Modern exhibition and congress activities. Congress and exhibition activities

Expocentre Fairgrounds is the largest exhibition complex not only in Moscow, but throughout Russia. Congress and exhibition activities here are expanding every year. This includes holding both Russian and international congresses, conferences and seminars. CVK is a member of leading international companies that unite major market players. These include the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), the International Concert Association (AIPC), and the International Federation of Convention and Exhibition Services (IFES).

Congress and exhibition activities at Expocentre are considered one of the main areas of activity. The exhibition at the present time represents a huge range of services and provides assistance to all participating companies in solving the most basic tasks of developing their business. This includes:

search for partners and dealers;
planning business contacts;
study and marketing research of the market and competitors;
strengthening the image;
brand recognition;
search for product sales channels.

Why Expocentre?

All exhibitions that take place at the Fairgrounds are accompanied by a specialized business program aimed exclusively at specialists and exhibitors. Congress and exhibition activities, which includes congresses, round tables and conferences, takes place throughout the exhibition. This is where leading Russian and European specialists, entrepreneurs and manufacturers, scientists and heads of ministries, technologists and designers meet and exchange experiences. A very striking example of this is the International Forum of the Exhibition Industry “5pEXPO”.

Expocentre Fairgrounds is very easy to find. It is located in the very center of the capital, near the Vystavochnaya metro station and the Moscow City complex. Nearby there are hotels, convenient parking, cafes and restaurants. Expocentre Fairgrounds is pleased to welcome absolutely everyone and hopes that its congress and exhibition activities are able to satisfy all customer requests related to holding exhibition events of various sizes.

To hold congresses, the complex has a specially created department that organizes business programs, as well as non-exhibition events. This department employs exclusively highly qualified specialists with professionalism and experience in conducting a wide variety of events of any scale and format. Expocentre managers are also ready to offer a package of comprehensive services for your exhibition event.

What does the congress and exhibition activities of the Central Exhibition Complex cover?

A range of services for choosing the concept of the event itself, its organizational, technical and information support, as well as qualified selection of a conference package.
32 multifunctional conference halls.
9 exhibition pavilions.
Organization of banquets, coffee breaks, buffets and lunches.
Modern congress equipment, as well as technical support.
Organization of video conferences via the Internet.
Assistance in establishing contacts with professional organizers of congress events in the country and abroad.

In addition to conference rooms, the Expocentre Fairgrounds has exhibition pavilions and open areas where large-scale exhibitions, conventions, forums, conferences, banquets, entertainment and corporate events, as well as music concerts are held.

Each enterprise in the B2B market promotes its products through all possible channels of communication with the consumer audience. Since the industrial market has its own specifics and involves largely targeted contacts with the management of the customer company, the most effective marketing promotion tool is.

The concept of congress and exhibition activities includes such events as:

forums, symposiums, conferences, round tables and other events of a scientific and nature;

events for young people (meetings, tournaments, conferences, festivals);

exhibitions and presentations;

sports tournaments and championships;

ceremonial events (presentation of awards, prizes, patents, etc.)

The B2B market is saturated; moreover, given the consequences of the crisis, the number of consumers in industry markets is decreasing. All this leads to increasing competition between enterprises for sales markets. Under such conditions, active congress and exhibition activities allows you to draw attention to the brand, declare your innovations, advantages, and production capabilities. At the same time, it is worth emphasizing not just on the wide selection of available equipment, but on the wide potential of research and design activities, a unique approach to the task set by the customer and customer focus. Having gained such a reputation, the brand, and with it the enterprise, can count on invitations to participate in new major projects.

The globalization of markets determines the tendency to deploy large projects - this could be the construction of a plant, a new line or production at an existing enterprise. In any case, such a project cannot be completed by one enterprise. That is why it is worth initially fighting for the place of a subcontractor in such a project.

Considering this situation in the B2B market using the example of mechanical engineering, chemical or any other complex, it is worth noting the presence of several large leading holdings or associations, which consist of a whole chain of factories and enterprises throughout the world.

Having their own leadership centers, such enterprises work together on large projects. For example, to launch a new chemical plant, the services of metallurgical and machine tool factories will be needed to create production workshops, a machine-building enterprise to equip production lines, chemical industry enterprises to equip production with raw materials and reagents, etc. This approach to project implementation allows such enterprises to provide themselves with orders by completing large turnkey projects.

