I.Metshin "Kazan should compare itself with world capitals"

(Kazan, KZN.RU, April 6, by Adelya Galieva). In 2015, 2.1 million visitors are expected in Kazan – 15 –18% more than in 2014. The main tourist attractions will be the FINA World Championships, the aquatic-themed  "Kazan International Cycle Night," a gastronomy festival with the biggest-ever echpochmak patty and swan-planting river buses on Lake Kaban. These facts were presented at today's Business Monday meeting by Evgenia Lodvigova, director of the Committee for the Promotion of Tourism, who was reporting on the program of tourism development in Kazan for 2015 – 2017.

Evgenia Lodvigova recalled that the program had three main goals: the development of Kazan's tourism brand and its promotion, development of tourism infrastructure and development of most promising tourism areas. The promotion target area should be the developing countries, China and Turkey.

The speaker also noted that Kazan is planning to develop such priorities as pilgrimage, business, health, urban, cultural and family tourism. Thus, the following pilgrim routes have already been developed:
"Muslim Kazan," " Orthodox Kazan" and "Kazan – a Garland of Religions." In total, the Committee for the Promotion of Tourism estimates that the capital of Tatarstan will receive about 2.1 million tourists in 2015, which is 15 – 18% more than in 2014.

"Tourism is an industry which is a very serious engine of economy: the number of new services and businesses, which may be small, but vigorous, speaks of Kazan as a capital city. Therefore, we should set lofty goals and compare ourselves not with outsiders but follow in the footsteps of world capitals," prescribed a line of action Ilsur Metshin.