MITT 2019: New Destinations, 52 Russian Regions, and a Three-Day Updated Content Programme
On 12–14 March, Expocentre Fairgrounds will host the 26th Moscow International Travel & Tourism Exhibition. The exhibition is organised by ITE Group.
High-profile MITT exhibition has been the key event for Russia’s travel market for over twenty-five years now. It is the place to present the new programmes and identify the trends and destinations for the year to come.
The list of exhibitors at MITT 2019 includes over 1,800 companies from 54 countries. The exposition will be accommodated in six pavilions with a total area of 40 thous square metres.
National Expositions at MITT
Italy, Greece, and Israel will have the largest exposition stands.
MITT 2019 will feature new countries and tourist destinations: Qatar, Lebanon, the Seychelles, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Tanzania, Mongolia, and Indonesia will make their debut at the exhibition. Ecuador will present the Galapagos Islands as a tourist destination. India will be represented by its eastern state Andhra Pradesh and by Madhya Pradesh located in the heart of the country. Japan’s Tottori Prefecture known for its sand dunes and spectacular scenery will have a separate stand for the first time.
Bahrain chose to serve as a partner state this year – this island nation in the Persian Gulf offers beach recreation and state-of-the-art infrastructure for sports tourism. Bahrain is home to the world’s largest indoor vertical wind tunnel and the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir that hosts Formula One Grand Prix. Bahrain’s national stand will feature hotels and host agencies.
Turkey will be more active than last year, as it is planning to increase the number of exhibitors from Belek and Kemer. The Tursab Association of Turkish Travel Agencies and Turkish tour operator Odeon Tours will join the national exposition this year.
Tour Operators at MITT
Despite the difficult situation in the market, stable major tour operators will make large presentations of their programmes at the exhibition. This year, Biblio-Globus, Mouzenidis Travel, TUI, Art Tour, Unicorn, Alean, and Dolphin will offer their tourist products.
Professional visitors will have an opportunity to review the entire range of travel services thanks to the presence of cross-sectional companies at the exhibition. For instance, Europcar will offer a car rental service and ERV Travel Insurance will present the insurance coverage options for tourists travelling both domestically and abroad.
Russian Regions at MITT
MITT 2019 gives special attention to domestic travel. 52 Russian regions will present their tourist products, in particular, Kalmykia, Astrakhan, Mordovia, the Kursk Region, the Tyumen Region, and the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug who will make their debut at the exhibition.
It is for the sixth year in a row that the Altai Territory will serve as the partner region of MITT. 12 March will traditionally be the Day of the Altai Territory. On this day, the region will present its main types of tourism.
The Best Russian Region’s Video contest will be held for the first time shortly before MITT. The objective of the contest is to raise the audience’s interest in domestic and event tourism, cultural traditions, and ethnic diversity of our country. The contest has received
38 applications. Website visitors will be voting for the three videos they liked until 7 March. The awarding ceremony will be held on 13 March at 11:00 a.m. in Pavilion 2, Hall 1 on the Big Arena.
MITT Meetings
To make it easier for the exhibitors and guests to accomplish their business tasks, the exhibition has introduced an appointment service (MITT Meetings) available on the exhibition website. This innovation can be used to make an appointment in advance. The service selects potential partners automatically based on the company’s profile.
MITT Partners
Partner state – Bahrain
Partner region – the Altai Territory
Opening ceremony partner state – Oman
Official insurer – ERV Travel Insurance JSC
Partner bank – Credit Europe Bank JSC
Supported by the Tourism Committee of Moscow
MITT Business Programme
This year, new events have been added to the business programme to enrich and strengthen it as compared to past years. New speakers and formats have been introduced, including pitch sessions, panel discussions, and master classes. The practical aspect of the events is the primary focus: the visitors of the business programme will obtain an even larger amount of application information.
The speakers will talk about the region promotion strategies, portray the Russian tourist, depict the changes in travel preferences, and examine the sector evolution scenarios.
This year, MITT Summit Hotel and MITT Digital will include new partners. MITT Academy format will be continued and complemented with real-life topics: financial and legal matters of travel companies’ operations, HR issues, and promotion tactics for the social media, messengers, and contextual advertising.
On the first day of the exhibition, 12 March, a new Conference titled “Enhancing the Effectiveness of Tourist Information Centres. Best Russian and International Experience” will be held that will include a panel discussion and master class to be delivered by self-management coach Max Cherepitsa. The new event is geared towards a specific real-life result and networking. Jörn Gieschen, world-level expert in the marketing of travel destinations, will be among the keynote speakers.
On the second day of the exhibition, 13 March, Maria Milashevich, lead analyst at Euromonitor International, will take the floor at the Conference titled “Trends for Tourism Industry Development – Travel Trends” with a report on the main trends and development of the global tourism market.
Panel discussion titled “Challenges of the Russian Tourism Market – Market Shocks” is scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m. The attendees will engage in a candid dialogue with the top managers of Russia’s leading travel companies. Taras Demura, General Director of TUI Russia, Yana Muromova, Deputy General Director of ANEX Tour, Anna Podgornaya, General Director of Pegas Touristik, and other panellists will be talking about the last year’s shocks and future prospects and will suggest their options for countering dumping in the travel industry.
On 13 March, a panel discussion titled “Marketing in Tourism, that Does Not Exist” will be held. It will focus on the problems of travel product promotion in the market.
A foresight session titled “Tourist Business 2025–2030” will be held on the same day. The speakers will define the future of the travel industry. The main objective of the event is to shape an expert vision of the key aspects of industry development and simulate its future until 2030.
On 14 March, a case conference titled “MITT 365 – Tourist Product Diversification” will be held for travel agencies and tour operators striving to diversify their business and go beyond the traditional beach destinations. The participants will discuss the special types of tourism, including industrial tourism, rural tourism, and eco-tourism. The speakers will talk about the successful experience in developing new destinations from scratch.
The list of speakers who will address the transfer from traditional tourism to medical and wellness tourism includes Lyudmila Staroverova, General Director of Medassist.
The MITT MICE conference will touch upon the problems of business travel industry development. Particular attention will be paid to the interaction between agencies, customers, and hotels when organizing MICE-events. Yulia Marakhovskaya, an operations Director of CALZEDONIA Russia, and Maria Romanova, a leading specialist on international events management of Amway, will discuss how to be prepared for challenges to win customers.
MITT 2019 exhibition is supported by the Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, Committee of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation for Social Policy, Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation for Culture, Federal Agency for Tourism, and the Moscow Government.
