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Russia's Tatarstan to create three tourism clusters by late 2020

The tourist flow to the republic is expected to grow by 50,000-100,000 annually

KAZAN, November 27. /TASS/. The Volga Republic of Tatarstan will get three tourism clusters by the end of 2020 in order to increase tourist flow by 50,000-100,000 annually, the head of the regional tourism committee, Sergei Ivanov, told TASS on Monday.

"The Sviyazhsk cluster will be completed this year, the Bolgar cluster in 2018-2019 and the Verkhny Uslon cluster in 2019-2020," Ivanov said.

The tourist flow to the ancient towns of Bolgar and Sviyazhsk is annually growing by 20-30%, he added.

In 2016, Tatarstan welcomed some 2.9 million tourists, a 7% growth as compared to 2015.

Sviyazhsk was founded in 1551 by Russian Czar Ivan the Terrible as a fortress some 30 kilometers to the West of Kazan, Tatarstan’s capital. In 2017, the local Assumption Cathedral and Monastery were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The tourist flow to Sviyazhsk doubled in 2016, reaching 525,000 people.

Bolgar, a town 140 kilometers from Kazan, was founded in the 9th-10th centuries AD. It was the political and cultural center of Volga Bulgaria, which adopted Islam in 922.

The Bolgar state historical and architectural museum-reserve was founded here in 1969.

In 2016, the tourist flow to Bolgar exceeded 472,000 people, Tatarstan’s tourism committee said.

The third cluster in Verkhny Uslon will have spa and wellness resorts, Ivanov said.

In all, Tatarstan is planning to create nine tourism clusters and is currently seeking investors for these projects.