The Moscow City Tourism Committee is focusing on leisure, MICE, wedding and film tourism segments in India to spur tourism growth. The Indian outbound tourism market is now strongly recovering for Moscow with the destination recording 60,000 tourist arrivals from India in 2023 – a 25 per cent year-on-year growth over the previous year.
Evgeny Kozlov, first deputy head of the mayor’s office and the Government of Moscow, chairman of the Moscow City Tourism Committee who is at present in India as part of the delegation participating in trade event, SATTE 2024 said the electronic visa regime which was introduced by Russia for India among many other global markets on August 1, 2023 is helping the tourist numbers to grow.
“There are many diverse tourism experiences available in Moscow. We want to promote the use of ‘RUSSPASS’ among Indian leisure tourists who with the use of this digital platform can plan their trip in Moscow according to their interest,” said Kozlov.
Last year, Moscow hosted the Meet Global MICE Congress which recorded a strong presence from the Indian market. “We cooperate closely with the Indian MICE planners, educating them about our MICE products through fam trips. This year, we are planning a fam trip for MICE planners in India,” said Kozlov.
The Moscow City Tourism Committee is also looking to tap into the Indian weddings segment, since no Indian wedding has been hosted in Moscow.
“We understand the potential of Indian weddings and want to penetrate this market. Apart from traditional venues, as a destination, we can offer very unique locations for weddings like old beautiful metro stations, forests or (nearby the) river. We will be engaging with wedding planners in India to understand the demand and expectations of this segment and will plan our strategy accordingly,” added Kozlov.
Moscow City Tourism Committee is also engaging with Indian film production houses to promote its new shooting facility for Bollywood movies.
Moscow recorded 109,000 tourist arrivals from India in 2019.