【Summit Senior Figures Interview】Interview with Nana Gvichiya , Deputy Chair of the Saint Petersburg Committee for Tourism Development : Greater Efforts Have Been Made by Saint Petersburg to Meet the Service Demand of Chinese Tourists

During the 2016 Chongqing Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit, Nana Gvichiya, Deputy Chair of the Saint Petersburg Committee for Tourism Development, was interviewed by representatives of The Travel Channel and We-media of the WTCF. She introduced the current situation of tourism in Saint Petersburg.

Ms. Gvichiya said, “Saint Petersburg is considered as one of the warm and friendly cities in the world with a long history as well as some famous tourist attractions. Every year we have many Chinese tourists traveling to Saint Petersburg. The new statistics indicate that this year, the number of Chinese tourists has increased by 200%. We hope this trend will maintain growth.”

It is understood that Saint Petersburg has been devoted to attracting Chinese tourists for a long time and some measures have been implemented. Ms. Gvichiya says that to attract more Chinese tourists, Saint Petersburg is actively communicating with Chinese cities. Currently, tourists can find Chinese road signs in Saint Petersburg. When they go to restaurants they can always find waiters capable of speaking Chinese. Additionally, in Saint Petersburg there are Chinese tea shops and teahouses which are becoming more and more popular, not just for Chinese tourists, but also the locals.

“The permanent resident population in Saint Petersburg is 5 million; however the number of tourists traveling to Saint Petersburg every year is 6 million. The increase of tourists is very important to the economic development of a city. The development of tourism will contribute to the prosperity of the hotel and catering industry, tourism souvenirs, etc. The more tourists come, the more investments will go into the accommodation, transportation, and cities facilities. That is to say, it is an industry with a high return which is beneficial for the city development.”