The Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (FEDC) took part in the regional tourism development school “8 steps to success”. It was the first time when the event was included in the business program of the International Tourism Exhibition MITT which has been held in Moscow for 28 years and is the largest exhibition in Russia in the Tourism and Leisure category. A large-scale business event took place these days at the Crocus Expo site.
Specialists of the tourism industry, regional administrations, with the support of Rostourism, were presented non-stop with new tools and technologies of public administration in the field that plays one of the main roles in the development of the economy. Maria Badmatsyrenova, Deputy Director of the Law Enforcement Monitoring Department of the FEDC, spoke about how the regional tourism business needs to be developed in the new reality.
Using the example of the Republic of Buryatia, that became part of the Far Eastern Federal District three years ago, thanks to which entrepreneurs received the right to use tax and administrative benefits, the expert shared successful practices for developing tourism potential. The representative of the FEDC considers tourism to be a strategic industry, and therefore the strategy for the socio-economic development of any region must necessarily take into account this area and be sufficiently mobile.
“Work on the tourism development program in the Republic of Buryatia began with the identification of priority areas, based on the characteristics of the region - this is Lake Baikal and the presence of the special economic zone of the tourist and recreational type “Baikal Harbor”. We took into account balneological resources and tourist infrastructure, which are included in the tourist product and have an effect on its quality. We structured the expenditures of budgetary funds, adjusted the work with regulatory documents. We took into account the opinions of municipalities: what kind of state support is important for them, so that the wording in the documents does not raise questions from regulatory authorities, what, why and how should be developed. We thought over ways to promote the region, positioning it as a center of tourism in the East of Russia. We launched charter programs that gave impetus to attract investment and, in general, to stimulate interest in the region. And, as the result, we created a competitive tourism industry. Today, Buryatia has something to offer both the traveler, with any request and budget, and the investor,” Maria Badmatsyrenova said, noting that thanks to preferences the Far East has the best conditions for business today.
According to the FEDC, the tourism sector is one of the leaders in terms of the number of investment projects implemented in the Far Eastern Federal District and the Russian Arctic. Residents of the Advanced Special Economic Zones (ASEZ), Free Port Vladivostok (FPV) and Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF) create more than 250 tourism projects for a total of 189 billion rubles.
The subject of training for the tourism industry was raised by the Deputy Head of the Scientific and Educational Center for Training, Retraining and Advanced Training of Personnel in the Field of Tourism of the Faculty of Geography of Lomonosov Moscow State University, candidate of geographical sciences Natalia Shabalina. The author of many scientific studies and methodological developments in the field of tourism proposed to create territorial educational centers for advanced training and retraining of civil servants and representatives of the tourism business, and to establish online courses and trainings. It will help specialists responsible for organizing work in the tourism sector to gain additional knowledge. Also, it is necessary to carry out scientific support of tourist and recreational projects. And for the effective management of the development of regions and municipalities, a new tool was proposed: tourist and recreational expertise. The mechanism is based on a comprehensive analysis of tourist and recreational areas and cluster projects. According to Natalia Shabalina, last year interregional teams began to develop master plans for three macro-territories - the Crimea, including Sevastopol, the Big Golden Ring and the Far East. In total, 12 clusters have been identified, which should become the tourist framework of our country.
Yulia Rybakova, adviser to the Head of the Federal Tourism Agency, who moderated the session, explained why the regional tourism development school “8 steps to success” was conceived and gave a brief description of each thematic track.
“Regions today have serious requests for knowledge of the basic technologies of public administration in the field of tourism. Colleagues need to be trained in understanding state support measures, strategies, programs and those new management objects that are coming into circulation in connection with the large-scale development and growth of domestic tourism. We gave the experts an opportunity to share their points of view what measure of state support should be relied on when developing this or that area of tourism, how to identify and develop points of attraction for tourists. The intensive gave its result - we received good feedback and a large amount of information. Such formats are in demand, they provide an opportunity to get answers to many questions in a short time,” Yulia Rybakova summed up.
The work at the stands of the exhibition was complemented by bright presentations of current tourist products, which added national flavor. The Far Eastern Federal District was represented by the stands of the Republic of Buryatia, the Kamchatka and Primorsky Territories, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Sakhalin Region, and the Zabaikalsky Territory. Norilsk, the Murmansk Oblast and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District introduced Arctic tourism to the exhibition visitors.
According to the Far Eastern tour operators, today travelling to the East of Russia is in demand, which means that new niches and travel destinations are opening up for the tourism business of the macroregion. According to experts, up to 90% of local tourism is provided by local residents who go on trips to their regions.
More than 60 constituent entities of the Russian Federation and other countries took part in MITT-2022 exhibition. The events were supported by the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Federal Agency for Tourism, the Association of Tour Operators, the Russian Union of the Travel Industry and the Alliance of Travel Agencies.