Advantages of congress and exhibition activities

Congress and exhibition activities The company will not only receive information about the upcoming project, but also offer its services. Participation in presentations and conferences is not only a demonstration of the brand and its advantages, but also communication in a narrow circle of professionals. It is at such events that the search for business partners takes place, connections with whom are constantly maintained from project to project.

The so-called insider information, which can only be obtained in a private conversation, will allow you not only to offer your services on time, but also to do it before others. As practice shows, in the industry media information about new large projects appears after most of the design work has been completed and the schedule of construction stages and equipment of the facility has been approved. In fact, such information does not allow a third party to get into the project even as a subcontractor.

A company that does not conduct congress and exhibition activities finds itself in information isolation, which does not allow it to communicate directly with large customers, who, as often happens in the B2B market, share the vast majority of the market among themselves.

The bookings that can be obtained through other marketing techniques cannot be compared to the effectiveness of participating in a symposium or conference. Friendly communication with regular customers is a source of the most relevant and new information about major projects on the market. Of course, you can focus your efforts on developing Internet communications, but this channel of communication with the consumer audience is most effective in B2C markets.

In addition to increasing brand awareness, participation in large projects can significantly increase trust in the brand and strengthen your reputation in the market. Active congress and exhibition activities allow us to constantly provide ourselves with not just orders, but to guarantee our participation in long-term projects.

In the vast majority of cases, the construction and launch of new projects is planned for several years, which makes it possible to provide their production facilities with work. Stability of the production program, procurement planning and other activities that, taking into account the long-term nature of the project, can be optimized, which invariably has a positive effect on the cost of production and the growth of the enterprise’s profit.

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Business on display

One of the most important indicators of the state of the economy in the country is the level of activity of the market for congress and exhibition services. Both domestic and international commerce cannot do without high-quality platforms for ensuring communication between representatives of various circles of the business community, authorities and the end consumer. In turn, the convention and exhibition industry itself is a large and diversified business.

Product face

The organization of a professional congress and exhibition business is not often covered by information, but the global turnover of this industry today amounts to many billions of dollars and continues to grow rapidly. This market is a highly competitive field of struggle between various operating companies and developers of such projects. The quality of doing business, both in a particular city and in the state, largely depends on the qualitative and quantitative level of development of the C&C market.

Today, on a global scale, our country’s share in the international congress and exhibition market is limited to 2-3%. At the same time, the technological and organizational level of the Russian market is quite high, although this applies to a greater extent to events in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

About 400 thousand sq. m. are available in Moscow. m of exhibition space, and the mayor’s office plans to increase this figure to 1.1 million square meters. m by 2025. In the city with the second largest market for HF services - St. Petersburg - the total area of conference rooms is more than 100 thousand square meters. m with a capacity of at least 88 thousand people. Most conference rooms are located in hotels, and the supply fully satisfies the existing demand. Just under half (48%) of conference rooms in St. Petersburg are designed for up to 70 participants. Another 16% are occupied by conference halls with a capacity of 70 to 150 people, 36% of halls in the city can accommodate 150 guests or more, mostly palaces.

Based on data from the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs (RUEF), the annual turnover from exhibition, fair and congress activities of RUEF member organizers in 2015 amounted to 29 billion rubles (in 2014 - 27.16 billion rubles). This indicates, albeit a slow but constant increase in the profitability of this industry.

An important driver for the development of the convention and exhibition industry is modern infrastructure. Moscow and St. Petersburg, which with their economic potential provide about two-thirds of the exhibition business in Russia, are very rich in terms of the availability of various venues for events of various sizes. Among the largest exhibition centers in Moscow we can note the All-Russian Exhibition Center, Moscow Exhibition Center "Manege", "Expocentre" and "Crocus Expo".

However, on the other hand, due to the fact that most major international and federal exhibitions are held in two capitals, regional cities are provided to a lesser extent, but, for the most part, this is enough to satisfy existing demand. At the same time, a number of regions still note a lack of quality space for exhibition activities.

Capital confrontation

Returning to capital cities, it is worth noting that St. Petersburg also has another important advantage in the form of a very strong tourism brand, which is becoming more and more famous every year. The city is now more attractive in terms of culture and image. This statement also correlates with data from various international ratings. Thus, St. Petersburg is among the 25 most attractive tourist locations, according to Trip Adviser, and the famous British newspaper Daily Expres previously called the city the most beautiful and elegant in all of Russia.

