Developing the city’s tourist appeal through strategic event marketing: a model for Almaty’s territorial development

Intensifying competition between cities for tourism flows, investment, and human capital has increased the strategic importance of place marketing as a tool for strengthening urban competitiveness and supporting sustainable economic development. Within this framework, event marketing is evolving from a primarily advertising activity into a strategic mechanism for destination positioning, territorial branding, generating demand for tourism services, and activating related sectors of the urban economy. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of strategic event marketing in enhancing Almaty’s tourist attractiveness and to develop a conceptual model for its integration into the city’s territorial development system. The methodological framework combines a systematic review of modern academic literature, bibliometric analysis, comparative and structural analysis, and conceptual modeling. The results demonstrate that the economic and marketing effects of events are determined not only by their scale or frequency, but also by the degree of coordination of cultural, sporting, business, and international events within an integrated urban event ecosystem. Based on the identified relationships, the study proposes a conceptual model linking event infrastructure, destination visibility, tourist flows, visitor experience, stakeholder engagement, place branding, and economic outcomes. The proposed approach demonstrates that strategically coordinated event marketing can stimulate demand for tourism services, increase visitor engagement, support local businesses and services, strengthen the city brand, and enhance Almaty’s competitiveness in domestic and international tourism markets. The study contributes to the development of place marketing theory, positioning event marketing as an integral component of long-term urban tourism and economic development.

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