2022 Archive
2022 Russian Tourism Forum ‘Let’s Travel!’
The second Russian Tourism Forum ‘Let’s Travel!’ was held in August 2022 in Moscow, at VDNH, co-organized by the Government of the Russian Federation, the Federal Agency for Tourism (Rostourism), the autonomous non-profit organization National Priorities, the State Duma, the Russian Geographical Society, as well as all industry associations and unions, including the Association of Tour Operators (ATOR), the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RST), the National Hospitality Industry Union (OSIG), the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia (FRiO), and others.
The Forum was organized by the Roscongress Foundation.
The Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation JSC, MSP Corporation (for JSC, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, the KAVKAZ.RF Development Institute as Title Partner, Russian Railways JSC (RZD) as Official Partner, and the Republic of Uzbekistan as Partner Country all took an active part in the Forum. Cosmos Hotel Group, the Abrau-Durso Tourism Center, and others served as organizing partners.
The 2022 ‘Let’s Travel!’ Forum featured large-scale exhibits from over 20 regions of Russia: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Perm and Veliky Novgorod, as well as the Tula, Vladimir, Pskov, Murmansk, Orenburg, Voronezh, and Rostov regions, the Krasnodar, Stavropol, and Altai territories, the Republics of Komi, Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia-Alania, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, and Chechnya. The international section of the exposition included stands from the Republics of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Over 50,000 guests attended the Festival exposition: visitors could explore the regions' places of interest, learn about their culture and traditions, participate in tastings and master classes on national crafts, and enjoy the cultural and entertainment programme. Visitors were also invited to participate in the Discover Your Russia quest game and receive memorable prizes from the participants.
More than 100 events were held within 4-day Business and Festival programmes, including business sessions with government and tourism industry representatives, presentations of tourist routes and particularities of the regions of Russia.
Over 200 speakers participated in the Business Programme, including Khasan Timizhev, CEO of the Kavkaz.RF Development Institute, Evgeny Kozlov, First Deputy Head of the Office of the Mayor and the Government of Moscow, Chairman of the Moscow City Tourism Committee, Sergey Korneev, Chairman of the St. Petersburg Tourism Development Committee, and Anastasia Kozlova, CEO of Avtodor-Development LLC.
More than 40 regions of Russia were represented at the Forum by heads of industry executive authorities, businesses, and resorts.
At the ‘Let’s Travel!’ Forum, particular attention was also paid to the national project Tourism and Hospitality Industry and national tourist routes. “Rostourism is working on a programme of national tourist routes—there are already 29 of them—that will enable tourists to travel around the country individually and in groups in an interesting, comfortable, and safe way. Rostourism is ready to support regions, hotels, tour operators, and guides in creating new, interesting routes,” said Elena Lysenkova, Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism, at the 2022 ‘Let’s Travel!’ Forum.
Auto tourism was a key topic of the Forum too. Participants in the plenary session Travel in 2022: Traveler Adaptation and Search for New Experiences noted the growing interest among Russians in road travel and the need to develop roadside infrastructure for comfortable travel across the country. According to Nikolay Valuev, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Tourism and Tourism Infrastructure Development of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, auto-motor tourism is one of the concepts that should be included in the new tourism law.
The Business Programme also addressed issues of increasing the investment attractiveness of regions, the interaction between private capital and regional governments in tourism, developing the camping industry, and innovative technologies in tourism and rural tourism. One of the key topics was the development of tourism in the Caucasus region.
The festival venue featured events revealing secrets of traveling around Russia from travel bloggers, and the gastronomic specialties of the regions. One such event was the presentation session Where, How, and What? Traveling Across Russia, which featured Maksim Vasiliev, captain of the RK-Sport team and record holder of the Baikal Mile speed festival, Ksenia Mayakova, travel blogger, author, and host of the Regions of Russia project, Alexey Nikolaev, author of the Travel in Your Home project, and others. The Gastronomic Map of Russia culinary master-classes platform hosted 11 events featuring leading chefs from across the country.
Over 1,000 reports were released during the 2022 ‘Let’s Travel!’ Forum, including coverage by leading federal news channels such as Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Argumenty i Fakty, Avtoradio, MIR 24 TV channel, and the online publications Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru, and others.
The third Russian Tourism Forum ‘Let’s Travel!’ will take place on June 8–11, 2023 at VDNH, Moscow.
