NEWS

Kazan hits the top five cities in terms of Christmas travel, and without notice of the urban resorts – the top three Christmas cities. This is proved by the data of the popular hotel reservation service.

According to the service in question, tourists made hotel reservations during the first ten days of January in the capital of Tatarstan on average for four nights and spent on living 4 thousand rubles per day per family. In Moscow – for five nights (3.8 thousand rubles per day), and in St. Petersburg – for 4.5 nights (4.7 thousand rubles per day). Ten leaders are as follows: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Yalta, Yaroslavl, Kaliningrad, Kislovodsk, Vologda, and Veliky Novgorod.

The rating is based on an analysis of reservations made in hotels and apartment hotels from January 6th through January 8th, 2018.

On December 22, 2017, the awards ceremony for the winners of ‘The Tourism Leader’, the annual all-republic contest in the sphere of tourism, was held in the Kazan Town Hall’s Pillared Hall. R.K.Nigmatullin, the First Vice Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan,  and S.E.Ivanov, the Chair of the State Committee on Tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan, took part in the event. The contest was initiated in 2001, first under the title “Tourism – 21st Century”, and then renamed into “The Tourism Leader” in 2016. The contest mission is to reveal the leading participants and trends in the tourist market, as well as to consolidate and facilitate the tourist business efforts in resolving the task of developing modern, highly efficient, and competitive tourist structure that would provide considerable contribution into the economy of the Republic of Tatarstan.

For the coming New Year vacations the Bolgar museum-reserve set up a theatrical show, “Winter Encounters with the Past”, reports the museum press centre. The special holiday program will be presented on the 3rd, 4th, and 6th of January. All museum sites would be open for visitors every day throughout the vacations.

Beside the New Year Tree located on the central square at the Memorial Sign, guests will be greeted by historical figures, Khan, Khanbike, Peter the Great, and Catherine the Great. Then, the most venerable of all sages will take them to ‘the journey into the past’. Merry minstrels will provide New Year round dances. Besides, all comers could take part in historical games, with contests and competitions in dexterity, marksmanship, and speed. One can also take a sledge ride or warm themselves up with tea and Bolgar pancakes.

The town-island of Sviyazhsk invites you to learn traditions of celebrating New Year and Christmas in Russia: what were the origins of these holidays, where did the tradition to decorate New Year Tree and present gifts come from, what kinds of gifts were customary for the seasonal presents, and how did these festivities use to be celebrated in our parts. Apart from feeding you with old-time stories, the program features old games, shadow pantomime “Christmas”, and a workshop on making traditional wooden New Year Tree decorations.

Duration of the program: 1,5 hours.

Price: 200 roubles.

Age group: 1-11 school grades.

Sergei Ivanov, the Chair of the State Committee on Tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan, along with other heads of the republic’s ministries and agencies, took part in the “Free Subscription 2018” charity campaign. He subscribed to Tatmedia editions, ‘Chayan’ magazine on behalf of Spassky Nursing Home, and ‘Tatarstan’ magazine on behalf of the “Shore of Hope” complex social service centre of Mendeleevsky municipal district of the Republic of Tatarstan, both for the period of the first half of 2018. “Free Subscription” charity campaign is held in Tatarstan, on Tatmedia company’s initiative, for the third subscription season. In the framework of this project, state officials, heads of ministries, agencies, and colleges present subscriptions on Tatarstan magazines and newspapers to war veterans, orphanages, rest homes and other social institutions.

On January 1-8, 2018, the State Historical-Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve “The Town-Island of Sviyazhsk” will carry out free tours on the museum-reserve sites as a special “The Week Of Museum Sites”offer! Only the entrance tickets are to be purchased.

On December 20 at 4 pm. “Hermitage-Kazan” Centre invites you to the opening of its New Year exhibition. The Fire-Bird, scarlet berries, and golden grass, this is the magic triad of Khokhloma. Khokhloma painting is a distinctive traditional handicraft, unique not only to Russia but also to the world. The exhibition presents eighty works made in Khokhloma fiery painting technique. The centerpiece of the display is a festive table laid with Khokhloma utensils. Over sixty pieces at the “New Year Fantasies. Golden Khokhloma” exhibit represent creative work of Nikolay Aleksandrovitch Gushchin, a member of Artists’ Union of Russia, People’s Artist of Russia.

On December 12-14, 2017, the State Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan on Tourism in cooperation with Kazan Federal University and the “Guides’ Guild of the Republic of Tatarstan” Association conduct instructional workshop for guides of Tatarstan. On the opening day of the workshop, the Chair of the Committee Sergei Ivanov gave his welcoming address to the participants. He noted that one of the most important objectives in a guide’s work is to describe the Republic of Tatarstan in such terms that a visitor would like to come back again and again. He also pointed out key events of the coming 2018, one of which, of course, would be 2018 FIFA World Cup. In conclusion, Sergei Ivanov wished the attending guides every success and expressed his intention to meet them in the course of a session of the Guides’ Guild of the Republic of Tatarstan.

On December 12-14, 2017, the State Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan on Tourism in cooperation with Kazan Federal University and the “Guides’ Guild of the Republic of Tatarstan” Association conduct instructional workshop for guides of Tatarstan. On the opening day of the workshop, the Chair of the Committee Sergei Ivanov gave his welcoming address to the participants. He noted that one of the most important objectives in a guide’s work is to describe the Republic of Tatarstan in such terms that a visitor would like to come back again and again. He also pointed out key events of the coming 2018, one of which, of course, would be 2018 FIFA World Cup. In conclusion, Sergei Ivanov wished the attending guides every success and expressed his intention to meet them in the course of a session of the Guides’ Guild of the Republic of Tatarstan.

According to turstat.com, the Kremlin Quay Fair in Kazan scored in top rating of Russian New Year and Christmas festivities and fairs of this winter. The rating is based on the events popularity. Apart from the Kremlin Quay Fair, it lists Moscow festival “Journey to Christmas”, Christmas Fair in Saint-Petersburg, “The New Year Capital Of Russia” festival in Khanty-Mansiysk, “Christmas Fairy-Tale In Vologda” project, Seasonal Fair “Your#BestNewYear” in Vladimir, New Year fairs in Yaroslavl, Kostroma, and Ice Town in Yekaterinburg.