Визы, РСТ, Россия, Заграница, Транспорт, Туризм и закон, RTN Tech, Туристам
Главные новости

Moscow Maslenitsa – a project looking into the future

08:07, 20 февраля 2012

A press-conference about the preparations to the upcoming Maslenitsa celebration in Moscow has been held on February 16 at RIA Novosti. It was attended by the Head of Moscow City Committee for Tourism and Hotel Industry Sergey Shpilko, Head of the Department of Culture of city of Moscow Sergey Kapkov and Head of Moscow Fitness and Sports Department Alexey Vorobyev.

 

Sergey Kapkov said that this year Maslenitsa celebrations will be held in all city parks – from Sokolniki to Kuzminki. The festivities will also be available on Poklonnaya Gora and in Kolomenskoe. The Gorky Park and the Red Square ice-skating rinks will be the main stages, but there are more than 400 other events all over the city – pancake feasts, festivals and concerts. Over two million people are expected to join the Maslenitsa celebrations this year.

 

It’ll be the first time when Maslenitsa is not just a folk-festival, but a real fusion art-project, combining contemporary design with old-Russian traditions and a new look on Russian history. According to Sergey Shpilko, at the moment Maslenitsa is only an internal product, a celebration for Muscovites and guests of the city. But there are plans to promote this event on the international market, offering tours that include Maslenitsa festivities. “Maslenitsa is a project that is looking into the future”, - he said. For instance, a Moscow-London live linkup will be established on February 26, connecting Gorky Park, the Red Square and the Trafalgar Square, where Maslenitsa is traditionally celebrated.

 

The “Maslenitsa in London” project is about five years old. Now even the Mayor and Vice Mayor of the city participate. It’s basically a delegation of Russian show-business stars and sportsmen. “This event in London is very important for us because we need to export our culture, promote a positive image of the city and the country. Maslenitsa may become a good chance to advertise the city as a tourist destination. Even this year some Maslenitsa tours have appeared; many cafes are offering special pancake menus”, - noted Mr. Shpilko.

 

Answering questions about the condition of tourism industry in Moscow, Sergey Shpilko said that there were more than 4.5 million foreign arrivals to Moscow in 2011, according to official data, which is 12% more than in 2010. In addition, the city’s 2-3-star hotels got 10% more guests. This is mostly thanks to cooperation of the Moscow City Committee for Tourism and Hotel Industry with local and foreign tour operators, and hotels.

 

This approach, according to him, allows seeing the real needs of the market and acting accordingly. For instance, a large advertisement campaign promoting Moscow has been launched in local and foreign mass-media, press-tours were arranged for international journalists, a call-center for tourists has been created, and parking spaces for tour buses have been organized. Attracting local tourists is another priority. In order to do this, new affordable Moscow tours have been created in cooperation with tour operators, and they have already shown their potential during the New Year holidays.

 

It is expected that by 2016 the number of international arrivals to Moscow should reach 7.3 million people. Besides that, the volume of paid tourist services should increase from 23.5 billion roubles ($777 million) in 2011 to 33.5 billion ($1.10 billion) in 2016, and the hotels’ income should rise from 39.1 to 52.9 billion roubles ($1.29 and $1.75 billion respectively).

Обсудить в telegram

вам может быть интересно