EUROPE – The Russian city of St Petersburg is aspiring to open three more congress centres as it aims to achieve its goal of becoming a top 20 international MICE destination by 2020.
“In order to close the gap between cities such as Vienna, Paris and Barcelona, we need to unite forces in our meetings sector, form a convention bureau and create the new necessary congress infrastructure,” says Alexander Shapkin, Deputy Chairman of St Petersburg’s Tourism Development Committee.
Currently, Shapkin says, international quailty congress facilities were only to be found in the city at Restec’s PetroCongress centre and in a couple of international hotels, although capacity at Restec is for 300 delegates and the largest hotel can offer a plenary capacity of 1,200. This capacity was not enough to meet projected demand, he notes, although Gazprom’s ExpoForum Congress Centre is due to come on stream in October 2014 with a 3,000 capacity plenary hall.
Shanghai investors have shown interest, Shapkin tells CMW, in the Krasnoselsky region of St Petersburg and it is understood a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed for a congress centre holding up to 3,000 delegates. The city’s Moscow Region and Frunze Region are also targets for large convention centres able to offer capacity for plenary meetings of 3,000 delegates.
Any city convention bureau, Shapkin adds, would likely be owned by the city authorities.
Shapkin was speaking at the Europe + Asia Event Forum in St Petersburg, organised by Restec, which draws to a close today (24 January) at the PetroCongress centre.
Another Forum speaker, Tatiana Bykadorova, from the Tourism Council of Rostov Region, also spoke of her city’s advanced plans for a convention bureau to maximise the potential spin off meetings business from Rostov’s hosting of part of the World Cup in 2018.
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