"PP SPb MF" PLC representatives at the meeting with the head of UNWTO in St. Petersburg
15 December 2016
Today, 15
th of December 2016, in St. Petersburg, representatives of "PP SPb MF" PLC, invited by Saint Petersburg Committee for Tourism Development, took part in the meeting with the UNWTO (the United Nations World Tourism Organization) Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, during his visit to St. Petersburg.
During the event, Mr. Rifai called winter St. Petersburg a magical city, and expressed confidence in further development of St. Petersburg as one of the world's leading tourist destinations in the near future. Also, Mr. Rifai said that the city has a huge potential in so-called "low season". In order to double the number of tourists arriving in the city, it is only necessary to take advantage of such period.
"Seasonality is very conditional concept, it is only in our heads," - the UNWTO Secretary-General has noted.
According to Mr. Rifai, the city administration has a clear understanding of the development prospects of St. Petersburg tourism industry, where the important factor is that the head of the city, represented by St. Petersburg Governor Mr. G.S. Poltavchenko, believes in tourism, actively supports and promotes its development.
However, the head of UNWTO noted that the main constraint is the need for a visa. Taleb Rifai assured that the introduction of electronic visas will significantly increase the tourist flow of foreign citizens and believes that soon this system will be supported by the entire world.
In turn, Saint Petersburg Committee for Tourism Development Chairman, Andrey Mushkarev, said that the city understands the potential of tourism industry for the city economy and there are already laws on the motivation to new hotels construction, as well as a specific plan for the development of the industry as a whole.
Mr. Mushkarev also noted that the city will tend to organise more event management in the "low season" (for example, the cultural event "Festival of Light", which will become an annual).
On the issue of the electronic visas introduction, the government of St. Petersburg sent an appeal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation to support the introduction of a 72-hour visa-free stay regime for the tourists arriving in St. Petersburg by aircraft at the "Pulkovo" airport, or to support the use of the electronic visas.
Following the meeting, St. Petersburg tourism industry representatives had the opportunity to ask questions and share their own proposals.
Thus, Elena Malchenok, CEO of the "Arcturus Travel" tour operator company, proposed to hold the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum during the "low season".
