On September 10, the 25th Otdykh 2019 exhibition and conference opened at Expocentre. This year, over 50 countries and 40 Russian regions are represented at the event.
The opening ceremony was attended by Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Alla Manilova, President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Sergey Shpilko, Vice President of the RST Yuri Barzykin, Executive Director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia Maya Lomidze, Senator Igor Fomin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs Sergey Krivonosov, and others.
As Alla Manilova emphasized, the ministry is currently placing a particular emphasis on excursion tourism in Russia.
"We've begun to seriously promote museums, as cultural tourism accounts for 801,000,000 foreign tourists. Russian travelers also greatly enjoy excursion programs—they account for approximately 501,000,000 of all domestic tourists," she said, adding that next year the Ministry of Culture will introduce a new excursion route, "In the Footsteps of Peter the Great," created jointly with the Council of Europe.
According to Sergei Golov, head of the CTA, Otdykh-2019 attracted the maximum number of stands featuring Russian participants, which is a positive trend.
"Domestic tourism is truly receiving tremendous attention right now. The fact that Elena Vyacheslavovna Lysenko, advisor to the head of Rostourism, attended the exhibition opening only confirms this. Russia has many unique places that can and should be visited. Moreover, prices for such trips are becoming more affordable every year. Domestic tourism has enormous potential and opens up new horizons for the development of our country," he noted.
As a reminder, on September 11, TRN Group and Euroexpo will host the 8th technology conference for travel industry professionals – the OTDYKH Travel Technology Conference – on the sidelines of Russia's largest autumn tourism exhibition and forum, OTDYKH 2019.
On the final day of the forum and exhibition, event tourism and the volunteer movement will be the topic of discussion. Experts will discuss the impact of major events—the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the 2018 FIFA World Cup—on domestic and inbound tourism, volunteer contributions, and the potential of tourism destinations.
Source: trn-news.ru