Moscow Offers Subsidy Of Upto 10 Million Rubles for 2+ Days Event
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In a bid to position Moscow as a leading tourism and business destination in India, Moscow City Tourism Committee (MCTC) recently organized its city roadshow in Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai.
Speaking on the sideline of an event in Mumbai to T3, Anastasia Popova, Head of the Directorate of Congress, Exhibition and Industry Projects, Moscow City Tourism Committee, said that India has a very little knowledge in terms of products that Moscow offers. “We are now trying to promote by connecting with advertising companies and bloggers, to increase visibility and we hope that the situation changes. In 2020, it was planned to launch electronic visa for Indians and unfortunately, it stopped now. I think visa, flights, and lack of information are important elements here,” Popova said and added that tourism is getting back on track post pandemic.
She informed that its mostly domestic tourists as of now. “Considering this first half of this year, we had almost 8 million tourists, where about 700,000 of them were from other countries. But we hope that the situations change this year, especially next year. With our promotional events, we hope that we get more international travelers to Moscow,” she opined.
Replying to a question about slightly lower awareness of the Moscow’s tourism products in India, Popova accepted the fact that travel agents and companies in India don’t know much about the products of Moscow. “They know about old things only. But we have several new products, new incentive ideas, new experiences especially curated for Indian tourists. And now it’s time we renew the relationships between India and Moscow, and therefore we are planning for a familiarization trip, Media trips and Bloggers meet in Moscow to strengthen the relationship,” she revealed adding that MCTC is now trying to promote by connecting with advertising companies and bloggers.
Actually, we have already launched and have an advertising company in Delhi Airport. And of course, we will do it in 2023. “India is one of the most important markets for us. And we are planning to do a lot of things in this market,” she added.
Talking more on the India market, Popova said Indian tourists are mostly group tourists, family tourists, MICE tourists before the pandemic. “But now we are looking for the wedding segment, and we are in the beginning of this. Moscow has a great potential, but India never looked at Moscow as a potential wedding destination. And for India, it is going to be really interesting, and India should be looking at this point,” she said and emphasized that MCTC plans to look at Indian weddings very seriously.
“We are planning to make some brochures with some wedding ideas and places in Moscow that are perfect for wedding. We are also planning to connect with wedding companies and wedding planners to suggest Moscow as a wedding destination in India. In terms of MICE, in Moscow, one can find venues and hotels nearby for any events. Now, we have a special grant program, companies that are coming to Moscow for any event for more than 2 days can have a subsidy of upto 10 million rubles. We launched this program in June, and of course, we will be happy to see the Indian tourists getting that subsidy,” she said.
On connectivity, she said that there are direct flights from Delhi to Moscow and indirect routes from Mumbai. “We are here to talk to tour operators, to analyze and understand what tourists flow we can have, and how can change the operations, as flights are very important. we have a collaboration with Aeroflot, and we share our requests and show them our interest towards strategies and having more flights and change the situation,” she wished.
We want to say that Moscow is very hospitable, and it welcomes every person and wants Indians to be our friends and guests, she concluded.