Universiade Attracts More Tourists to Kazan

According to   Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin,   last year Tatarstan’s capital was visited by more than 1.5 million tourists. He says that during the New Year holidays there were more tourists in the Kazan hotels than in the hotels of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

According to preliminary estimates, the total inbound tourist flow of the republic in 2013, including one-day excursionists, amounted to 2 million 150 thousand people. By the way, the program ‘Developing Tourism and Hospitality Industries in the Tatarstan Republic in 2014-2020’ projects 3.36 million arrivals by 2020.

Ilsur Metshin attributes the growth of interest in the city to the International 2013 Summer Universiade, which was held in Kazan last year. About 150 thousand tourists came to the city during the 12 days of the event.



“In 2013 we built 35 new hotels, among them – 13 hostels. The total number of rooms in the city rose by 20%,” said the Mayor of Kazan. “We also built the Northern Railway Station and a new passenger terminal in the airport.”

Anna Buzakova, Manager of Astravel’s domestic tourism department, also noted the rise in demand for excursion tours to Tatarstan. Kazan received a new coat of paint before the Universiade, new hotels were opened, like Bilyar (4*) and Korona (3*).

“Usually tourists buy tours that include visits to Kazan and Tatarstan’s regions,” she said. “The most popular offer in our company is a three-day tour Kazan–The Raifa Bogoroditsky Monastery–Sviyazhsk Island. Also popular are the tours that include visiting Yelabuga and Bolghar. By going on our 4-day program you can visit all of these places.

Anna Buzakova said that the company’s clients preferred getting to Kazan by train. A one-way compartment car ticket costs about 2 thousand rubles.

On Monday President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov signed a decree that renamed the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport, and formed a Tourism Agency. With another decree the president appointed former head of the renamed ministry Sergei Ivanov head of the agency.

According to travel companies that sell tours to Tatarstan, there are prerequisites for growth of tourist flow in 2014. The program "Kazan - the cultural capital of the Turkic world in 2014" and a division of the State Russian Museum that was opened in Kazan this spring will most probably contribute to this growth. The museum’s division will become a structural subdivision of the State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan and will be situated on its premises. The first joint exhibition project will be devoted to the 140^th anniversary of Nicholas Roerich’s birthday.

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