Why does not Petersburg attracts tourists

In theory, St. Petersburg has all the prerequisites to take place among the most attractive tourist cities in Europe: a world-class museums, authentic historic center and something elusive, something referred to as the unique atmosphere of the city. In practice, this potential remains underutilized. If in London each year come to about 25 million tourists in Paris - about 16 million that St. Petersburg last year visited the 5.1 million Russians and foreigners. Although in absolute terms the number of visitors increased during the year to 300 thousand people, we can assume that the popularity of St. Petersburg as a tourist destination is reduced. The study showed a marketing company European Cities Marketing, in 2009, St. Petersburg is not among the ten most popular tourist cities in Europe, whereas in 2005 it ranked sixth. As it turns out, a city on the Neva River for tourists unnecessarily expensive, and not quite comfortable neprityagatelen to re-visit. Dearly. Tourism, according to the Northwest Regional Branch of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (SZRO PCT), to date, in the municipal economy generates about 115 billion rubles a year without taking into account the multiplier effect for other sectors of the city. Over half of these generate revenue by foreign tourists who came to rest, which make up only a third of visitors. But to attract this category of cost-effective reviews are not so simple - a journey into the city on the Neva carries for them with visa difficulties and unnecessarily high costs. "Russia and St. Petersburg continue to lose its popularity, remaining in the world market expensive area in comparison to any other. The high price leads to a decrease in the flow of tourists from Europe "- the president of the company" Komintur "Lilia Garbuz. Cost week tour to St. Petersburg more than 1.5 thousand euros, which is significantly more expensive than similar trips to Eastern Europe, and comparable to travel to India, China and Thailand, despite the greater distance and the same term. According to the head Sergei Korneev SZRO PCT, the high price due to the transport component in a package of tourism services, which, in turn, determined the tariff policy of a monopolist airport Pulkovo. "In St. Petersburg, in contrast to the airports of Helsinki, Riga, Moscow, virtually no international loukosterov. And those who work with Pulkovo, are forced to negotiate prices with the Russian air carriers and keep them at a high level ", - says Sergey Korneev. As a result of the airfare from St. Petersburg exceeds the price of hops in a similar direction from Moscow on 30-40% of Tallinn or Helsinki - at times. Substantial share in the cost of tour package rates also contribute to the hotels, last year was an average of about 100 euros per room without breakfast. Competition in the hospitality market is very reasonable: According to the Committee on Investments and Strategic Projects Administration of St. Petersburg for a thousand people have 5.8 rooms, while in Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam, the rate of 3-6 times more. The situation exacerbates the structural deficit. The vast majority of investors continue to invest in a luxury-class, whereas in segment 2, 3-star is still empty. Even more significantly the lack of an adequate supply in the segment of business travel. In the city there is no specialized convention center world-class, able to accommodate 2-3 thousand participants, while providing a full range of services. The current total capacity of 50-60 sites on 8-9 thousand people are overloaded during the peak season. "We have a hundred hotels, only five of congress, that is, on the proposal we are quite limited and can not meet even existing demand for holding business events in our city, not to mention the security of its growth," - says Kirill Katin, CEO of the group of companies " BSC APEX ", specializing in business travel. "Foreign partners do not consider St. Petersburg seriously as a venue for major international events. Shanghai has built over 5 years, 350 thousand square meters. meters of exhibition centers in Beijing - 1.5 million square feet. meters. We are far behind "- confirms his colleague, General Director of" Jay Pee Ess Travel "Victoria Pechenkina. Uncomfortable. The high cost of tours can be compensated only by the quality of service and unique offers. While St. Petersburg in the first parameter of losing not only the cities of Europe, but Moscow. Tourist encounters with the inconvenience of rest in St. Petersburg at the stage of studying the future of the route. Internet has now become the main means of reports and advertising and information to the consumer, and the largest "trading floor": more than 78% of tourists around the world make decisions about future travel, exploring the World Wide Web. To get a complete picture of Saint-Petersburg Internet users is not easy: so far there is no consolidated method of combining the tourism industry of the city in a virtual