Summer tourism 2016: from Sviyazhsk fish broth to knightly battles and Spass Fair
Summer tourism 2016: 37m rubles invested in development of tourism in Tatarstan, but the sum might be increased
Talks about the development of tourism in the region and ways of attraction of more and more guests to the republic appear more often. Functionaries state that it is necessary to use all necessary opportunities right now, when devaluation of the ruble and increased demand for holidays in Russia are taking place. Nevertheless, they manage to attract only Chinese tourists. As a correspondent of Realnoe Vremya ascertained at the opening of KITS-2016 International Exhibition for Tourism and Sport, Tatarstan stakes on ethnicity between large sports events.
Cheap coffee but unpleasant bus and railway stations: what can worsen a tourist's impressions in Kazan
2016 is a year of domestic tourism, as the head of the State Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan on Tourism Sergey Ivanov stated opening KITS-2016, the 21st International Exhibition for Tourism and Sport. It is obvious that external factors were a reason for it: the closure of traditionally popular among Russians Turkey and Egypt, reduction of the real income of the population, sanctions, etc. It is no secret that tourism is one of few sectors that wins in the current situation: the flow of foreign tourists to Russia, which had not been numerous, is augmenting because holidays in Russia have cheapened twofold due to the devaluation of the ruble, while the Russians, as a rule, have no possibility to go to Europe or Asia because of the same devaluation of the ruble, so that they have to choose cheaper Russian destinations.
'Exactly two years have passed since the imposition of sanctions against Russia, we use these opportunities little,' the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Tatarstan Shamil Ageyev stated from the stage. He gave an example saying that he had bought an espresso with milk for 29 rubles (but the correspondent of Realnoe Vremya bought a cappuccino for 149 rubles) just before the event, while in London, this coffee is 10 times more expensive. 'We should work on it with our friends. Then we should not be in a hurry in order to earn much money: many people try to make a fortune on domestic tourism, and price/performance ratio fails, so people won't go there next time. The authority and the city don't pay much attention to how people are welcomed at bus stations: welcome at the railway station is awful, it is fine at the airport,' Ageyev continued. We also should work on the improvement of transport, services in cafes and restaurants, propagandize museums and cultural entertainments. In Moscow, Serov's pictures arrived, and look at the queue,' he reminded.
At least 50% more of Chinese tourists will come
However, only Chinese people are actively attracted to Tatarstan. 'This year, according to preliminary applications, the number of Chinese tourists may increase by 50%,' Ivanov told journalists and noted that the absolute value based on results in 2015 is not big at this moment: 2,500-3,000 Chinese tourists. Meanwhile, an infrastructure aimed at hosting the Chinese guests is being actively created. 'This autumn we plan to give the next group of people who study or speak Chinese to tour guides with the intention of increasing the number of guides. Now we have eight Chinese speaking guides, fifteen people more will be sent to the training. We planned press tours for Chinese operators and the media and participation in two largest exhibitions in China,' he told.
'We want to launch an activity on the Internet and social networks. The activity is connected with the attraction of users to contests that will draw their attention to Tatarstan,' Ivanov said. The Committee told that the target audience is quite solvent people aged 20-40. What is more, it is planned to actively attract car tourism and do a big work with the Association of Health Resorts of Tatarstan: it is a package tour, an internal company and common promotion.
At present the total budget for the promotion of Tatarstan and the activity of the Committee this year is 30m rubles. 'We will submit proposals about additional initiatives on promotion. The volume of the financing during the year will be clear at the end of the year,' he explained. He did not specify what the money would be spent on except recent Visit Tatarstan concept, which cost the budget 2m rubles.
'Why a war between Germany and Russia is impossible now'
Main points of attraction of tourists to the republic, which the authority of the republic stakes on, were shown on the presentation of tourist opportunities of Tatarstan.
For instance, for the first time, the National Museum of Kazan will host a festival dedicated to two wars: Patriotic War 1812 and Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. The deputy head of the development of the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan Margarita Safiullina told that it will be held on 11 and 12 June. And it is planned to organize a reconstruction of battles, dance workshops (dances of that times) and a lecture on political education on a topic of Why a war between Germany and Russia is impossible. Over 100 people will take part in the reconstruction. According to Safiullina, the festival is held by means of the funds of the very museum and private investors.
Krutushka ethnic festival, on the contrary, is not held for the first time. It will be the 8th festival. According to the chairwoman of the organizing committee of the festival Larisa Bikmullina, this year it will take place from 27 to 29 August and host over 40 dance, song and craft collectives. Moreover, Bikmullina promises a fair, tent town, design exhibitions that people from all Russia visit – it is about 4,000 people during 3 days. 'There are many sites. Even we, organizers, not always can see everything,' she tells. The festival is situated on the territory of Baitik camp, which is headed by very Bikmullina. The entrance fee is about 500 rubles. However, not only organizers invest their own funds in the festival. The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan also make their contributions.
Later, on 12-14 August, another ethnic festival called Great Bolgar will be held. The event, which has been taking place in Bolgar for the third consecutive year, is remarkable for horse battles. 'Real knights on real horses will knock down and beat each other with spears, axes, swords and hammers. There will be mass and professional battles. In fact, it is an ultimate fighting: it is the same thing that takes place now at Tatneft-Arena but here the participants are knights wearing suits of armour,' the organizer of the festival Aleksey Kokurin told. Moreover, he promises a bow shooting tournaments, sites with concerts, medieval song and dance workshops. And there will be a style of both medieval Europe and Golden Horde. This year the festival organizes special tourist routes for groups. The very State Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan on Tourism and the Association of Historic Fencing and Reconstruction are financing it. The event is expected to host over 30,000 people. The guests numbered 14,000 and 26,000 people in the previous years respectively.
Another landmark outside Kazan – Sviyazhsk – could not help but host a festival. A festival called Sviyazhskaya Ukha (Sviyazhsk Fish Broth) has being organized for the sixth consecutive time. Guests of the festival are offered mainly cooking entertainments except 'heroic fun': speed potato peeling, cooking masterclasses, etc. Ekaterina Begaeva, the manager of the Tourism Department of insular town Sviyazhsk, told that the event will start on 3 September and give the guests an opportunity to 'remember the summer'.
Spasskaya Yarmarka (Spass Fair), which became traditional for Yelabuga, will be the most numerous and ancient event, which the Committee on Tourism stakes on. As the deputy director general of the development of Yelabuga State Historical-Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve Tanzilya Agishina tells, 1,200 masters from 170 Russian cities and also from Lithuania, Mongolia, Uzbekistan and Belarus and others presented their goods in the fair last year. 574 masters were from Tatarstan. '150,000 people visited the fair during three days. I think this number is huge for a city whose population is 70,000 people. The goal is to bring to life not only regional folk crafts but also crafts from all Russia. We have gzhel, Vladimiro-Suzdal, Pavlovsky Posad, Dymkovo toys, etc.' she told. What is more, the masters offer masterclasses to all people who wish to learn something. At the same time Bell-Ringing Fair, which hosts over 60 masters from all country, is held. 'Bells are ringing for all three days, a big concert is given,' Agishina tells. This organization helps to finance the fair because Yelabuga is on the list of the Association of Small Tourist Cities of Russia. Moreover, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan also expend money. As Agishina says, the budget is over 2m rubles.
It should be reminded that recently Rostourism (Federal Agency for Tourism) informed that the number of tourists in Tatarstan in winter 2015-2016 increased by 10% and made up 250,000 people. In total, the tourist flow to Tatarstan in 2015 rose by a third and was 2,7m people.
