The volume of services provided grew three and a half times. Visitor numbers rose from 260 to 1,000.
KOK-JAIYK
Mentorship
Yurt Camp in the Kok-Zhaiyk, Kyrgyzstan
UNDP Kyrgyzstan
A key part of the project’s approach to sustainable value chains was mentoring, which now runs along the lake and beyond. Businesses that gained experience through the project are helping other enterprises improve quality, reach customers and grow.
"Over the years, I tested different approaches to supporting artisans, but many of them did not produce lasting results. What proved to be effective was a model built on continuous learning, shared responsibility, and reliable market access. Instead of simply providing financial support, I focus on helping people develop skills, improve quality and connect with customers."
The hardest thing to shift was not technique.
"Many women saw handicrafts as a hobby rather than a business. Through mentoring and real customer orders, they learned the importance of quality, responsibility and meeting deadlines to earn a stable income."
Knowledge moves sideways too. Kyial travelled on a study tour to Alai and Chong-Alai in Osh region, where the groups exchanged orders as well as techniques.
"And I come back and teach here."
Across the programme, 64 mentor–mentee pairs, mostly women, worked together in five regions. Sales among the businesses involved grew by 63 percent.
NETWORK AND VALUE CHAIN
These individual stories and the network are part of a much larger network. Across the project, support was designed to connect businesses to markets, suppliers, tourism operators, knowledge and each other, allowing value to circulate across the local tourism economy.
Across the adventure and sustainable tourism value chain, 42 micro, small and medium enterprises across Issyk-Kul, Jalal-Abad and Osh now are part of the chain. Along the chain are 117 jobs, half women, half men. Thirty-two eco-routes were identified and 23 are now fully developed, with new information boards and trail signs.
In handicrafts, 34 enterprises and master artisans joined the chain, accounting for 52 jobs, almost all led and held by women. They developed eight product catalogues, reworked, production using zero-waste techniques, listed goods on eBay, Etsy and Amazon, and established links with more than ten tour operators and five retail outlets. All 64 participants in the e-commerce incubation track were women.
"Ethnomir" souvernir shop, Kyrgyzstan
UNDP Kyrgyzstan
Asel has a great way of explaining what a value chain is:
"Raising the value at every stage. If you sell raw honey, it's one price. If you put it in a jar and create a brand, it's another price. If you place it in a nice shop, it's a third price."
The work with businesses was complemented by support at the national level. UNDP supported the development of the National Sustainable Tourism Strategy, strengthening the policy framework for a more inclusive and sustainable tourism sector and contributing to the implementation of the National Development Programme.
The strongest sign of sustainability may be what happens after the project support ends: businesses continue to buy from one another, refer customers to one another, host each other’s products and experiences, and pass knowledge to new entrepreneurs. What began as support to individual businesses is becoming a way for the local tourism economy to work.
This UNDP project is supported by the Government of Finland, with partners including the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology and Technical Supervision, the Kyrgyz Export' Export Promotion and Development Center, the State Agency for Tourism Development under the Cabinet of Ministers, State Customs Service, standardization bodies, and regional business associations.
Over $7 million from Finland has supported UNDP's work in Kyrgyzstan since 2018, with a focus on enhancing trade capacities, women's economic empowerment, and access to justice. This is one of many stories emerging from that partnership.
UNDP recently completed its regional “Aid for Trade in Central Asia” initiative, funded by the Government of Finland. For over a decade, the initiative worked across Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to advance more diversified, inclusive and future-fit economies, adaptive to the green and digital shifts reshaping global markets and trade. It enhanced the capabilities of businesses and institutions for developing job-rich, sustainable value chains and strengthened enterprise productivity and competitiveness.
The project contributed towards SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
