The Gastronomic Festival and the Kazan Bicycle Night reached the final of the National Award

(KZN.RU, October 3, Anton Nozdrin). Two of the Kazan projects – the Gastronomic Festival and the Kazan Bicycle Night - reached the final of the National Award in the event tourism. Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, said today at the Business Monday that both projects are brands of Tatarstan’s capital and called the fact of getting into the final of the National Prize the honor.

Summing up the tourism development for 8 months, Daria Sannikova, the director of the Kazan Committee of the Tourism Development Assistance, said another piece of news: the hotel “DoubleTree by Hilton Kazan” won in the nomination “The best business hotel in the Volga Federal District” in the prize Business Traveller Russia and CIS Awards.

The last year number of tourists, visited the capital of Tatarstan from January to August, was achieved this year. “Tourist flow in Kazan for 2016 is expected to reach 2.5 million people by the end of the year”, said D. Sannikova. The director of the committee said that the number of tourists, visiting the Kazan Kremlin, has increased almost by 1 million, compared to the same period last year. According to I. Metshin, this number shows the interest to the historical sites of the city, to its cultural heritage.

As D. Sannikova spoke, the Ferris wheel “Around the World”, which is under construction on the territory of hotel and entertainment complex “Kazan Riviera”, might become a new object, attractive to tourists. “36 cabins decorated in the style of the 36 countries of the world, which makes this attraction unique. The wheel will be the second highest in Russia and will work throughout the year”, said the director of the committee.

Press tour in 8 cities of the country for the presentation of Kazan, organized on the eve of the tourist season, played a role in stimulating of the tourist flow. Conclusion of agreements on cooperation in tourism with Ufa, Volgograd, and Ulyanovsk became its result. Signing of agreements with other cities is in the final stage. Also, the info-tour was held in May for the leading tour operators in St. Petersburg.

The director of the committee also reminded the large-scale events, which were held in the capital of Tatarstan. So, about 20 thousand postcards with invitations to visit the capital of Tatarstan were sent from Kazan as the result of the official opening of the tourist season and a flash mob. “We were able to reaffirm the potential of Kazan, to talk about the hospitality of the city with the help of this campaign. We plan to make the opening of the tourist season an annual event”, said the speaker. According to her, 10% from 5000 of participants, engaged in the third international Bicycle Night, held in May, are foreigners. Water tours, launched in 2015, continued in the capital of Tatarstan. Walks through the Kazanka River started this year in addition to the river trips on the lake Kaban. “More than 100 thousand tourists and residents traveled on water bikes and boats on the water expanses of the city. In general, demand for boat trips increased by 20% compared to last year”, said D. Sannikova. Also, the director spoke about the second gastronomic festival “Delicious Kazan”.

D. Sannikova noted the need to participate in international exhibitions in addition to the development of event tourism for increasing numbers of tourists. This year, the capital of Tatarstan was presented at the Kazan Exhibition of Tourism and Sports “KITS 2016” and the “Astana Leisure 2016” exhibition in Kazakhstan. “Signing of the Memorandum on cooperation in the field of tourism between the Kazan Committee of Tourism Development Assistance and colleagues from the Astana akimat TOO “Astana Convention Office” was the result of work at the last exhibition”, said the director of the department.

“There is a lot of work behind it. It is the image of Kazan, tourist potential of our capital”, said the Mayor, calling tourism one of the most important sectors of municipal economy. He noted that the said numbers are the result of systematic work since 2006.