Ilsur Metshin met with representatives of the tourism industry

(KZN.RU, September 27, Anton Nozdrin). 2018 in Kazan can become the Year of Hospitality. Today representatives of the tourist industry of the city made such a proposal at a meeting with Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, which took place in the multimedia interactive museum “Tatarskaya Sloboda”. The Mayor supported the idea and congratulated the industry on the professional holiday, the World Tourism Day.

Opening the meeting, I. Metshin noted that the World Tourism Day for Kazan is already a professional holiday for the city is a popular tourist destination now. The capital of Tatarstan won first place in the rating of the most hospitable Russian cities. “I congratulate you on this occasion and thank you. This is our joint work”, said the Mayor.

The head of the city reminded that about 460 thousand tourists visited the capital of Tatarstan in the year of the Kazan millennium anniversary. It was after this event that the decision was made to develop the tourism industry and the task was set to overcome the bar of 1 million tourists a year. “The people said that we don’t have a lot of things to become a tourist center. But we made bold plans with you and passed this road together. Each of you developed your direction, increased your level and professionalism”, addressed the Mayor the representatives of the tourism industry.

The Mayor noted that there are no small things in tourism. According to him, service in the city came to a completely different level. Guests in hotels are met by trained and self-confident staff, guides, tour operators have grown professionally. “You work with love to the city, constantly improving. It's great”, marked Ilsur Metshin.

Evgenia Lodvigova, the first deputy head of the city, also cited several numbers and facts that testify to the development of the industry. She noted that the number of tourists in the city has grown almost fivefold in the last 10 years. As a result, Kazan regularly takes the leading places in various tourist ratings. This year the capital of the RT entered the top 3 Russian cities for travel to the off-peak season.

The data of the statistical research conducted by the Center for Tourism Development in the summer of this year speak for themselves. 84.2% of tourists come to the capital of Tatarstan for leisure and recreation, and about half of them have already visited Kazan before. 90% of respondents prefer to come with their family and friends, told Evgenia Lodvigova.

Representatives of the tourism business came up with initiatives to develop the industry. Tatiana Yakovleva, the general director of the ANO “I Help Kazan”, Oksana Sargina, the general director of the Tourism Development Center of the RT, Zufar Gayazov, the chairman of the Board of the Restaurateurs and Hoteliers Association of Kazan and the RT, are among others. T. Yakovleva proposed to declare the next year in Kazan as the Year of Hospitality. The project of the industry development for the next year is proposed to be called “Hospitable Kazan”. According to industry representatives, this would allow expanding and diversifying the calendar of events. The participants believe that the proposal is especially relevant given the holding of matches of the FIFA World Cup 2018 in the city.

Ilsur Metshin approved the proposal. “We will receive a large number of guests. It is necessary that this was not just a name. We must organize relevant events”, instructed the head of the city and noted that the next bar, which the city sets itself, is 2.7 million tourists a year.

The meeting participants discussed the problematic issues of the industry as well. In particular, representatives of hotels offered to organize various training seminars for staff and special training for the chefs of the city's restaurants in order to improve their skills, develop tourist routes and so on. Evgenia Lodvigova noted that the development of tourism in the city lacks small and distinctive hotels, two-three-star hotels, and one very good five-star hotel.

Ildar Shakirov, the deputy head of the Executive Committee, Daria Sannikova, the director of the Tourism Promotion Committee, Marat Usmanov, the prefect of the “Stary Gorod”, and others also took part in the meeting.