Tulip Festival in Kalmykia attracts tourists amid pandemic

An influx of tourists is expected to the Tulip Festival scheduled in the Tselinny District of Kalmykia; all the tickets for the cruise train from Moscow have been sold out; and hotel rooms have been booked, the organizers report. Tourist professionals have noted that because of the pandemic, Kalmykia has favourable conditions for the development of domestic tourism.

The Tulip Festival will take place on April 24 in the Tselinny District, in the territory of the "Shatta" eco car park, which is 22 kilometres from Elista, the capital of Kalmykia.

For the first time, a "special cruise train" from Moscow will arrive at the festival; the route was organized by the "Federal Passenger Company" and the "Russian Railways (RZhD) Tour", the head of Kalmykia, Batu Khasikov, said on April 7 in his Instagram page.

All the places in the cruise train from Moscow have been sold out, an employee of the "RZhD Tour" said. "There are no more tickets in Moscow. Several more cars will be attached to the train in Rostov-on-Don. The tickets thereto are on sale there, but I can't say how many of them have been sold out," he told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

There are no more vacant rooms in Elista hotels for April 24, said an employee of the republic's tourist information centre. "As I understand it, the influx will be huge," she told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"We have just a wave of phone calls from different parts of Russia," said Sandji Buvaev, the head of the "Kalmykia Tour" Travel Agency. "I looked at the counter of our website – some 1200-1500 people are interested in Kalmykia and the Tulip Festival every day."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 16, 2021 at 08:11 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.