| Yuri Luzhkov is seeking to host the 2012 Olympics in Moscow The capital's mayor, who has spent too much effort and money preparing Moscow for the 2012 Olympics, does not seem to intend to wait idly for the results of the International Olympic Committee competition. The mayor did not even spare his vacation time to lobby for one of his largest projects.
Like many other Muscovites, Yuri Luzhkov decided to vacation in Greece. However, this time his “vacation” schedule turned out to be so intense that it is unlikely that he will be able to see him on the Mediterranean beaches. The mayor of the Russian capital intends to agree on cooperation and tourism development with the mayor of Athens Dora Bakoyani and the Greek Minister of Tourism Dimitris Avramopoulos. Today Yuri Luzhkov will take part in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Athens, and then attend a reception with the President of Greece. After this, the Moscow mayor's program included a press conference. There is no doubt that Yuri Luzhkov will once again try to convey to the entire Olympic community gathered in Athens that a better place than Moscow for the 2012 Olympics cannot even be imagined.
The mayor has repeatedly stated that Moscow, like Greece, has almost everything for the Olympics. According to him, about 80% of the facilities needed to host the Olympics have already been built in the city, and by 2010 it is planned to put into operation more than 300 more sports facilities. The mayor lacks very little - about 1.5 billion dollars, which the IOC will allocate to the country that wins the competition to host the Olympics.
There is no doubt that in a city led by such a football fan as Yuri Luzhkov, all sports facilities will be built. However, the mayor so far prefers not to dwell on another problem that could deprive Moscow of its chances of hosting the Olympics. In accordance with IOC requirements, a country applying to host the games must provide at least 180 thousand hotel beds. In Moscow today it is possible to accommodate only about 60 thousand guests of the capital. Despite the promises of the capital's authorities to build up all of Moscow with three-star hotels by 2010, and to increase the number of beds to 200 thousand by 2012, the development program for the capital's hotel complex is stalling. Land plots reserved for hotels are constantly being repurposed by investors for more profitable housing construction, and ruins still lie on the site of numerous scandalously demolished hotels.
If the development of tourism under the pretext of the Olympics is carried out using the same methods - demolishing hotels on the most expensive sites in the city center and building them up with offices and housing - then by 2012 Moscow will not be able to offer tourists even the current number of hotel rooms. Apparently, the city authorities expect that every foreigner coming to Moscow will buy an apartment here. For memory. Alexander GUDKOV |
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