March 21-24, the Expocentre on Krasnaya Presnya hosted the main tourism exhibition of Russia - Travels and Tourism / MITT 2007. For the 14th year already, the MITT exhibition has opened the spring-summer tourist season. Its permanent organizer is the leader of the exhibition business - ITE.
At the opening ceremony of the exhibition was attended by many honored guests. This is no coincidence, because MITT is the main event for travel industry specialists. From the Government of Russia, participants and guests of the exhibition were welcomed by Deputy Minister of Culture and Mass Communications Leonid Nadirov. The official opening ceremony of the exhibition was also attended by the representative of the Coordination Council for the improvement of tourism legislation of the Committee on Science, Culture, Education, Health and Ecology of the Federation Council Alexander Volchkov, the Minister of Support and Development of Small Business of the Consumer Market and Services of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Vasily Kazakov, president US and Russian Business Council Val Kogan, former British Ambassador to Russia, Sir Roderick Line.
The exhibition "Travel and Tourism" has long become the main Russian platform for contacts among professional tour operators from our country and foreign countries. As noted by Alexander Shtalenkov, CEO of ITE LLC in Russia, "this is the only tourism exhibition in Russia that the world travel industry is considered to be." In the world ranking of tour shows today MITT is in third place.
The popularity of this forum is constantly growing: this year more than 2,700 companies from 110 countries and regions took part in its work. Moreover, more than half of the participants are foreign companies. The MITT exhibition covers the entire territory of the Expocenter. Traditionally, all MITT members are geographically divided. Pavilion No. 2 is occupied by travel companies, hotels, airlines, and tourism administrations of the countries of the Mediterranean, Europe and Scandinavia. The Forum pavilion houses foreign companies, hotels, airlines, and tourism agencies of the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa. In pavilion No. 1 you can familiarize yourself with the proposals of the leading Russian tour operators on outbound tourism. The section "Domestic Tourism" is presented here, including motels, guest houses, hotels in Moscow, Moscow Region, St. Petersburg, Russian regions, Krasnodar Territory, Ukraine, Crimea, Belarus, river cruises. Pavilion No. 5 (Hall 1) houses the combined stands of the CIS countries.
The Russian tourism industry was represented by a consolidated stand of the Committee on Tourism of the city of Moscow and 16 Russian regions - members of the Coordination Council on Tourism "Regions of Russia - Moscow Agreement". At a joint stand, an exhibition area of about 500 square meters, 80 tourism companies and hotels from different regions presented their tourism resources and opportunities.
15 museums presented the rich cultural heritage of Moscow and Russia: the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Moscow Museum Ostankino Estate, the State Museum of Leo Tolstoy, the Museum of N. Roerich, the State Museum of A.S. Pushkin. Biological Museum, State Darwin Museum, Moscow State Museum "Burganov's House", Panorama Museum of the Battle of Borodino, State Institution "Memorial Museum of A.I.Skryabin", Ostrovsky Museum and Museum "Overcoming", Museum-Reserve Borodino Field, State Historical Museum, Moscow State United Museum-Reserve (Kolomenskoye, Lefortovo, Lyublino).
Dubai's leading travel companies and hotel chains were represented at the joint booth of the Department of Tourism and Commercial Marketing, and the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Fujairah, traditionally participating in MITT with their exhibits, built separate booths.
All MITT participants noted improvements in the exhibition. Among the innovations of MITT is a new registration system, which greatly simplified the entrance of visitors to the exhibition. Passing by invitation and registering, visitors received personalized badges, which allowed visitors to visit the exhibition all the days of its work. For the convenience of specialists coming to the exhibition, on the second floor of Pavilion No. 1 (balcony) and Pavilion No. 5 (Hall 2), a wardrobe and a left-luggage office with small cells were arranged in which packages with catalogs and information materials could be left. The exhibition also had its own Internet cafe for exhibitors located in Pavilion 5 (Hall 2). A press office with free Internet access for journalists was also equipped there.
A competition was held within the framework of the exhibition, the laureates of which were: "Inna Tour", National Tourism Organization of Greece ("Best Stand Design"); Joint booth River Cruises, North Flanders National Bureau of Tourism (Bright Debut); Abel Abelovich Yaralov (Tris T company) and Katya Zhekova (Bulgaria) received awards in the nomination "The best managers for organizing the company's participation in the MITT-2007 exhibition"; Coral Travel Company and the Department of Tourism and Commercial Marketing of the Government of Dubai ("The most active participant in 2007").
See you at MITT-2008!
