On September 29 October 4, the Russian Convention Bureau with
participation of the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund and with the
information support of the Roscongress Foundation held a press tour entitled «Open Russia with Three Cultures,» for
representatives of leading international media of the event industry.
The guests of the RCB included representatives of leading industry publications and media holdings: Conference & Meetings World (CMW, UK), Headquarters magazine (Belgium), Conference & Incentive Travel (C&IT, UK), Kongres Magazine (Slovenia), Grupo eventoplus (Spain), Mice Affairs (India), and Event-live.ru (Russia). Over several days, the journalists studied the infrastructural capabilities of Russian cities for holding large international events, as well as cultural and historical peculiarities and national traditions.
The Moscow venues were represented by Skolkovo Technopark, VTB Arena
Stadium, VDNH and Panorama 360 Viewing Platform. These venues allowed to
demonstrate our guests the infrastructural diversity of the megalopolis for
holding events in a great number of topic areas. Transfer services in Moscow
for the participants of the press tour were provided by VGT (Very Good
Transfer) Company.
Vice President of Skolkovo Foundation Alexandra
Barschevskaya said:
«We are always happy to see foreign journalists come to Skolkovo Innovation
Center, because they are opinion leaders to a considerable extent, they help
shape a certain attitude, impression and understanding they form what we call
Skolkovos image. We have things to show and something to be proud of. A
total of 2000 innovative companies are ready to offer their products on the
international market, and the innovation center, in turn, is ready to welcome
international events of any level.»
The guests studied
the cultural and historic heritage of the Republic during the tour of the Kazan
Kremlin, and the culinary tradition and diversity during their visit to
Tatarskaya Usadba restaurant of the traditional Tartar cuisine. It was there that the participants of the
press tour also had a meeting with representatives of the Association of
Restaranteurs and Hoteliers of the Republic of Tatarstan. During the visit, the
representatives of the press noted the high event potential of the region and
the professionalism of the team working on promotion of the region.
«We are happy to see the high assessment of the MICE potential of the Republic of Tatarstan of leading mass media of the industry. Our key task for today is to become a leader in the European family of destinations. We have every requirement for this in Tatarstan,» said Guzal Burnaeva, head of the Convention Bureau of the Republic of Tatarstan.
«Today Tatarstan
is becoming increasingly more popular in the world as a region of successful
investment stories. This year the Republic remained the region with most stable
investment conditions: for the fifth year in a row, we have been one of top
three leading companies, and for three years we were on top of the national
rating. We have 85 industrial parks, and the largest number of territories with
federal tax break regimes: 2 special economic zones and 5 territories of
advanced socio-economic development.
To attract investments into the economy of Tatarstan, we are working to improve the mechanism of public-private partnership and have been working actively on positioning Tatarstan as an advanced region for MICE. The Convention Bureau is an effective instrument for development of MICE industry and attracting investments into the format of rotating world events. The Convention Bureau of the Republic of Tatarstan has been functioning under the Investment Development Agency. The Bureau has been working actively with the expert community to attract prestigious industry events to the area. For instance, we won the right to hold the First Central-Eastern Congress on Intellectual Modes of Transportation on September 21-24, and on October 14-16 we will host the TCI Network, 23rd World Conference on Cluster Development, Talia Minullina, head of the Agency for Investment Development of the Republic of Tatarstan told the representatives of foreign mass media.
The Ufa press tour was held in partnership with the autonomous non-profit organization for preparing and holding events on development of cross-national and international cooperation Office Group, the Bashkortostan Republic Convention Bureau. The guests studied the event industry as they visited TORATAU and VDNH-Expo sites of the Congress Hall, and the sectoral specializaiton of the region at the Ufa State University of Oil Technologies and Burintech enterprise. The achievements of the Republic in traditional areas bee farming and horse breeding were presented in the Bashkir Honey House and Akbuzat Horse-Racing Center.
«The
Republic regularly becomes a congress venue for major federal and international
events. International forums, sport events, cultural festivals, large-scale
research conferences and many other types of events have become a familiar
theme for the city, attracting thousands of participants from around the
world,» said Evgeny Ponomarenko,
director of the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization for Preparation and
Implementation of Events for the Development of Interethnic and International
Cooperation under the Congress Bureau of the Republic of Bashkortostan (Office
Group). «The results of the press
tour show that when we draw up the business programs for MICE industry events,
we must follow the new bleisure
(business + leisure) trend. This trend is not only about combining work and
business: it also reflects our conscious desire to turn ordinary business trips
into something new and fascinating for every traveler. It is especially
important because the Republic of Bashkortostan not only has the modern
congress infrastructure for organizing industry and business events of
international scale, but is ready to offer centuries of cultural traditions and
heritage of the Bashkir people, unique nature, historic monuments, multiethnic
population, and delicious cuisine that comes along with exclusive Bashkir
hospitality!»
The cultural program of the press tour in the capital of Bashkiria included not only introduction to the national Bashkir folklore, which became one of the most vivid memories of the program, but also a visit to the Bashkir State Theatre of Opera and Ballet. The participants of the press tour noted that the congress sector in the Republic was developing in the right direction and that the destination had obvious potential, given its experience with large international events.
«Congresses and exhibitions held in Ufa, become effective tools for development of priority directions in the economy of the city and the Republic of Bashkortostan as a whole, a venue for joint actions of the scientific community, authorities, business and the general public. It is this interconnection that will allow us to determine the most useful topics of events that can help us develop our economy,» said Nikolay Fadeev, Vice Mayor of Ufa.
Alexey Kalachev, Director of
the Russian Convention Bureau, said about the event: "I am sure that our
guests appreciated not only the wealth of information that the program provided
but also the sincere hospitality that is so characteristic for Russian regions.
In Russia, we have quite a few destinations with fully formed infrastructure
and the experience of holding major international events. Our goal is to share
this information with the international professional community and help various
regions to implement their competitive advantages in competing for new events
that can help improve our event potential and tourist attractiveness, because
after all visitors of various business events can be seen as business tourists.