MOSCOW, RUSSIA - On March 23, in the WTC Moscow quarters a three-day Russian Forum on Meetings Industry was launched. This is a key annual event for the industry, where professional event organizers, representatives of the Congress Bureaus, organizing committees of industry associations, corporate customers and suppliers of various types of services are provided with the opportunity to discuss future prospects of the industry.

Vladimir Salamatov, Director General of the World Trade Center Moscow, opened the Forum. He noted that the meetings industry is “the most important sector of the economy of any country and the world” which stimulates economic growth (over the last ten years business tourism triggered 30% of world economic growth – according to the WTC data).

The CEO of the WTC Moscow congratulated participants on the opening of the Forum and with the fact that they work in an industry that allows you to be “in constant creative process and advancement."  According to him, it means that the Russian meetings industry has “immense prospects." The market volume of the meetings industry in the world amounts to hundreds of billions dollars. Russia's share in this market is now less than 1% (in contrast - Russia's share in world trade is 3%). There are 7,000 professional organizations that set up about 20 thousand events per year worldwide. These are large, 100-150 million dollars worth each, and smaller ones with a meager budget. “But only 600 international associations, in the history of Russia, carried out their activities at our territory. That means we have enormous potential," – said Vladimir Salamatov.

According to him, despite the challenging economic situation and current sanctions policy the industry has additional opportunities for growth. “There is rather great number of companies that conduct their business meetings and events outside of Russia, which now will shift to the Russian Federation. Thus, 61% of the experts surveyed at the January event forum in St. Petersburg believe that after 2020 Russia will enter the top-10 list of the countries with well-developed event-industry.

According to Vladimir Salamatov, despite all the sanctions and crisis “we must continue to communicate with all partner-countries, to facilitate the entry of business tourists in Russia, and to show them not only Moscow and St. Petersburg. In every village, there are a lot of things interesting not only for the residents."

He also noted that the State is going to promote the development of the industry: for example, the Government has approved the concept of convention and exhibition activities created by Congress bureau of Moscow.

At the end of the meeting Vladimir Salamatov wished the Forum participants further success: “The WTC Moscow will always be a reliable partner for anyone who wants to organize an event, a joint event or to carry out something new."

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