Pulkovo Airport and Marine Facade will Collaborate to Improve Saint Petersburg’s Tourist Potential

Northern Capital Gateway LLC (NCG), Pulkovo Airport’s managing company, and Passenger Port of Saint Petersburg Marine Facade PLC will join forces to enhance Saint Petersburg’s appeal as a tourist center. The companies negotiated the corresponding agreement on October 14, 2016 at the INWETEX international travel exhibition in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The parties will collaborate in arrangements with state agencies of the Russian Federation and Saint Petersburg’s public authorities to enable favorable conditions for tourism development, increase sea and air passenger traffic, and attract tourist flows into the city. The company collaboration is aimed at mitigating visa requirements and migration rules for foreign citizens arriving in Saint Petersburg by ships and aircraft. The parties plan to develop a joint initiative to enable a 72-hour visa-free stay in Saint Petersburg for visitors arriving by aircraft and leaving on holiday cruise ships and ferries, and vice versa.

Other focus areas include media partnership, sharing experience, joint participation at congresses, exhibitions and cultural and community events.

“Today, Pulkovo’s infrastructure and service quality correspond to the highest international standards. Furthermore, NCG is constantly increasing the airport route network and connecting Saint Petersburg directly with new cities worldwide. Marine Facade offers excellent opportunities for traveling through the Baltic Sea region and is intensifying its efforts to ramp up inbound cruise tourism in Saint Petersburg. We expect our combined efforts to enhance development of the city’s transport system and its tourist potential,” remarked NCG’s CEO Vladimir Yakushev.

Pulkovo Airport is one of the largest in Russia. Passenger traffic in Saint Petersburg’s harbor amounted to 13.5 million people in 2015. In 2015, Pulkovo was found to be the best airport in Europe according to the Airports Council International ACI ASQ rating.

Northern Capital Gateway LLC is an international consortium. NCG has been managing Pulkovo Airport based on a Public-Private Partnership Agreement and implemented the project for its reconstruction since 2010. Project Phase 1 was completed in 2010-2015; it included construction of a new international passenger terminal, on-site hotel and business center, reconstruction of the Pulkovo-1 former airport terminal, passenger and cargo apron extension, and airfield facility retrofitting and erection. The amount of primary investments was 1.2 billion euros, which was raised without budget funds employment.

The Passenger Port of Saint Petersburg is the first and only specialized passenger port in the North-West of Russia. It is located on the reclaimed territories of Vasilievsky Island in Saint Petersburg. The port complex includes seven berths with a total length of 2,171.06 meters designed to receive cruise ships of up to 340 meters in length, three cruise terminals and one combined cruise-ferry terminal.

Construction of a new port in Nevskaya Guba began in 2005, and as early as September 2008 the Port received its first ship with passengers on board. The port construction project was realized through a public-private partnership. Passenger Port of Saint Petersburg Marine Facade PLC is the only marine terminal operator at the Passenger Port of Saint Petersburg. After construction was complete and the facility was commissioned, all shares of the Company were transferred to the city of Saint Petersburg. In 2014, Passenger Port of Saint Petersburg Marine Facade PLC was recognized by the Russian Association of Commercial Seaports to be the best passenger handling company.