Tatarstan President met with Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism

RT President Mintimer Shaimiev met with Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism Vladimir Strzhalkovski in the Kazan Kremlin on March 21.
The parties discussed prospects of development of tourist business in the republic. In particular, they focused on how to use the republic’s potential in this field and on building a favourable infrastructure that would attract international tourists. After the meeting, Vladimir Strzhalkovski told journalists that “the potential of Tatarstan tourism has come up to a new level allowing to position the republic as a new tourist centre.”
More than 800 thousand tourists visited the republic last year; it is 25 percent more that the year before. One tenth of them came to Tatarstan from the CIS countries and abroad. Most of them are tourists from Germany, Turkey, the USA, Great Britain, Italy, France and Israel.
As of now, there are about 200 firms in Kazan operating in the tourist sector and involving 85 thousand employees. The capital of the republic boasts 45 hotels for about 4 thousand guests. This year is to see a number of large 3-4 star hotel complexes to open.
The works on improvement of memorial religious sites are also underway as pilgrim tourism was identified as one of the priority destinations for the development of tourism in Kazan.
Vladimir Strzhalkovski noted that among factors of the tourism development in the city an ethnic one should be marked. “The potential of tourism development in Kazan is quite good, but there is still what we have to strive for,” he told the journalists.