The international forum “Visit Russia” will launch a comprehensive program for the development of tourism in Central Russia.
On October 20-21, 2011, the International Tourism Forum “Visit Russia” will be held in Yaroslavl. The forum is held on the initiative of the Government of the Yaroslavl Region and the Golden Ring Development Corporation, with the support of the Federal Agency for Tourism, the Ministry of Tourism, Sports and Youth Policy, under the patronage of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Central Federal District.
The Forum will be attended by representatives of administrations of subjects and small cities of Russia, Russian and foreign investors, heads of travel companies, trade unions and associations, developers, international and Russian experts.
The international tourism forum is held in the development of the Federal Target Program “Development of domestic and inbound tourism in Russia for 2011-2018”, in which an active role is given to regions that form investment projects for the development of tourist infrastructure and new tourist routes. In case of successful implementation of the Federal Target Program by 2018, the inbound tourist flow will increase by more than 6 times. The number of citizens spending their holidays in Russia should increase by one and a half times - from 29 to 45 million people.
A comprehensive approach to solving the problem of increasing the flow of tourists requires knowledge and experience that Russian regions plan to gain from the best Russian and international practices. The International Tourism Forum “Visit Russia” launches a comprehensive tourism development program in the regions of Central Russia.
The Forum participants will discuss the integration of Russia into the global tourism industry; attracting tourists and investments to Russian regions; creating tourist clusters as a tool for innovative development; and developing event and business tourism. A significant role in the program of the Forum is given to the discussion of the world experience in creating tourist brands, their impact on the economy and the possibility of using them in Russia, based on the examples of successful international projects from 10 countries. Thomas Bauer, Board Member of the Pacific-Asian Tourism Association, will share RATA’s experience in tourism development and prospects for its application in Russia; Guntram Kaiser, Executive Director of KAISERCOMMUNICATION GmbH, will explain how Germany’s experience in attracting tourists to major sports events can be adapted for the Golden Ring of Russia (on the example of the FIFA World Cup 2006); Janti Yamisha, Managing Director of FTI Strategy Consulting (USA), will reveal secrets on how to attract American investors to Russia; Christopher Hinteregger, Project Coordinator for Russia and the CIS consulting company “Kohner” will talk about the opportunities in the field of public tourism.
Within the framework of the Forum, it is planned to sign an interregional cooperation agreement between the Golden Ring regions and the Golden Ring Development Corporation.
In addition, it is planned to hold expert panels, the participants of which will offer their solutions on how to make Russian tourist routes as popular as European and Asian ones. Unique tourist products will be presented at master classes and presentation sections. In particular, the guests of the forum will be introduced to the project of creating a “Fairytale Map of Russia”.
Within the framework of the International Tourism Forum, an exhibition with expositions of regions will be opened, where complex developments of branding of territories, as well as projects in the field of event tourism will be presented. Given that there are many potential investors among the announced participants, the regions that present their developments have an opportunity to find partners for the implementation of projects.
The need to create such a platform where key experts, potential investors and practitioners can meet is long overdue. The tourism industry in Russia is quite young compared to European countries, but it is rapidly gaining momentum and requires an effective management system. With the right approach to its development, it can act as a locomotive – it can become a serious factor in the growth of the regional economy.
Yaroslavl, as the venue for the International Tourism Forum, was not chosen by chance. Yaroslavl is one of three Russian cities inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Yaroslavl region has accumulated rich experience in the development of the tourist potential of the region.
According to international standards, which are also true for Russia, each ruble invested in the development of tourism infrastructure brings seven rubles of income. The greatest effect can be obtained by applying a cluster approach. The topic of creating tourist and recreational clusters will be one of the main ones proposed for discussion at the forum.
International tourist forum "Visit Russia":
Website: www.visitrussia-yar.ru
FB: http://www.facebook.com/ViitRussia2011
Participation of media representatives in the Forum, additional information:
Natalia Kulbyatskaya, Head of the Media Center of the International Tourism Forum:
Tel: + 7 964 774 72 02, e-mail: nataly@polylog.ru
Background information
Yaroslavl region is a subject of the Russian Federation, is part of the Central Federal District. On the territory of the Yaroslavl region is the largest number of cities included in the Golden Ring of Russia. There are more than 5,000 monuments of history and culture in the region. The oldest surviving architectural monuments of the Savior-Transfiguration Cathedral in Pereslavl-Zalessky (1152). The Assumption Cathedral in the Rostov Kremlin, the chambers of specific princes in the Uglich Kremlin, the Transfiguration Cathedral in Yaroslavl, the Abraham Monastery in Rostov and other historical monuments belong to the treasury of architecture of the XV-XVI centuries. In the Yaroslavl region there are more than 250 existing museums. Their collections have more than 800 thousand units of storage.
In the Yaroslavl region, event tourism is actively developing. Guests are attracted by the holidays of the mouse and boots in Myshkin, the winter holiday “According to the pike order” in Rostov, the children’s holiday of Tsarevich Dimitri in Uglich, the Merchant’s Day in Rybinsk, the Days of European and Cultural Heritage in Yaroslavl.
The government of the Yaroslavl region has developed a project to create a tourist and recreational cluster. The implementation of this project will attract more than 15 billion rubles of investment in the development of the infrastructure of cultural, cognitive, cruise, medical and recreational, business, event, environmental, country and other types of tourism.
Portal of the Government of the Yaroslavl region: www.yarregion.ru
The page of the Government of the Yaroslavl region in FB: http://www.facebook.com/yarregion