Head of the Institute
of Social Marketing, Sergey Haykin
says that Moscow’s
tourism potential is underestimated on the international arena. And a part of
the problem is the issue of safety. Not even the issue itself, but rather the
stereotypes that are following Russia
as a country and Moscow
in particular. The research on the subject was conducted by the mentioned
institute and involved 1000 foreign respondents in 2011 and 500 - in 2012.
It turns out, for most of them a trip to Moscow is an old dream.
That is why many foreign tourists are over 60, they were simply postponing
their visit for different reasons, safety being one of them. But a time comes,
when postponing is not a viable option, and tourists make the leap of faith.
Study shows that 88% of foreigners who want to visit Russia, study trip reports, blogs,
read gossip and try to get official information from their MFA.
Yet some authorities - like the ones of the UK or Canada
– do not hesitate to use the darkest colours, while explaining what dangers may
await a tourist in Russia.
Pickpocketing, assault and terrorism are all named as some of the problems one
might encounter, even though these troubles are characteristic to almost any major
tourist city. Russia
is number 115 out of 139 countries, which take part in the safety rating. Yet
this number, according to specialists, is not illustrative at all. It is mostly
based on politics and outdated stereotypes. But nonetheless the stereotypes
affect an average tourist. And in the end we have 39% of foreign visitors, who
are afraid for their own safety.
That makes it even more interesting to compare
the fears before and after the trip. The most popular dreads before visiting Moscow are safety, cold
weather and corruption. But when people return, they say that the things that
bothered them the most were the language barrier, the fear of getting lost and
bad navigation in the city. These factors were named by 34% of respondents.
Pickpocketing was a problem for 8%, safety as a whole – for 10%. In the end
about 83% of tourists who have visited Moscow,
said that the overall level of safety in the city is quite high. For a mere 9%
the safety level was way higher than expected.
According to Sergey Haykin, the reason for such
discrepancies between tourists’ expectations and reality lies in the lack of
adequate information about Moscow.
Tourists should be able to get the full information before they arrive to Russia –
internet, guidebooks, maybe even a weighty commentary from the MFA. Moscow has to get more
media coverage, especially in the countries, which give the biggest tourist
flows. No wonder that people are bothered by lack of information much more
(40%) than by restroom availability (7%) or racism (6%).
Moscow authorities are well aware of the situation. That’s why during the
last two years the Committee for Tourism and Hotel Industry has done huge
amounts of work to fill the information vacuum. As we have already written, Moscow is getting many
English signs, and a tourist call-center has been opened up. Right now it
supports six languages, but in 2013 it will already be seven, including
Chinese. The online city portal is already up and running in Russian, English
and German. This project will, too, receive a Chinese version next year. Tourist
Information Centers will be soon opened at Kiyevskaya, Belorusskaya and
Paveletskaya subway stations. The first information center is already working
in the hall of the Museum of the 1812 Patriotic War, which is right at the edge
of the Red Square. The opening of an
information center in Sheremetyevo
Airport is planned for
2013. Serious progress has been achieved for tourist safety, which was
discussed yesterday at the Moscow Conference on Tourism Safety.