Another more pragmatic, but no less important advantage is the profile of business in the region. Today St. Petersburg occupies a leading position in power engineering and shipbuilding. In addition, the city is home to the country's largest transport and logistics hubs. In the ranking of the International Congress and Conference Association (ICCA), St. Petersburg ranks 41st in the list of congress cities in Europe, Moscow is only one line higher.

According to Vladislav Fadeev, head of the research department at JLL in St. Petersburg, there are several large convention and exhibition centers in Moscow that have certain advantages and disadvantages, so they can compete for certain major exhibitions. But in the Northern capital, in fact, there is only one complex that meets modern requirements for such venues - Expoforum. “After the transfer of the main events to this site from Lenexpo and the closure of the last one, there will be no alternative to Expoforum, although now there is no competition between them, since they are affiliated. At the same time, it is obvious that St. Petersburg needs a second, maybe a smaller, but meeting modern requirements, congress and exhibition complex in the central part of the city. So far, all the announced projects of congress halls are also located on the outskirts of the city, so they are more likely to compete in price with Expoforum, rather than in terms of quality characteristics (for example, in terms of quality). locations)," the expert noted.

Veronika Lezhneva, Director of the Department of Research for Russia Colliers International, believes that Moscow has a very significant competitive advantage in this regard. “The share of St. Petersburg in the exhibition industry segment is much lower and is mainly focused on the tourist flow. However, it is possible that with the advent of the new large exhibition site Expoforum, St. Petersburg will be able to absorb part of the exhibition activity,” says the specialist.

Behind the scenes of exhibitions

In general, creating an exhibition center from scratch is a rather risky project, which often takes quite a long time to pay off. The high risk lies, first of all, in the fact that if the demand for exhibition space is quite low, then the economic benefit from the project will be very small. The main difficulty of this segment is managing the facility and selling space for rent. If we are talking about a high-quality premium facility, then the rent is quite high; not every event can afford such a cost. For the successful functioning of the site, a powerful, professional sales department is needed. If we talk about a large format, then such objects, as a rule, operate independently and less often need significant synergy; they can include mini-hotels, small retail sites, restaurants/cafes. If we talk about the small format of exhibition venues, they are usually part of hotels.

It is also worth mentioning that the geopolitical and economic situation in one way or another affects all areas of commercial real estate, including exhibition activities. However, the situation in this market is not as dramatic as it might seem. And analysts' opinions on this matter vary quite widely.

In turn, Elena Tishchenko, Deputy Head of the Real Estate Market Research Department at Maris in association with CBRE, recalled that in St. Petersburg, during the crisis of 2015-2016, such significant reductions in business activities were not observed. “In the structure of events, the share of small conferences (up to 50 people) is growing, however, the number of large-scale events (from 500 people) is decreasing. The occupancy of conference rooms located in the center is at a fairly high level - more than 60%,” concluded Tishchenko.

Maxim Morozov, managing partner of the development company M9 Development, believes that the crisis in the economy is certainly affecting this market - and now it is undergoing consolidation processes. “Only those players who manage to shape the agenda in such a way that participants can get real benefits for their business remain afloat. Accordingly, events have decreased by 20-25%, but their overall level has become significantly higher, since due to the emergence of a certain shortage such activities, a very representative composition is assembled. At the same time, we are seeing very tough competition from the sites, and if it was quite difficult to get discounts before, now prices have dropped significantly, and you can get a significant discount to the stated prices,” the specialist said.

Careful growth

In general, despite the crisis in the economy, experts see potential for the development of the convention and exhibition industry in Russia, given the active construction of modern and high-quality infrastructure aimed at hosting major events. Among the locations that may be attractive in the near future for the development of the exhibition industry, in addition to Moscow and St. Petersburg, we can note Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Ufa and Vladivostok. However, this potential is still being held back and cannot yet fully find its way out in the form of the development of completely new projects.

According to Olga Sharygina, Managing Director of the Asset Management Department of NAI Becar, the vacancy in existing facilities is already high. “I think that when the occupancy of space reaches above 80%, new projects may appear. At the moment, the main task is to renew and create demand for those objects that are already operating. As for the regions, I believe in the development of exhibition venues in cities with a population of over a million.” , - Sharygina noted.