space. Less than half of the St. Petersburg hotel reservations e-services support and few accept electronic payments. "The object of attraction and visits for today's tourists is the city itself, the unique urban environment, attractive to different target audiences" - says the project director of the Center for Strategic Initiatives (CSR) "North West" Victoria Zheltova. But in this sense, St. Petersburg may disappoint the guests. City, and especially its central part, where the main tourist routes, often "choked" in traffic. Incoming Tour Operator, because of transport problems can not be guaranteed to consumers on schedule travel programs. Guests of the town facing the crowded public transport, the lack of pointers and background information. In St. Petersburg, of course, there are parks, outdoor cafes, retail nucleate gradually Street designer brands or antiques, pedestrian areas, lofts, galleries, art centers. Such space-oriented pastime outdoors, creating a sense of celebration of being in the city and the most attractive for tourists. But while they are small and geographically separated. The director of the Princess of Vladimir CSR, the answer would be "stretching the center" - at the expense of the redevelopment areas crumbling Admiralty district, industrial buildings along the Bypass channel on Ligovsky Avenue. While the expansion program, "tourist zone" of St. Petersburg there. Uninteresting. Petersburg tourism business as usual, is betting on a win-win brand: the Hermitage, Peterhof, the white nights. But they seem to stop working - cultural tourism in the traditional form of more and more difficult to hold the attention of visitors. "During the crisis, St. Petersburg was not lost on the number of tourists, but decreased during their stay in the city and, accordingly, declined an additional cost. Whereas previously the majority of tourists come for 4-5 days, now - for 3-4 days ", - says Sergey Korneev. I can not also be achieved increasing the number of repeat visits: according to statistics, again returned to Paris in 80% of tourists to the UK - 77%. In St. Petersburg, according to SZRO PCT, the second time come to no more than 20%. To make a person again and again to return to St. Petersburg, as it turned out, the Hermitage is not enough. "The market for traditional cultural tourism is not growing. Crisis problematize current positioning of St. Petersburg in the world. We need new sources of growth in the industry "- sure Victoria Zheltova. Such a source of growth could be the event tourism, which, moreover, could alleviate the problem of seasonality (now about 85% of visitors come to town for a "hundred days of gold" - from May to September). However, in a program of cultural events of the northern capital of this year appear mostly traditional, and not a "breakthrough" events: Carnival, "Scarlet Sails", jazz festivals and so on. Petersburg, even at risk of losing the title of "cultural capital" of Russia. A year ago at the World Economic Forum Minister of Culture of the Perm region, Boris Milgram said that this place claims to Perm. "Perm - is the cultural capital. This situation will continue to grow "- predicts one of the ideologues of the process, the director of the Museum of Modern Art PERMM Gelman. Tempt tourists registrar. However, before taking the numbers to press the Government of St. Petersburg still adopted a new tourism development program for 2011-2016 that will cost the city budget to 872.2 million rubles. In the five years proposed to bring the number of visitors from 5.1 million to 8.1 million people. Chairman of the Committee on Investments and Strategic Projects Alex Chichkanov called major targets of the new program: extend the stay of tourists in St. Petersburg from the current 3 to 5 days to increase the number of repeat visits to the city (now the figure is less than 20%), 2.5-fold increase number of rendered services to tourists. Among the main directions of development of event-chairman of the committee identified and congress tourism. The program was made a few fundamentally new proposals. Create a tourist police to surround the town campsites for avtoputeshestvennikov - soon eight parcels of land will be put up for auction. Among the most striking innovations - an opportunity to be in St. Petersburg without a visa within 72 hours for those who arrived here by train, and register the marriage within two days after application. In total, according to Chichkanova, these efforts will help increase the share of tourism from the current 10% (115 billion rubles.) Up to 13% of GRP. From the perspective of the head of the Northwest regional office of Sergei Korneev PCT to achieve its performance, you need to move from extensive development path presented in the program in 2005-2010, the leadership strategy, which is the basis for an aggressive marketing campaign promoting the image of the northern capital, domestically and international markets. However, the efficiency of executing the previous one, "extensive" program is evaluated by experts is ambiguous.