30/11/2004

On 30 September - 01 October 2004 the Vice-President of the World Travel & Tourism Council Richard Miller and the Research Director of the Russian Project Nancy Cockerell visited Moscow to meet with Russian official bodies and private sector companies from the tourism industry.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is the forum for global business leaders comprising presidents, chairmen and CEOs of 100 of the world's foremost companies. It is the only body representing the private sector in all parts of the Travel & Tourism industry worldwide.

The visit to Moscow was the first step after the recent decision of the Executive Committee of the WTTC to conduct in 2004/2005 a market research in Russia with the aim of identifying the potential, growth and development of the Russian tourism sector, both outbound and inbound.

According to Richard Miller, WTTC has realised similar projects in 147 countries - most recently China and Hong Kong (in 2003) and South Africa (in 2002). The above mentioned country reports have been placed on the WTTC website, which have been downloaded by 30 000 visitors. Research results were presented in worldwide known publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the New York Times, and South China Morning News.

The research work in Russia will involve studying of management, promotion and marketing issues in the tourism industry of Russia, the issue of education and preparation of qualified managers for the industry as well as taxation system, infrastructure and legal policies. The completed report on the research and its findings will be presented both in English and Russian in early 2005 at a series of events professionally organised for these purposes.