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Moscow authorities are preparing a program of developing tourism to capitalize on the 2018 FIFA World Cup, head of the city's tourism department Vitaly Suchkov said. 

The official said the flow of tourists will increase during the World Cup and the preceding 2017 Confederations Cup.

Suchkov also pledged to plan special events so that football fans would want to come back to Moscow after the World Cup.

In 2015, about 17 million tourists visited Moscow. Experts forecast this number to reach 19.5 million in 2018, when Moscow and 10 other Russian cities will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.