And yet, developers continue to announce new projects, although without mentioning specific deadlines for their implementation. Thus, the international investment group Hua Bao plans to build the Druzhba convention and exhibition center on a plot of 30 hectares on Marshal Kazakov Street in the Krasnoselsky district of St. Petersburg. Construction of a complex with a total area of almost 250 thousand square meters. m will be divided into eight queues. According to the plan, it will be completed around 2024. The project includes hotels, business centers, retail space, and an indoor sports complex.

There are currently about 16 exhibition centers in Moscow. “At the moment, in almost every existing project, to a greater or lesser extent, exhibition events are held on a regular basis, so in the next three to five years, given the economic situation, most likely no new capital cities will be built,” - added Elena Klyucharova.

Today, the congress and exhibition industry of such European countries as England, Germany and Spain is still significantly ahead of Russia in terms of international events. Currently, the Russian MICE industry market is estimated at about $22 billion, while the global volume of this market reaches $435 billion. However, our country is gradually taking a stronger position in this important area of activity.

Sergey Mikhailov

There are many classifications of exhibitions and fairs according to the composition of participants (international, national, interregional and local), the subject of the exposition (universal, thematic, industry and interindustry), frequency of holding (periodic, seasonal, one-time), method of holding (permanent, traveling), purposes (for wholesale and retail sales, for providing information about achievements, communication), etc.

If in the 30s of the XX century. Since about 200 international conferences were held annually, in the 90s the number of congress events exceeded 8 thousand per year. The bulk of them, about 80%, are in Western Europe and North America. The first three positions in terms of the number of international symposia and meetings are firmly held by the USA, France and the UK.

Germany, ranked 4th, is known for its exhibitions and fairs. Their popularity is explained by favorable conditions in many industries of this country, increased demand for investment goods and developed infrastructure. Thus, every year in Dusseldorf, considered one of the centers of world fashion, exhibitions and fairs of women's and men's clothing are held, and couturiers from different countries come here. Germany hosted the final World Exhibition of the second millennium, Expo 2000, which opened on June 1, 2000 in Hannover, a famous congress and exhibition center. 189 countries were represented there, which were housed in 53 pavilions on an area of 170 hectares. Expo is not an exhibition in the traditional sense. According to its organizers, this is a huge open-air theater. The main part of the area was occupied by an exhibition on the theme “Humanity - Nature - Technology”. Thanks to the imagination of its participants, visitors were able to travel in space and time and immerse themselves in virtual worlds. The days of Expo 2000 were full of cultural and sporting events.

The largest centers of congress and exhibition activities in Europe and America are Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Washington, Vienna, Geneva, Copenhagen, London, Madrid, as well as Paris and Strasbourg. In addition, every year government and business officials gather in Davos (Switzerland), where forums are held on current issues in the development of the world economy. The named cities have the appropriate material and technical base and have ample opportunities for organizing leisure activities for foreign guests.

Conferences are held in congress centers, hotels, theaters and concert halls, universities and other educational institutions. In the 80s, when there was a trend towards convergence of congress and exhibition activities, the American model of a convention center arose and became widespread. It consists of specially constructed buildings consisting of large halls that can be used for exhibitions and at the same time for receiving conference participants.

In recent years, international events have increasingly been held in buildings of historical significance: castles and unconventional structures. Events held on board ships are popular. Often symposiums and conferences are held in the warm season on the shores of seas or lakes. Participants in such events can not only work, but also relax on the beach, swim and sunbathe in their free time.

Among special events, tourism exhibitions and exchanges deserve special attention. They have been held for 30 years, their number is growing from year to year. In Europe alone, over 200 international tourism exhibitions and exchanges are organized annually. The largest is the International Tourist Exchange, which takes place annually in March in Berlin. Also, every year for 22 years, at the end of January - beginning of February, the International Tourism Exhibition and Exchange FITYUR is held in Madrid. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that it determines price and other trends in the tourism market in the new season. By the attention that experts and the public pay to the expositions of different countries, one can judge the redistribution of tourist flows and the development of certain tourism centers.

The World Tourism Expo takes place in London every year in mid-November. This is a very prestigious professional exhibition designed to establish direct contacts between specialists from different countries.

The International Tourist Exchange in Milan is known far beyond Italy. In terms of the number of exhibitors, it competes with the Madrid and London stock exchanges, and in terms of stand space it is second only to the Berlin fair. Representatives of the tourism business from all over the world come to the Milan Stock Exchange.

