Moscow is focused on attracting business travellers from India
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Ms. Maya Anurova, Head of Business Tourism Development Department, the Moscow City Tourism Committee
Moscow sees India as a priority market and wants to put emphasis on increasing the number of leisure and individual business travellers, as well as the number of MICE events held in Moscow. The Moscow City Tourism Committee is interested in strengthening co-operation with key stakeholders of the tourism industry pan-India, especially with the economically developed southern states.
The strategic partnership between India and Russia is having a positive impact on the flow of business travellers to Moscow. Last year Moscow welcomed 60,000 travelles from India, representing a 25% increase compared to the previous year. Every fifth Indian tourist visited Moscow with business purposes.
The Moscow City Tourism Committee considers active participation in major exhibitions and shows in India (BLTM, SATTE, OTM, MILT Congress, etc.) as a good opportunity to build brand recognition, establish new business connections and receive valuable feedback from market players.
One of the most significant initiatives to help the Indian MICE market discover Moscow as a premier host city for MICE events, is the Moscow MICE Ambassadors programme. The certification programme for Moscow MICE Ambassadors consists of five in-depth modules designed to introduce participants systematically to the city's MICE potential, highlighting its unique cultural beauty, centuries-old history, and rich architectural heritage. Each module comprises a video lecture, plus downloadable resources for self-study, providing tools for participants' future undertakings. Upon successful completion of all modules and assessments, participants will receive the Moscow MICE Ambassador certificate, showcasing their proficiency in the programme. The programme is poised to bestow certification upon 200 professionals from India’s MICE industry this year.
The increased demand has led to the active development of infrastructure for business events. In the forthcoming 2 years, the International Congress & Exhibition Complex will become a new point of attraction, as well as a world-class platform for holding events of different formats from corporate occasions to exhibitions.
Moscow is a city that can spoil MICE organisers with many options. In addition to modern and up-to-date congress venues, the city can offer sophisticated professionals more than 150 interesting and unique venues to hold MICE events - historical estates, parks, museums, theatres and art galleries.
In the spring and summer of 2024, groups of representatives from the Indian tourism industry visited Moscow. During these fam tours Indian professionals could evaluate the MICE potential of Moscow, personally visit the locations on offer, see accommodation options, verify the high level of service, and get acquainted with the cultural life and infrastructure of the city.
Recently, presentation of Moscow City Tourism Committee conducted a series of B2B negotiations and productive networking sessions, took place on August in Chennai. Representatives of the tourism industry from Moscow and southern India took part in this business mission.
Moscow will continue to organise roadshows to introduce the Indian tourism market to its potential Russian partners. These events help participants of the Moscow tourism industry to present their new travel products, raise awareness of the capital and its opportunities, and understand all possible requests from the Indian party during individual B2B negotiations.
In June Moscow also hosted the first BRICS Tourism Forum, which brought together more than 300 stakeholders of the tourism industry- government officials, travel trade professionals, and industry experts.
We plan to develop these formats of co-operation in the MICE industry further. Our experience shows that such events foster the development of business tourism between both countries - the number of business tourists coming to Moscow from India continues to grow and has great potential. Moscow is already well-known in India as a top destination for organising business events, but it is important for us to go deeper and to continue raising awareness about the variety of programmes that Moscow offers, as well as about rich cultural leisure activities and the numerous thematic city festivals that are held every season. Incidentally, we have noticed that Indian businessmen come back to Moscow again as tourists, soon after their business trips are over, in order to have more time to enjoy the city or to relax with their families.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
Topics : Tourism industry
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First Published: Sep 26 2024 | 5:48 PM IST
