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150,000-200,000 Russian and foreign tourists to visit Moscow for New Year holidays

MOSCOW, November 29, 1:03 /ITAR-TASS/. Over 150,000 Russian and foreign tourists will visit Moscow for the New Year holidays, Sergei Shpilko, the chairman of the Committee of Tourism and Hotel Industry Moscow, told a news conference on Thursday.

He said this index includes those who will be accommodated in Moscow’s hotels, hostels and apartments and does not include guests who will stay with relatives or friends and transit tourists from Russian regions who leave Moscow for holidays abroad without staying in Moscow’s hotels. “If individually travelling tourists and transit tourists were taken into account, the number of tourists, as life shows, would increase many-fold,” he added.

Shpilko said the New Year holidays are the best time for visiting the capital, as there would be no congestion on the roads, no traffic jams. “Red-coloured buses for sightseeing tours of Moscow will be running around-the-clock on the New Year Eve. People from Russian regions who travel via Moscow for vacations abroad or in other regions can have a pleasant occasion to stop over in Moscow for two or three days,” Shpilko said.

He said Moscow hotels offer considerable discounts for New Year holidays this year. “Prices range from 400 roubles per night for a place in hostels, 700 roubles in two-star hotels and from 1,350 roubles per night in a suite for two in three-star hotels,” said the head of the committee for tourism.

Russian tour operators make attractive offers for this period, too, Shpilko said. “The prices start from 1,500 roubles per day. The price of a one-day economic class tour meant for groups of school children starts from 950 roubles. The tour includes a sightseeing trip by bus, a guided tour on foot of Red Square and Manezh Square, a dinner and transfer and the visit to children’s New Year party in the Kremlin for an extra fee,” Shpilko said.

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