Moscow to spend $12 million on street decorations for holiday season

The head of the department for media and advertising of Moscow, Vladimir Chernikov, said that this year the department took a special approach to festive decorations of the city for the holiday season.

According to the official, more than 2,000 light trees and over 300 fur-trees will appear in the city. Numerous fairs will work for Muscovites and visitors of the Russian capital for the holidays.

In total, the Moscow government plans to spend about 400 million rubles for decorations (over $12 million).

During New Year and Christmas holidays, Moscow plans to welcome as many as 200,000 tourists. The chairman of the committee for tourism and hospitality management of the capital said that the number does not include those people, who plan to visit the capital to stay at their friends' and relatives' . New Year tours to Moscow are especially popular among tourists from Italy, France, Japan and Turkey.

Moscow hotels are going to offer 50% discounts to foreign guests for the time of the season holidays. A night at a 2-star hotel, for example, will cost approximately 700 rubles ($20) and 1,350 rubles ($40) at a 3-star hotel.

During the first days of January, 63 Moscow museums will work for free. As many as 1,500 skating rinks, 217 ski tracks and 20 ski slopes, eight of them are located inside the city, await visitors.