News

TRAVELEXPO is a new annual event in Togliatti

28 March 2015

From 22 to 24 March 2015 the sports complex "Olymp" in Togliatti hosted the First International Tourist Exhibition-Forum TRAVELEXPO. At the site of more than 2 000 m the most interesting proposals of the season in the field of recreation and entertainment were presented. The forum was attended by experts and exhibitors from different cities of Russia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Italy, representatives of the Government of Samara Region, City Hall and the Duma of the city of Togliatti, tourist information centers, travel agencies and tour operators, cruise and leisure companies.

The authorities highlighted the importance and timeliness of this event. "TRAVELEXPO is the first tourism exhibition of such format in Togliatti. I am sure that this event allow us not only to identify the main problems which ruin the development of the tourism potential of the city and the Samara region, but also to find solutions, to identify points of growth, and to outline prospects", - said Sergey Andreev, the mayor of Togliatti.

I want to point that this event is not an accident - said Mikhail Maltsev, the Head of the Department of Tourism of the Samara region - The last two years Samara region and, particularly, Togliatti became the main city for event tourism in Russia. The recent year has been incredibly difficult for the tourist market. However, it is important to remember that domestic tourism is one of the few market areas which have the greatest development is in times of crisis. There is a fact; we have projects that are ready to be implemented in Togliatti and Samara region. Among them there are: a project for the development of K. Sakharov Complex of Technical Exhibits, a project for updates the number of rooms in the hotels of the city, and a project of opening tourist information points at railway stations, airports, stadiums".

At this stage, before the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the most important thing is to combine the resources of authorities and all market participants for the successful promotion of our region in the global tourism market, - summed up Alexander Rodionov, the Chairman of the Committee on Social Policy of the Duma of Togliatti.

The discussions at the roundtables have been focused on domestic and inbound tourism issues. The participants of Forum told about the rich tourism potential of the city, a high level of development of the event tourism, and a large number of promising areas. According to Mikhail Maltsev, the establishment of K. Sakharov Park and Museum Complex of Technical Exhibits in Togliatti was a strategic project for the development of the tourism market in the whole Samara region. According to our calculations, more than 1500-2000 tourists annually may come to Togliatti to visit K. Sakharov Park and Museum Complex in next 3-4 years. It is quite a real numbers.

Participants of seminars and roundtables agreed that Togliatti have to revive its health-care and recreation centers, including several dozen resorts and tourist camps. According to Professor Victor Kruzhalin, federal expert, Vice President of the National Academy of Tourism, these centers could be an excellent basis for the creation of a unique tourism and recreation cluster.

The states desires to encourage the development of tourist and recreational cluster in the region are based on the high economic efficiency of the industry: "It is a tourism which is a unique, connecting sphere of economy. The development of tourism industry lunches the development in the other 32 areas of the market, including construction, medicine, and etc. For example, the appearance of one new job in tourism industry gives 5 new jobs in other sectors of the economy ", - said Victor Kruzhalin.

Exhibitors and participants of TRAVELEXPO appreciated the level of organization of the event. According to experts, the International Tourism Exhibition and Forum TRAVELEXPO may become a good tradition contributing to the development of economic potential of Togliatti and the competitiveness of local companies in the tourist market. Taking into account the fact that this event was held in our city for the first time, the organizers of the exhibition will pay attention to the recommendations and comments of exhibitors and participants in the organization of the next International Tourism Exhibition and Forum.