Author: VK
Christmas and rgw New Year holidays are considered tourism seasons all over the world, but Moscow, which lacks tourists, is traditionally visited by the fewest guests. Demand for hotels drops to 20-25% on the News Year holidays. The main visitors in Moscow at that moment are children. Their number will increase by 25,000-30,000 in January.
Sergey Shpilko, head of the Committee for Tourism and Hotel Economy of Moscow, said that the capital is to increase the number of tourists to 100,000 on this period. This year, the committee will present Moscow on the Russian and foreign market as "a remarkable place for celebrating the New Year" by cooperating with tourism operators and hotel owners. For example, a two-day tour with accommodation in a three-star hotel, visiting the Kremlin, having excursions to the manors of Izmaylovo, Lefortovo, Tsaritsyno, Kolomenskoye and to Orthodox monasteries with two-bed accomodation worth 2700 rubles, one-bed - 4500 rubles. Russia is having an active advertising campaign in 10 cities, Shpilko said, adding that Moscow holidays are often two times cheaper than in the outskirts.
Sergey Kapkov, head of the Culture Department of Moscow, believes that the goal is to create a New Year mood for Moscow citizens and guests and give information on celebrations beforehand. The department together with private businessmen and circuses of Moscow composed a program for pupils and their parents called "50 reasons to come out of the house". 60 museums under supervision of the Moscow Culture Department will have free entrance on January 2-9. City parks will have a special cultural program starting on December 25 and lasting until the Old New Year (January 14). Programs for each park will include sports, youth and children's activities, a total of about 2200. 12 major parks of Moscow will be decorated accordingly for the coming of the year 2012, ice will be made for skating, interactive screens will be installed for communication between parks so that people could see the grand scale of the event. Kapkov underlined that the territory of parks will guarantee "security, service, cleanness and hospitality".
Functionaries say that the tourism project of Moscow is oriented on Russians. Concerning visitors of the capital, the visit includes a theater ticket or a ticket for a festival to "develop the cultural horizon of holidaymakers".
