"Dubai of the North"

Salzburg native builds ski resort for 100 million dollars

Gernot Leitner is building a ski resort on the outskirts of Almaty.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Leitner/masterconcept)

Gernot Leitner has already built and planned for the Olympic Games in Russia and China. Under the leadership of Austria's volleyball president, a 100-million-dollar winter tourism project is currently being realized just outside Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan.

"The lads have to dress warmly, snow and sub-zero temperatures are on the cards," says Gernot Leitner about Austria's national soccer team's match against Kazakhstan in Almaty on Thursday at 8 pm local time. The 57-year-old is there up to ten times a year, managing the 100-million-dollar modernization of a ski resort with his company masterconcept.