I.Metshin on win of Kazan in the National Hotel Award: “This is an indicator of the well-being of the tourism industry”

The recognition of Kazan as the best Russian million-plus city for the hotel business is the result of a great work and an indicator of the well-being of the tourism industry, Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin believes. The results of the National Hotel Award were announced last Friday in Moscow.

“It is certainly an honor for us to win the National Hotel Award. We have come a long way, and this is the result of a great systematic work that we started during the preparation for the 2013 Summer Universiade,”- the head of the city said at the Business Monday meeting. – The victory in a serious nomination is an indicator of the well–being of the industry.”

Ilsur Metshin noted that the tourism industry is having challenging times now. “But this is the case when you need to catch a wave that caused by the restrictions on travel abroad, and our colleagues from the tourism industry are doing it successfully. Today, there are more and more people who want to come and get acquainted with the capital of Tatarstan, the culture of our people, the architecture of the city, and we will definitely continue this work,”- the Mayor said.

As of today, 229 hotel facilities for 8,100 rooms are functioning in Kazan – from hostels to five-star hotels. “We have also faced the problem of personnel: it is one thing to build walls, another to establish a professional team. There are no trifles in the hotel business, they work daily to improve their professional level, and therefore the flow of tourists increases. In August, there were 2.8 million tourists. I am confident that this number will grow by the end of the year,”- I. Metshin said.

159 participants competed for victory in 38 nominations in the final of the National Hotel Award. Kazan and Volgograd were represented in the category “The best million-plus city for hotel business”. In total, 10 participants from all over the country submitted applications in this nomination, Director of the Kazan Tourism Development Committee Daria Sannikova reported. In addition, the Nogai Hotel was awarded the title of the best three-star hotel. “The victory of Kazan is our common victory. This is a great contribution to the development of the city's hotel industry, it is an increase in the attractiveness of the territory for investors, and it is also another channel for promoting Kazan,”- she said.