An exhibition is an organized thematic event involving the display of exhibits by one or more exhibitors for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If the commercial goals of an exhibition, in addition to expanding business contacts, involve the sale of goods, then such exhibitions are most often called sales exhibitions. If all demonstration events can be classified as exhibition events: exhibitions, salons, shows, shows, weeks, then the main purpose of fairs is the promotion and sale of products to end consumers. A distinctive feature of fairs is the unification within one area of various manufacturers from different regions selling products that correspond to the stated topic. Fair events include all trade events, such as fairs, exchanges, auctions. A fair is an organized thematic short-term trade event with many participants, held in a specially equipped area and aimed at intensifying the promotion and sale of products and services to consumers. All over the world, the number of exhibitions and fairs is increasing, their geography and range of participants are expanding, and their focus is becoming more diverse. Currently, specialized exhibitions are held in the medical, agricultural, industrial, construction, automotive, hotel and restaurant industries, tourism exhibitions and many other industry events of a similar scale. For example, the Moscow International Travel and Tourism Exhibition (MITT) recently entered the top five largest international tourism exhibitions.

Participants of conferences and fairs are active consumers of a wide range of services, both directly related to the event and beyond it. Income from exhibitions consists not only of proceeds from the sale of exhibition space, but also from the provision of services to participants and visitors (tourism services, entrance tickets, club events and presentations, catering, etc.). Additional services provide more than half of the total revenue from this type of business tourism. The economy of some large cities is largely focused on exhibition activities, for example, such a center of Europe is Frankfurt am Main (Germany).

It should be noted that exhibitions also stimulate travel for two categories of people:

-- participants of exhibitions traveling for the purpose of advertising and selling their products;
-- visitors to exhibitions who attend them for educational purposes, including for the purpose of familiarizing themselves with the latest achievements in various areas of the national economy, concluding contracts, and making purchases.

Congress tourism is a type of exhibition tourism. The differences between congress and exhibition tourism appear at the level of minor specifics, mainly relating to the composition of groups and the requirements for the infrastructure of the host country. It is necessary to separate congress tourism into a small subsection because the organization of congress events, which has much in common with the organization of exhibition activities, places slightly different demands on the infrastructure and organizers. Congress events are smaller in scale than exhibition events, but have a more qualified and demanding composition of participants. In terms of profitability, congress events are inferior to exhibitions, since they are designed for a smaller number of participants. However, unlike exhibitions, congresses, especially international ones, focus on exclusive service, thereby ensuring the occupancy of the best hotels in the city.

MICE - the event usually brings together a wide range of people. Trips to congresses, conferences, summits, and symposiums are distinguished by a special composition of participants:

- corporate participants;
- associations and their members;
- government agencies, educational organizations, health authorities, as well as international flight crews.

Sometimes this group of participants is united by associations. Travel to exhibitions and trade fairs is conducted to present products and services to inform guests and stimulate sales.

Congress tourism has one distinctive feature - it must have a large corporate customer: the government, individual ministries, large corporations and holdings. Events organized at the government level or with the support of government circles can greatly increase their attractiveness, and therefore the occupancy rate of accommodation facilities. Therefore, many congress organizers are trying to enlist the support of government circles to attract various kinds of international meetings to their territory. A prerequisite for classifying a conference or other event into the congress tourism market is that it is held outside the premises of the organization initiating the conference. The use of the services of travel companies when organizing, preparing and holding an event is an essential, but not mandatory, condition. However, no initiator of a serious conference will be able to independently organize it completely. Companies that organize meetings and conferences usually act as specialist intermediaries. The Russian congress tourism market today is a developing, unsaturated market, where competition is not yet strong enough due to the small number of participants. Currently, there are about 15 - 20 companies operating on the business tourism market in Russia, specializing exclusively in providing services in the field of congress tourism.

According to WTO statistics, the share of congress and exhibition tourism in the total volume of business trips is 10-12%. In terms of profitability, congress events are inferior to exhibitions, since they are designed for a smaller number of participants. However, unlike exhibitions, congresses, especially international ones, focus on exclusive service, thereby ensuring the occupancy of the best hotels in the city. Congress and convention hotels that can simultaneously accommodate up to 2 thousand or more participants have become a common occurrence in America, China, and Singapore (absolute records were recorded - 5 thousand participants). In Europe, the average figure for this type of activity is 300 people per event. Most often, in 55% of cases, the initiators of congresses are companies and enterprises, in 45% of cases - associations, federations and public organizations. The main industry customers are the pharmaceutical and automotive industries, financial, insurance, and computer companies. The average duration of congresses is 2 days, which, taking into account the road and cultural program, increases the stay of tourists in the country or city to 4 - 5 days. However, in recent years there has been a tendency for the number of participants to decrease while the average length of stay increases.

