Promotion of the region in the digital environment, modern technologies in the service of tourism, IT startups and new services in the tourism sector - all these topics were discussed at the seminar held on March 1 at the Veslevo-Club guest complex in the Pereslavl district of the Yaroslavl region. region with the support of the izi.TRAVEL service.
The seminar was initiated by the Yaroslavl Region Department of Tourism and the Travel Startups community, which brings together developers of digital tourism projects. The goal of the seminar was to discuss, in an informal setting, the possibilities of online promotion for the Yaroslavl Region. It is in this atmosphere that the most interesting partnership projects and ideas are often born.
Yulia Rybakova, Director of the Yaroslavl Region Tourism Department, set the stage for the discussion by outlining the region's overall positioning strategy and the new "Yaroslavia" brand:
"Our marketing strategy is focused on the rapidly growing urban tourism market. The brand, developed in two variations—"Yaroslavia—Central Russian Gardarika" and "Yaroslavia—Russia's Adornment"—presents the region's core value as a community of distinctive historical cities," Rybakova said.
The strategy found support among seminar participants, who noted the clear concept, clear target indicators, and adequate measures for achieving these objectives. Participants then presented ideas and technologies that could also serve as tools for promoting the region, including highlighting projects by local developers. Yaroslavl resident Arkady Rutman spoke about his online bus tour booking system, "Bustravel."
"The rapid growth of individual travel is a clear trend, but I'm confident that over time, the situation will stabilize, presenting us with a stable balance of different types of tourists. There will always be people who want to travel independently, and those who want the reliability, predictability, and comfort of a package tour," says Rutman.
Travel expert Alexander Permyakov, specializing in adventure tours, presented an online training system for guides and service personnel in adventure tourism. The experts summarized the need for developments that enhance service. Participants also demonstrated technologies that allow tourists to diversify their travel experiences. Oleg Rodin, director of the Yaroslavl-based company Redstar Digital Agency, presented the "Today in Yaroslavl" project, a solution that allows tourists to quickly navigate the city's abundance of entertainment and educational events. Alexander Demidov's "Where's the Fishing?" project is designed for fishermen interested in paid fishing opportunities. Egor Yakovlev from izi.TRAVEL discussed the capabilities of the well-known audio guide service, which is already connected to six cities in the Yaroslavl region. Elena Filippova presented the youth project "Nights over the Volga," Oleg Vasilkov presented virtual reality technology for sightseeing tours, and renowned Yaroslavl photographer Ilya Beskhlebny discussed the possibilities of representing the region on Instagram. Specialists from the Netology digital university proposed a comprehensive promotion strategy and development scenarios for the Yaroslavl region's tourism portal.
"I hope this meeting won't be one of those that ends with conversations and advice that will never be followed. I'd like our collaboration to truly develop into a long-term project and lead to tangible positive results in implementing a tourism promotion strategy in the Yaroslavl region," Travel Startups founder Valentin Dombrovsky concluded.
Source: trn-news.ru