Representatives of the Association of Operators of the Entertainment Industry and Sports and Entertainment Events (AIRIS) took part in the discussion: Executive Director Dmitry Anfinogenov and Deputy Director Natalia Poritskaya made presentations: "Trends in event tourism today" and "Gambling zones of Russia as a driver of event tourism development".
The participants of the plenary session also became: Tarbaev Sangaji Andreevich, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Tourism and Tourism Infrastructure Development, Khidzev Alimbek Tuzemovich, Acting Director of the Department of Tourism Development, Sagid Sergeevich Zaremukov, Director of the National Congress Bureau and others.
"Over the past few years, we have been witnessing a period of active revival and formation of event tourism in the Russian Federation. This is indicated by a number of positive trends. The characteristic features of the current industry are: the growing interest in local tourism within their region, the strengthening of the national motive in choosing a place to relax – our citizens began to travel around their country with increased enthusiasm, large-scale construction of tourist infrastructure facilities.
I would like to note that the projects that are being created today have the potential to develop literally for a hundred years ahead. At the same time, it is easy to identify growth points in the event tourism industry. These include the high cost of transport logistics, a certain lag in the transport infrastructure in some regions, the fragmentation of information resources and the lack of a unified information support system for event tourism. The development strategy of event tourism in Russia must include a comprehensive study of these points," Dmitry Anfinogenov said.
A separate stage of the discussion was the role of Russian gambling zones in the development of event tourism. Natalia Poritskaya shared the results of the work of gambling clusters and talked about the features of their modern organization: "Over the past 8 years, almost 9 million people have visited gambling zones, of which 1 million are citizens of other countries. And the amount of tax deductions for this period amounted to almost 13 billion rubles.
Such indicators indicate the great contribution of the gambling industry to event tourism. I want to emphasize that with a detailed study of the catalog of entertainment activities of modern gambling zones, you will see an impressive increase in the number of non-gaming anchors to visit. Tourists come to the casino for gastronomy, concerts, sporting events, spectacular shows and much more. I would like to note that in each gambling zone there are planned projects that can enhance the event component of their region, and again they are not related to excitement and play."
Sangaji Tarbayev, who represented the interests and position of government authorities at the plenary session, shared his opinion on the importance of developing modern integrated resorts: "The development of event tourism is beneficial primarily to the regions, since the "event tourist" tends to spend more during his stay than any other tourist. Therefore, the administrations of resorts, tourist-attractive cities or districts rely on the all-season offer, organize rich event programs and create integrated management systems for recreation areas. The integrated resort operates as a one–stop shop service - there is a single schedule of events for the entire territory, transport runs in a coordinated manner, and a common system of bonuses and discounts operates."
[AIRIS Association](https://www.aeso.su /)