Russian Convention Bureau: Results of 2019

Created in 2017, the Russian Convention Bureau (RCB) is now an effective marketing tool for promoting Russia on the international market of business events. Last year, as part of its activities, RCB kept working towards attaining the objectives of national projects. For example, RCB put forward several proposals for Russia’s tourism industry development strategy till 2035. With support from RCB, four bids to host international events in 2019–2021 were successful.

To strengthen the image of Russia as a suitable venue for an event of any level, demonstrate event capabilities of Russian regions, and attract international business events to Russia, RCB organized expositions at IMEX and IBTM World — key international exhibitions in the meetings industry. The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and the foreign media acknowledged the accomplishments of RCB. In keeping with its mission of consolidating the country’s event industry domestically and supporting it internationally, RCB took part in key Russian sectoral and economy-wide business events.

Russia’s event market

According to ICCA, Moscow and St. Petersburg are the most popular convention destinations in Russia. Russia’s capital is leading the national event market by the number of events hosted and was 43rd in the European rankings in 2018. Other events took place in Sochi, Kazan, Vladivostok, Nizhny Novgorod, Ekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, and other Russian cities which collectively accounted for 35% of business events and 21% of their attendees.

Total turnover of exhibition, trade fair, and convention activities in 2018 was RUB 30.7 bn (roughly 0.03% of Russia’s GDP). This indicator has shown a growth of 2,4%. The number of event attendees has increased by 0.4%. At the same time, the total exhibition area has decreased by 12.3%, and the number of exhibitors by 6.1%. The most common subject matters of events in Russia and globally in 2018 were science, medicine, technologies, and education. In Russia, however, topics related to sports, recreation, business, and ecology received more attention than globally.

Source: ICCA

Russian Regions Event Potential Rating 2019

In late 2019, R&C Market Research Company reviewed the results of Russian event market research and, for the sixth time, ranked the Russian regions for their event market potential. According to a number of criteria, such as the number of events attracted, maturity of the tourism infrastructure, and transport accessibility, most regions improved their qualitative performance in 2019 over the previous year, with the structure of indicators becoming more diverse.

The top three rankings have changed somewhat. While St. Petersburg and Ekaterinburg traditionally hold the 1st and 2nd places, Kazan has moved up reaching the 3rd position. The top ten include Samara, Rostov-on-Don, and Krasnoyarsk, all of which have significantly improved their performance compared to the previous year. The breakthrough made by the Siberian city was largely driven by efforts to develop the region’s facilities and resources and to promote it on the global event market in the wake of hosting the XXIX Winter Universiade.

Source: R&C Market Research Company

Strategic partners and members of the Russian Convention Bureau

To consolidate and develop the country’s event industry, RCB forges partnerships with regional administrations and Russia’s largest sectoral associations. At the moment, RCB has agreements with 36 partners. The number of RCB member companies is getting close to 100 and keeps growing. These companies are key event industry players from 19 regions of Russia. RCB continues to pursue the goal of expanding the boundaries of communication and sharing knowledge and experience at national and global levels.