An important condition for attracting participants in congress and exhibition events is the degree of economic development of the country and especially the level of development of new technologies, transport infrastructure, communications, and hotel facilities.

The main volume of the congress tourism market falls on Europe, where, along with the best professional personnel and experience in holding such events, various architectural, cultural, and historical excursion sites are concentrated. However, Europe's market share has been declining over the past ten years, and North America, Asia (Middle East) and Latin America are gaining relative popularity, mainly due to the increasing attractiveness of these regions.

Over the past ten years, the USA and Germany have maintained their leading positions among the record-breaking countries for hosting congress events on their territory. In the top five leading countries in 2011 in organizing congresses and conferences held by international Associations on their territory, the following countries have maintained their positions since 2010: USA - 759 events, Germany - 577 events, Spain - 463 events, UK - 434 events, France - 428 events. The top ten world ranking of countries in 2011 by the number of events held looks like this: USA, Germany, Spain, Great Britain, France, Italy, Brazil, China, the Netherlands, Austria. Their popularity is explained by favorable conditions in many industries of this country, increased demand for investment goods and developed infrastructure. Russia ranks only 40th in the 2011 world ranking of countries in terms of the number of events held.

The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) annually publishes a list of cities that host international convention events that meet certain criteria. The event must be rotating - that is, taking place on a regular basis - in at least three different countries, and must also attract at least 50 delegates.

According to ICCA estimates, the ranking of leading cities and countries for hosting major MICE events is as follows: Vienna topped the list of major congress cities, hosting 181 events in 2011. It is followed by: Paris (174), Barcelona (150), Berlin (147). At the top of the ranking of leading countries for holding MICE events are the USA (with more than fourfold growth in volumes over the year), Germany, Spain, Great Britain and France. Russia and Russian cities were not included in the Top 20 of any of the ICCA ratings.

Moscow, in this list, took 100th place, and St. Petersburg only 119. Then the situation changed for the better: Moscow (27 events) rose to 76th place in the list of destinations most popular for holding congresses and conferences, sharing it with cities such as Busan and Montovideo, St. Petersburg (26 events) - rose to 79th place, sharing it with Bordeaux, Manchester and Riga.

In general, according to (ICCA) data, there is an increase in international business events in the world

In Russia, the pace of development of event tourism is not so rapid, which is explained by a number of both subjective and objective factors. Among the main factors are the following:

· insufficient information about the congress and exhibition opportunities of our country on the world market;
· lack of a state concept for the development of congress and exhibition activities in order to regulate regional development at different levels of government;
· insufficient number of highly qualified professional personnel to ensure the organization of congress and exhibition events;
· difficulty in obtaining a Russian visa;
· insufficient provision of security for tourists’ stay in the country (in particular, the lack of special points for foreign tourists);
· insufficient funding for infrastructure development in general, and as a result, an insufficient number of convention and exhibition spaces, hotel rooms, air transportation, metro lines, etc.;

It should be noted that a number of problems have already attracted the attention of government authorities and have begun to find their solution, for example, in 2011 in Russia the area of exhibition events amounted to about 3 million sq.m. (including 884,000 sq. m of indoor space were built), in the coming years it is planned to increase the area of exhibition complexes by another 752,000 sq. m. m. However, in the international congress and exhibition market, Russia occupies only 1% of the total volume of this service and, simultaneously with the construction of new congress and exhibition venues, it is necessary to think through the possibilities of attracting major international events to the country. To enter the global market, it is necessary to create a national convention bureau that will represent Russia in leading international organizations.

The main competitive advantage of St. Petersburg compared to many European convention and exhibition capitals is its unique history, architecture, and cultural heritage. However, to further promote St. Petersburg as a major international business center and increase interest from leading players in the congress market, the city needs modern infrastructure.

According to Rostourism, the top five in terms of the number of citizens visiting Russia for tourism in 2014 are: China (409.8 thousand people), Germany (349.4 thousand), USA (162.1 thousand), Turkey (134 .7 thousand) and Great Britain (134.3 thousand)