The forum of tourism industry professionals, which took place December 11-12 in the comfortable halls of the Marriott Grand Hotel, brought together federal and city authorities, tour operators and hoteliers. The focus was on the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The agenda included the most pressing issues - how the capital's tourism industry can make money on the arrival of foreign and Russian guests for the upcoming championship, when the official FIFA Match Accommodation dealer will cancel the hotel stock, should Moscow expect an increase in guests after the Championship, how will transport regulation be organized, should restaurateurs prepare special "fan menus", and much more. As it turned out, tour operators are most concerned about the pricing policy and availability of hotels, the operation of transport, the organization of entrance to stadiums and insufficient information to foreign partners about what awaits fans in Russia.
"Moscow's infrastructure is ready to host the 2018 World Cup, all preparations for the competition are proceeding as planned," said Nikolai Gulyaev, head of the Moscow Department of Sports and Tourism, at the opening of the Forum. According to him, the stadiums have passed their first test - a test match with Argentina. The next match, which will be held in Luzhniki, where the Russian team will host the Brazilian team, will provide answers to all questions.
"As of today, 1,183 hotels of various star ratings have been classified, 28 have been designated by the organizing committee as hotels for FIFA teams and client groups," noted Nikolai Gulyaev. For the convenience of Muscovites and guests, intercepting parking lots for seven thousand cars will be organized in the capital, and all types of transport will be used.
Deputy Head of Rostourism Alexey Konyushkov noted that business and government need to interact more closely and constructively in the remaining six months before the Championship.
The President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RUTI) Sergey Shpilko noted that the World Cup will be "an unprecedented test of hospitality and a unique opportunity to present the new Moscow to tourists." In his opinion, one of the most important tasks is to focus large groups of fans on major tour operators. "Not only the quality of service at all stages will depend on this, but also order in the city and the comfort of fans," Mr. Shpilko emphasized.
Deputy Head of the Moscow Department of Regional Security and Anti-Corruption Kirill Malyshkin added that the mistakes that were made during the evacuation of spectators of the match with the Argentina team from the Luzhniki stadium will be taken into account in preparation for the 2018 World Cup. As reported earlier, many fans after the Russia-Argentina match, which took place on November 11 in Luzhniki, complained about the poor organization of the exit from the stadium. People had to move in a crush to the metro for up to two hours.
"After November 11, the results of the evacuation were summed up. We discussed problematic issues, such as boarding people in the metro. And now there are at least three options for evacuating citizens and boarding them on public transport. The evacuation from Luzhniki will be carried out in stages, tier by tier. The Bolshoi Sports Arena will be completely vacated within 15-20 minutes. All infrastructure adjacent to the complex will be used. The Sportivnaya metro station will also be fully operational. The Vorobyovy Gory station will be partially used for boarding passengers," he said.
Malyshkin added that the test match at Spartak Stadium showed that this venue is also ready to receive fans.
Paul Whelan, CEO of MATCH Accommodation, the official distributor of hotels for the 2018 World Cup, stressed the importance of volunteers and hotel staff knowing a foreign language. Fans will be greeted in different languages. The largest number of guests is expected to come from China.
“Of all the Asian countries, China is the undisputed leader, despite the fact that their team is not participating in the championship,” said Nikolai Gulyaev.
Paul Whelan, CEO of MATCH Accommodation, shared his experience of hosting the FIFA World Cup in Germany in 2006, South Africa in 2010 and Brazil in 2014. According to Mr. Whelan, there is a risk that during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the occupancy rate of Russian hotels due to foreign tourists will be lower than expected. He noted that it is impossible to predict how many fans will come to the country, as it depends on a huge number of factors, including the marketing efforts of Russian cities. However, the experience of Germany and Brazil has shown that many fans find it much more convenient to come to the country for certain matches and then leave back without staying for a long time. In this situation, the occupancy rate of hotels will not increase as much as desired.
According to experienced capital tour operators, there is a risk that FIFA matches will be held in our country with significantly lower hotel occupancy rates than some expect.
Tour operators were interested in when the excess bookings made by Match Accommodation for FIFA would be removed and rooms would go on general sale. CEO Paul Whelan said this would happen in two stages - January 31 and April 15, 2018. According to him, the situation with the preparation of hotels is not critical, although there are problems in some cities, especially with those hotels that have never worked with events like the World Cup before.
