In 2018 incoming tourist flow to Moscow will reach almost 20 million thanks to football

“In 2018 Moscow may host about 19.5 million tourists, one million of which will come to the football World Cup”, - said on Monday the head of the department of national policies, inter regional relations and tourism of Moscow Konstantin Goryainov. Speaking at the opening of the first Moscow business forum of tourism industry "The Guiding Star", he said that in 2015 Moscow was visited by 17.11 million people and in 2016 the number of tourists should reach 17.5 million. The prediction for the next two years expects a significant increase of tourist flow, including the tourists, who will come to Russia owing to the Confederations Cup 2017 and the FIFA World Cup 2018. "In 2017 we expect 18.3 million tourists, in 2018 - 19.5 million", - said K. Goryainov, adding that only during the World Cup 2018 Moscow could host about a million fans. K.Goryainov noted that 17.11 million people visited the capital last year, about 4.4 million of which were the tourists from near and far abroad, 12,67 million - visitors from the other cities of Russia. The World Cup 2018 will be held from June 14 to July 15 2018 in 11 cities: Moscow, Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Saransk, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi and Yekaterinburg.