WTCF Visits St. Petersburg to Meet with Saint Petersburg Committee for Tourism Development

St. Petersburg joined WTCF as a city member in 2016. In order to deepen mutual understanding and discuss further cooperation opportunities, Yan Han, Deputy Secretary-General of WTCF, along with 3 colleagues of WTCF, paid a visit to Saint Petersburg Committee for Tourism Development to meet with Andrew Mushkarev, Chairman of Saint-Petersburg Committee for Tourism Development; Evgeny Victorovich Pankevich, Director of St. Petersburg Tourist information Bureau; Orhan Rzaev, Director for Asia Pacific Region, on June 27th.

Mr. Mushkarev introduced the general situation of tourism in St. Petersburg, including China related tourism activities and Chinese tourists travelling to St. Petersburg in recent years. “St. Petersburg opens its arms to Chinese tourists,” said Mr. Mushkarev. He added, however, that “There are also some weak areas in practical travel reception.” He wishes to discuss with the WTCF about how to conquer these weak areas so as to promote local tourism. According to Mr. Mushkarev, the Mayor of St. Petersburg will participate in the 22nd UNWTO General Assembly, which will be held in Chengdu this September. Additionally, the city is also preparing to bid for the UNWTO General Assembly in 2019.

Deputy Secretary-General Yan Han introduced the main work that WTCF accomplished in the first half of the year to the representatives of Saint-Petersburg Committee for Tourism Development. His introduction included the Asia Pacific Tourism Conference held in Penang, Malaysia in March of this year, and the “Belt and Road” tourism corridor node city construction initiative that was proposed during the “Belt and Road” Forum for International Cooperation held in Beijing this May. During the forum, WTCF and SCO singed a strategic cooperation agreement to boost the mutual benefits, and communication and cooperation between the tourism cities along the “Silk Road” Economic Belt. At the same time, he also introduced WTCF’s academic research results, training programs and so on. Deputy Secretary-General Yan Han representing WTCF earnestly invited the Mayor of Saint Petersburg and its tourism delegation to attend the Los Angeles Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit. In light of the close relations between WTCF and UNWTO, Deputy Secretary-General Yan Han suggested that if time permits, Saint Petersburg can jointly apply to host the annual meetings of WTCF and UNWTO. This could potentially be a tourism event of Saint Petersburg in 2019, and also effectively boost the progress of Saint Petersburg’s tourism industry. Mr. Andrew was very interested in this suggestion, saying that he would propose this suggestion to the city mayor, and it also showed the city’s intent to hold the World Tourism Cities Federation Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit 2019.

Through this meeting, WTCF and Saint Petersburg had a better understanding of each other. They reached consensus on holding summit, organizing training, fully participate in the research and construction of the data platform.

During the afternoon, WTCF representatives had a discussion with representatives from 20 travel agencies of Saint Petersburg. Yan Han, WTCF Deputy Secretary-General, introduced the WTCF research report on China's outbound tourism market. Mr. Han also analyze the opportunities and challenges of Saint Petersburg in receiving Chinese tourists. He put forward the advice and suggestions, which gained positive feedback from the representatives.