BizAims

In world practice, business tourism is often nominated by abbreviation MICE (meetings, intensive, conferences, exhibitions). World rates of development of business tourism branch show stable growth during the last years. World leaders of business tourism still remain the USA, Japan and leading European powers, they are quickly caught up with the Asian countries (China, Singapore, and South Korea) and also by the countries of the South America.

According to the report "the Russian market of services in the organization of holidays, corporate actions and corporate tourism", prepared  by ABARUS Market Research in May, 2006, the Russian market of business actions is in a stage of active development. According to the experts, the market grows with speed of 10-20 % per year, at the same time the business tourism market (as a component of the market of corporate actions) grows with speed of 30 % in a year. Recently experts speak about sharp jump of demand in industry MICE. It is certainly connected with the general lifting in economic development and, as consequence, with influence of business contacts.

Tourism not only stimulates development of accompanying sphere of services that creates new workplaces and promotes development of small and average business, but also is reflected in the form of profitable receipts in budgets of different levels. Therefore the government of the Russian Federation, and also administration of regions repeatedly undertook attempts on stimulation and development of tourist streams.

One business tourist on the average spends three times more than the usual tourist going on beach rest, and in 11 times more  than the active tourists who are traveling all over the world with backpacks. The average a foreign tourist spends at in the country for hotel, restaurants, souvenirs, museums is about 150 dollars a day.  A European or an American who has arrived on conference spends about 350-500 dollars a day.

Business tourism in Russia has accurately certain regional specificity. The basic share of business trips and actions is necessary on two capitals - Moscow and St.-Petersburg - and some large industrially-economic centers of Ural Mountains, Siberia and the central part of Russia. It is connected with absence in other parts of Russia of the minimum necessary infrastructure for the business organization. St.-Petersburg, as the city with the biggest tourist potential, certainly, is one of the most attractive directions in Russia’s business tourism, both for Russian tourists, and for foreign ones.

Business trips will frequently be organized by means of travel agencies. Individual business tourists also even more often address to services of travel agencies. Therefore today travel agencies are important participants of business trips market. Thus competition of branch, and also availability and speed of reception of services directly depends on their quantity and quality of service.

Today in St.-Petersburg many travel companies open the departments which are working on reception of business visitors and engaged in the organization of actions. Thus not all can provide a comprehensible degree of service of clients that reflects the level of culture of the industry of hospitality. Besides, in this branch, from the point of view of the personnel, there was a low level of wages that does not allow involving more qualified personnel.

Heads of the tourist organizations are seriously puzzled today by the planned changes in the legislation in connection with bill consideration "About modification of the Federal law". These changes would be desirable to underline that development of business tourism in St.-Petersburg is an impossible effort of separating players of the market without an accurate line of city administration, the government and the federal authorities.

Not secret business tourism is directly connected with level of activity of business. Hence, development of an infrastructure and creation of favorable conditions for business tourism is a problem giving positive effect: it fills regional and federal budgets, and, as a result, stimulates business activity and attraction of investments.

The coherence of investment is obvious. Russians can count on investments and stable economic growth only when officials-bureaucrats will create conditions for business tourism.