According to Oksana Tubman, Head of the Accommodation Department of the Russia-2018 Organizing Committee, fans are already complaining about the excessively high cost of rooms. According to her, some hotels have raised their rates by 10 times. This information was confirmed by Alexander Kurnosov, Deputy General Director of the Akademservice company: “There are three-star hotels where a room costs 37 thousand rubles per day. Who will pay that much? Tourists? Fans? Many know that they prefer tent cities and fly direct charters. Hotels need to reduce their inflated expectations, otherwise there will be a sharp drop in traffic.”
Leonid Marmer, General Director of Intourist, said that the headache for tour operators regarding entry is insufficient information for partners abroad, especially in those countries whose teams will come to play in Russia. "The options that were tested at the Confederations Cup - FAN ID, visa-free entry with a fan passport, free travel - they have proven themselves. But many of our partners - foreign tour operators, MICE players - do not know about them. Our task now is to inform our partners about the logistics of the championship, information about accommodation options in the host cities," he emphasized.
Many tour operators complained about the lack of information about how the championship's transport logistics will be organized, how the FAN ID system will work, how the security system will be set up, etc. Representatives of the tourism industry do not yet understand whether, for example, in Moscow, streets and squares that are usually visited by tourists will be closed.
Deputy Director of the Department for the Implementation of Strategic Projects of the Ministry of Communications Andrey Romankov said that the FAN ID, or fan passport, will be valid from June 4 to July 25, 2018, as an entry visa to Russia. But the last day when foreigners will be able to enter with it will be the date of the last match of the championship, July 15. He recalled that a fan passport can only be obtained after purchasing a ticket for one of the matches. In addition to visa-free entry, it gives the right to free travel on trains between the cities of the championship and on public transport in these cities on match days. Fans should take care of special documents in advance. Fan passports are already being issued. The system of such passports showed good results at the Confederations Cup this summer.
Answering the question about the need to develop a special "fan menu" and organize "beer miles", Deputy Head of the Moscow Department of Trade and Services Alexander Ivanov noted that Moscow does not need an additional offer of "restaurant" services. "In Moscow, there are already 54 English, 11 Belgian, 49 Irish, 22 German, 236 regular beer restaurants. 122 sports bars, 56 steakhouses - a total of more than 800 "beer zone" enterprises. This fully meets the interests of fans at the future World Cup," he said. President of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia Igor Bukharov emphasized that fans are not so interested in museums and shopping centers, but they are interested in beer establishments. "Moscow is ready to provide beer and not only to all fans. I do not expect language problems in restaurants: there are pictures on the menu, tourists have phrasebooks. “Our city has repeatedly hosted major international events,” he noted.
On the second day of the Forum, discussions on training personnel for the tourism industry took place. Industry professionals and leading specialists from RSUTS, the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Lomonosov Moscow State University, GCOLIFK, MGIIT named after Yu. Senkevich identified the most pressing issues. Due to globalization, the tourism industry is the highest priority in the service sector. Despite the fact that personnel for the tourism industry are trained by a large number of specialized educational institutions and higher education institutions, there is a shortage of qualified personnel in the tourism job market. During the session, they discussed how a tourism industry employee should be prepared to hold large-scale international events, and emphasized the need for constant inclusion in changes and innovations in a dynamically developing industry.
During the round table "Moscow from a Bird's Eye View" Ekaterina Borisova, Head of the Tourism Department of the Moscow Department of Sports and Tourism, spoke about the work being done to develop the capital "upward". Moscow is ready to surprise guests of the 2018 World Cup with breathtaking panoramas - the Moscow-City business complex was represented by three sites: High Port 354 (RUSKI restaurant), Panorama 360 and the Moscow-City Museum and Observation Deck. Maria Kiseleva, a representative of the RTRS branch "MRC", spoke about the updated programs of the Ostankino TV Tower. And all cooking enthusiasts are welcome in the culinary studio "Kulinarion", whose sites also have a panoramic view of the city. In addition to the "high-rise" projects, the participants were presented with the opportunities of the recently opened in the center of Moscow and very popular Zaryadye Park.
A beautiful award ceremony for the participants of the 4th All-Russian photo festival "Travel at Home-2017" took place on the sidelines of the Forum. Almost 10 thousand photographs were sent to the competition, 29 winners from 19 regions were determined. Prize winners from Moscow and the Moscow region were awarded at the Forum.
More than 600 professionals and experts of the tourism industry and hotel business, representatives of specialized associations and unions, employees of educational organizations engaged in training personnel for the tourism industry took part in the Forum. Delegations from related regions - Moscow, Yaroslavl, Tver, Arkhangelsk - also arrived at the Forum.
Source: trn-news.ru
