The 12th Moscow International Travel Fair
“Vacation At First Hand”
The Moscow International Travels Fair “Vacation At First Hand” will be held in the very central square of the city of Moscow, the Gostiny Dvor exhibition centre, from the 18th till the 20th of May 2012. In 2011, the Fair replaced successfully the format B2B for B2C, and it is now a fair selling the tours. The travel agencies will be able to sell and book tours at the Fair in the very beginning of the summer season, and they will be also able to attract new clients owing to their special discounts and events.
A new exposition concept inclusive of the interactive grounds “Cookery Show”, “Internet Cafe”, “Reading Room”, “Children Playground”, “Movie Theater” will allow the participants to present their services to the most possible extent and will become an additional factor to attract visitors. In the said grounds, the Fair participants will be able to present history, culture and traditions of their countries and regions, to conduct the performance of folk art groups, music performances, to arrange the tasting of national cuisine and beverages, presentation, trip drawings, quizzes, and so on.
In 2012, special sections of the Fair which were very popular among the visitors will continue to operate; these are: “Active Tourism”, “Ecological Tourism”, “Social Tourism”, “Children Tourism”, “Sightseeing Tourism”, “Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage”. Within the framework of these themes, topical seminars, roundtables for experts and general audience as well as master classes, press conferences, competitions and many other events will be held.
A special fair to sell authentic products will provide an opportunity to show the products of folk trades, souvenirs, industrial and food products peculiar to a region or a country in question.
MITF-2011 collected the representatives of 470 companies from 45 Russian regions and 32 foreign countries. More than 20 Moscow hotels, 28 museums and galleries of the city, 6 Moscow higher educational institutions participated in the exhibition. 124 representatives of the Russian and foreign mass media worked in the exhibition. Around 23000 individuals visited MITF-2011.
Organizational Committee of the Fair:Success of Fair 2011 in the new format is evidenced by numerous responses of its participants and executive persons of the industry:
Head of Rostourism Aleksandre Rad’kov noted that the exhibition had a serious potential to grow: “It will help to develop essentially the Moscow tourist potential. It is important also that the Fair is held in the right time, on the eve of high season”.
Chairman of the Committee for Tourism and Hospitality of the city of Moscow Sergey Shpil’ko is confident that the renovated MITF has all the potential to become the principal guideline for the Moscow residents to choose summer vacation locations: “MITF is a compass activated on the eve of high season”.
Office Director of Natalie-Tour company in Novy Arbay Viktoria Filippenko noted high standard of Fair 2011: “The exhibition turned out to be great, as far as the matters of communication with potential and regular clients and the arrangement of the exhibition are concerned. New ideas implemented by the organizers this year attracted many tourists to us”.
Director-General of the company “In the World of Fantasies” Marina Saushkina thinks that MITF-2011 was interesting owing to its versatility: “Modern format of the tourist show attracts people owing to its wide range of things to choose from and buy: culture, knowledge, cuisine, tours and souvenirs. This fair is alive. This is a very right area”.
Natalia Andronova of Atlantic Line – Sea Cruises says: “… our impressions surpassed all the expectations. First of all, the Fair was attended by many visitors. Such a fair is really needed to Moscow”.
“It is the fifth time that we participated in the Fair, and attendance is noticeably higher this year: people are interested here”, - says director-general of Elita-Travel, a Tunisian company, Ben Fredge Kais, - “I did not even think that the sales would be so successful, demand for our product is surprisingly high”.
Crimean Tourism Development Center, Director Nicholay Tereshenko: «…We are very pleased with the results of the participation in the exhibition. As a result of the fair, the first deputy minister made the statement that the Crimea is going about to double the number of areas next year.»
“A tourist event, a novel one for Moscow and Russia, was held at high standard”, - says head of department of development and organization of tourist activity of the Committee for Physical Training, Sports, Tourism and Work with the Youth of the Moscow Region Lyubov’ Polozkova, - “we will be glad to cooperate with the Fair in the future too”.
General Partner Aldemar Hotels
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