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Coronavirus pandemic

Up to 300,000 tourists expected to visit Russia’s Kaliningrad Region this summer

Last year’s tourist flow in the region reached around 870,000 people in summer months

© Vladimir Smirnov/TASS

KALININGRAD, May 27. /TASS/. The tourist flow to Russia’s Kaliningrad Region is expected to climb from 200,000 to 300,000 people this summer, according to preliminary estimates, the region’s Minister of Culture and Tourism Andrey Yermak told TASS on Wednesday, adding that the flow is projected to plunge two-thirds or even three-fourths when compared with 2019 when around 870,000 people visited the region, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Last year’s tourist flow in the region reached around 870,000 people in summer months. This year it is going to be substantially lower even if we open on June 1. <...> We project the summer season of 2020 at around 300,000, probably 200,000 people," he said.

The minister explained that even if the tourist season starts on June 1 preparations will take time, with July, August and, probably, September if the weather is good, likely to be full-fledged summer season months. Overall, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Kaliningrad Region does not expect the tourist flow to the region to exceed 900,000 people by the end of 2020, whereas last year 1,740 people visited the region.

Russian tourists are expected to come to the region this year, mainly guests targeting individual tours or family tours. Neither the authorities, nor travel agencies themselves expect any foreign tourists in the region. "I think that all requests from foreign tourists, mostly from German tourists in our region, will be cancelled or postponed to next year," head of a regional association of tourist industry enterprises Tamara Toropova told TASS.

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