The season of business events in domestic tourism in 2023 was opened by the forum “The Far East – Winter of Discoveries”, which ended in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The event was dedicated to the development of the hospitality industry in the Far East and the Arctic zone of the country and brought together more than 700 people from 20 regions of Russia. The speakers were mentors, experts and winners of the Masters of Hospitality competition, a project of the presidential platform “Russia – Land of Opportunities” .
Forum “Far East – Winter of Discovery” is held in the Kamchatka Territory for the third time. The event is organized by the government of the Kamchatka Territory with the support of the Office of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of Russia in the Far Eastern Federal District, the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and the Roscongress Foundation.
For three days, at dozens of discussion platforms, representatives of the country's expert community discussed important issues of the development of expeditionary, popular science and balneological types of tourism in the Far East, talked about unlocking the potential of the territory, necessary infrastructure initiatives, and building the brand of the region. It is important that the meetings were also of an applied nature – practical steps were outlined for the development of the territory within the framework of the national project “Tourism and Hospitality Industry”.
One of the most striking was the session “Tasty, healthy and with history: secrets of the Far Eastern and Arctic cuisine” about the attractiveness of local gastronomy, where the participants of the session discussed the phenomenon of Far Eastern gastronomy on the example of Kamchatka cuisine through the prism of three components: taste, benefit and history.
Chairman of the Gastronomic Tourism Committee of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry, mentor of the “Masters of Hospitality” competition Leonid Gelibtermannoted that the development of gastronomic tourism in the region is, first of all, a driver of economic growth, the unification of civil society, and assistance to local food and beverage producers. From a sociocultural point of view, gastrotourism supports local traditions and national identity, stimulates the transfer of experience and everyday practices from generation to generation, motivates local communities to revive historical traditions.
Leonid Vladimirovich also said that serious work is beginning to form one of the centers of international Pacific cuisine in Kamchatka, since the region has a good location. In early August, an international gastro-camp will be held in the Kamchatka Territory: the arrival of chefs from around the world is planned, who will prepare national dishes from local products.
Winner of the Masters of Hospitality contest, Head of the Kamchatka Hospitality Industry Association Maria Kachurinashared with colleagues the experience of creating and holding the first in the region gastronomic festival “FernCRAb”, dedicated to three local products – fern, red caviar and crab meat. The girl noted that the association of like-minded people of Kamchatka and the collaboration of restaurateurs, national groups, representatives of culture, tourism, and the regional government made it possible to hold not just a festival, but a whole week-long gastronomic event at once at a high professional level.
“Over the past two years, the Kamchatka Territory has very clearly declared itself from the gastronomic side. And I believe that the initial story was the winning project of the “Masters of Hospitality” competition of the “Russia – Land of Opportunities” platform – the gastrofestival “PaporotnIKRAb”. The strength is in the people, in the community, who believe in the development of the region and put a lot of effort into it. We have everything to become a bright gastronomic point on the map of Russia – people, support for the region, a lot of environmentally friendly products and, of course, the pristine beauty of Kamchatka! ”, – said the Ambassador of Hospitality in the Kamchatka Territory Maria Kachurina.
During the session “Expedition tourism as a key vector of the cruise market”, the participants discussed new projects and opportunities in expedition tourism in the Far East, including cruise activities. Director General of RussiaDiscovery, Mentor of the Masters of Hospitality Competition, Head of the PCT Commission on Adventure Tourism Vadim Mamontovemphasized that there are a number of obstacles in this direction: Russian travel companies cannot meet the existing demand, since there are no necessary vessels. In addition, expeditionary activities will be effective with year-round operation of ships, and the seasonality of cruise activities in the Far East is limited to three to four months.
“I am glad that the event is gaining more and more value. This is felt both in the composition of the participants and in the topics discussed. The range of topics is ever wider, while the competent composition of session speakers provides a qualitative depth of discussion. It turned out to discuss with colleagues both helicopter and expeditionary tourism, and instructor-guides. I am very inspired by the projects that are starting to be implemented in Kamchatka”, – shares the mentor of the competition “Masters of Hospitality” Vadim Mamontov.
Several sessions of the forum were devoted to the classification of tourism infrastructure and the hotel market of Kamchatka. The participants of the sessions discussed new trends, issues of improving the quality of services, problems and challenges facing the direction. Vadim Prasov, General Director of Alliance Hotel Management Management Company, mentor of the “Masters of Hospitality” competition, shared many years of experience.
He noted that at present the state is looking towards the development of the restaurant and hotel business with a certain optimism: hotels, cafes and restaurants are exempted from VAT, the law on guest houses is expected to be finalized this year, and possibly the adoption of a law on tourism. The speaker suggested that an international tourist would return, in particular from India, China and Latin America, and active work is now underway on payment tools for booking accommodation facilities and paying for services by tourists upon arrival. Vadim Viktorovich also stressed that he sees the key strategy of 2023 as improving the skills of managers and employees of the hospitality industry, service and the quality of services provided.
Note that the Masters of Hospitality competition has been implemented since 2019 and is aimed at finding and supporting development of specialists in the tourism and hospitality industry, staffing the industry, raising service standards and the prestige of professions. The partners of the Masters of Hospitality competition are the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, the Tourism.RF corporation, the Sletat.ru company, the Skolkovo innovation center, the Profi.travel media holding for travel industry professionals, the ENDY branding agency, the educational center ” Sirius, Russian Union of Travel Industry, Russian Geographical Society, Roszapovedtsentr, Russian Union of Travel Industry, Tavrida Art Cluster, Roscongress Foundation, Roscosmos State Corporation, TOHOLOGY media company, Russian Youth Union and others.