The event was opened by Nana Gvichiya, Deputy Chair of the Committee for Development of Tourism. “Participation of renowned industry experts in the process of submitting applications for attracting international rotating events increases the chances of the destination for a victory by several times. This is supported by ICCA statistics: active involvement of city ambassadors in the process was necessary 70% of the time.”

The Ambassador Program project was presented by Acting General Director of the Convention and Exhibition Bureau of the St. Petersburg Committee for Development of Tourism Dmitry Tsvetkov. He defined the goal of developing and implementing the program in St. Petersburg as follows: “Our goal is to use the ambassador program to increase the rating of St. Petersburg on the international arena as a significant and attractive tourist destination, increase the number of international events held here, and the number of foreign delegates coming to St. Petersburg.”

The Ambassador program, designed by the St. Petersburg Convention Bureau, will include a list of events, a number of tools and services to support ambassadors who attract events to the city. Thorough preparation and implementation of the program will help increase the number of events held in St. Petersburg, and, therefore, attract additional tourists to the city. This will be very beneficial for the city economy. Yet another expected effect from implementing the program is developing the cultural and science potential of the city since the same venue brings together the best professionals in the industry from all over the world.

In his report, Dmitry Tsvetkov provided the official statistics of world convention bureaus. For instance, more than 70% of the rotating events held in Edinburgh come to the city due to the efforts of Ambassadors. The economic effect of implementing the program over the past 20 years was more than GBP 900 million. More than 150 events are held annually in Glasgow under the auspices of the Ambassador program.

Alexey Molostvov, Head of sports and event programs at ExpoForum-International LLC noted that the company supported developing the program. In cooperation with the city government and the Convention Bureau, applications for several significant events, such as the Congress of the European Federation of Veterinary Associations of Companion Animals, the 20th International Conference and Exhibition on Liquid Natural Gas, the WORLDCHEFS Congress and many others. “The city already has a powerful brand ambassador, Sergey Alexeev, Vice-President of EF International and President of the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs,” Alexey Molostvov noted. “Thanks to his efforts, in 2018, St. Petersburg will hold the International Congress of UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry.”

In addition to the main topics of the discussion, the session addressed the following topics: implementation of a partnership program for developing cooperation between the representatives of the business community and city authorities, the presentation of a Unified Events Calendar, a unique instrument for developing tourism that brings together all the most significant events on a city- and nation-wide scale.