To Russia With Love: Moscow Tops World 5 List of Destinations for Christmas Vacation
Moscow became the most popular tourist city in Russia for Christmas travel. The rating was made by hotel booking service experts. Among the top 3 are also St. Petersburg and Sochi. The capital relies on event tourism. Seasonal festivals bring the city billions rubles in revenue, and travelers gain unforgettable experiences.
Maria Saushkina will tell us how the holiday Moscow delighted its guests.
Anna and Remi are in Moscow for the first time, and still can't believe it. This Russian trip was a gift from their children.
Anna Shapito, tourist from France: "We have 4 children and they said, 'your present is a trip to Russia,' it was our dream, and they guessed it."
This year tourists from warm countries, Iran, India, and even Thailand, came to look at Moscow in the winter.
Tanyuan Chuprazerchok, Thai tourist: "Everything is different here, culture, history, nature. I wanted to see how Christmas should be celebrated".
Natalia Ponomareva, Guide Manager: "They create an exotic trip by flying up north, swimming in ice water and riding the sleds, then they come to Moscow and enjoy the beauty of our city".
There's not a lot of snow this year in Moscow, but one can enjoy green grass in Zaryadye Park.
Zoria Han, tourist from the UK: "It's beyond what I expected. The city takes the breath away. Much more bright and beautiful than the photos online".
This year Moscow is among the top 5 places for winter vacations, according to the US Wall Street Journal. 5 years ago when the festival began, one could only dream about such numbers of foreign visitors. Now, the holiday Moscow attracts tourists like a magnet. More than 3 million people visited Moscow's holiday markets in the first 3 days of the new year, both locals and visitors. Conservative estimates of revenues are at 60 billion rubles.
Anna Toropova, Festival representative: "Festivals are helping to develop event tourism, and help small business and young entrepreneurs. More than 300 craftsmen and more than 100 restaurants are participating at this event".
Restaurants will remember for a long time when during Christmas Tverskaya street was made for pedestrian only for a few days, the crowds of people kept coming.
A restaurant-keeper:
- Tourism increased by 25-30% compared to the last year.
A waiter:
- They are trying our Russian food.
- And what do they like the most?
- Vareniki, of course, and beef stroganoff. They also really like buckwheat.
Most Moscow hotels were booked long before New Year.
Oksana Girsanova, Hotel Manager: "The hotel was full of tourists from different countries, many said after that this New Year's eve was the best they ever had. Tverskaya was full of activity!"
Muscovites also actively participated in the New Year's celebrations. VDNKh and Gorky Park, two largest skating rinks in the city made a lot of money.
Boris Bolelov, Gorky Park Press Secretary: "During the winter vacation 1.3 million Muscovites and visitors visited the park. 100,000 of them skated on ice, that's twice as much as last year".
Many of the guests are from regions of Russia. This group is from Terpsihore dance studio in Naberezhnye Chelny. They celebrated at the Bolshoi Theater. Now each of them added a little dream in addition to their big one of dancing, which they are happy to talk about: "To come here again!"
Maria Saushkina, Anna Balant, Dmitry Bolshakov. Vesti