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Moscow City Committee for Tourism will form a new look for event tourism in the city

08:07, 9 сентября 2011

Moscow’s image in the minds of tourists is outdated, and it has to be changed. This opinion was voiced by Moscow Committee for Tourism and Hotel Industry chairman Mr. Sergey Shpilko during a press-conference dedicated to a subprogram project “Tourism development”, which is part of a big Moscow program called “Development of leisure and tourism” for 2012-2016.

«Per se, Moscow will have to be rediscovered all over again, we’re talking about a complete makeover for the city as a tourist center», - explained Mr. Shpilko. He thinks that Moscow’s image, that formed in the late 20th century, is outdated and does not represent the real situation. But it’s a stereotype that has embedded itself in the minds of foreigners and Russians alike, and changing that stereotype is not an easy job. For instance, many think that the capital is not easily accessible, that the prices are sky-high (just as the crime rate) and that the climate is way too harsh.

“Most of it is far from being real. According to Chief Directorate of Internal Affairs statistics last year there were only 24 crimes registered against foreign tourists, in the year before last - 39. There are no 100%-safe metropolises”, - states Mr. Shpilko. Another stereotype is that Moscow is a cold city. But of you look at the average annual temperatures it’s obvious that climate in Moscow is the same as in most Europe.

Same story with the hotel prices. According to Interhotel information exchange, during the first half of 2011 the average price for a room stood at 2500 roubles. “It’s not that much for a double, is it? It’s a pretty common price for Europe too. By the way, the price his year is 400 roubles less, compared to last year”, - explained Sergey Shpilko.

On the 1 of September a campaign promoting Moscow started on BBC World News. The European audience alone is more than 97 million people. Four different promotional advertisements (from 30 to 60 seconds) will be aired regularly. Soon a new show about life in Moscow will be introduced to one of the central channels; a special radio broadcast is in the making as well.

The Moscow authorities are planning to receive up to 6.8 million tourists in 2016, six million of which will be accommodated in hotels. “This year we’re expecting 4 million 300 thousand tourists”, - said Mr. Shpilko. According to Russian Border Police statistics, during the first half of the year Moscow airports received 2 million 85 thousand foreigners, which is 11/5% more, compared to last year. 5 million 95 thousand Russians left Moscow, compared to 5 million 429 thousand in the last year (-6%). The ratio of outgoing and incoming tourist flows amounted to 3-to-1 respectively.

Sergey Shpilko outlined that in the last years competition has been getting rough in the world of event tourism. Countries, regions and metropolises struggle to get their slice of the pie. “Our objective is to optimize and renew the event range, not only for Muscovites but also for other Russians and foreigners”, - said Mr. Shpilko. He thinks that the main objective is to attract as many major international events as possible, for instance sport events. This year Moscow will hold the unifight and curling world championships, and also the “First Channel” hockey cup. Spring will bring the figure-skating championship, in 2 years we will have the track-and-field athletics championship, and the 2018 will be marked by the UEFA World Cup: “Moscow is scoring good points as a world-class site for major sporting events”.

Another thing is making the events that bring in the tourists, really stand out. And last but not least – we have to create our own original event range that could attract serious tourist flow. Sergey Shpilko also noted that this year’s Maslenitsa (Shrovetide) festival had a good run, and it would be great to form a regular domestic tourist flow to Moscow for this event. Other successful tourist events are – “Museums Night”, the Tchaikovsky contest, World Press Photo, Moscow Film Festival and MAKS air show. A good example is the international military-music festival “Spasskaya Bashnya”. It’s events like these that form the new face of Moscow for event tourism.

Recently a historic reenactment festival called “Times and ages witness the Ancient Russia” has started in Kolomenskoe estate. Mr. Shpilko thinks this international event can draw some serious attention from foreign tourists. The project is rather big: 67 clubs from 23 regions of Russia and 10 other countries, including USA, UK, Sweden, Poland and CIS countries are taking part in the action. The festival is very promising, other big cities have nothing like this, and this is Moscow’s chance to take the niche.

At the same time Christmas holidays and New Year’s Eve celebrations are not being promoted enough and that problem should be dealt with as soon as possible. “Traffic in the city is low during this period, all the entertainment is available, there are lots of events, bun little tourists. Of course, the Kremlin Christmas Tree (New Year performance for children) is very popular and there are Christmas Readings in the end of January, but we want to take it to the next level”.

More than 50% of hotel beds is taken be people on business trips in Moscow, so during the holiday season most of the rooms are unoccupied. Mr. Shpilko offers to hold the most major events during this season. Also, new 3-star hotels in the city center will help even out the hotel occupation: “We’re expecting to enhance the key count up 30% and are planning to introduce into service around 2000-2500 new rooms every year”.

One of the challenges the Committee of Tourism is facing is stimulating the tourist flow not only from abroad but also from other regions of Russia, including the Central region. “The majority of domestic tourists in Moscow are kids on a field trip. If we try to compare the group tourist flow to Moscow and to destinations like St-Petersburg, Kazan and Novgorod, we’ll see that it’s not nearly enough”, - thinks Mr. Shpilko.

In his opinion, besides solving the primary problems like traffic jams and poor transport service, there’s a need for tourist information centers, call-centers, new info signs in English all around the city and so on. “I think these minor problems can be dealt with in the next two years, it’s a matter of paperwork”, - Sergey Shpilko is sure.

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