Projects implemented by the Committee for Tourism Development of Saint Petersburg won several awards: the festival «Maslenitsa 2.0» won the first place as «Best tourist event for popularizing folk traditions and crafts», «TheUnified Calendar of Events of Saint Petersburg 2020» received the Grand Prix in the category «Best regional calendar of tourist events».
A separate prize for the new format was awarded to the large-scale social action «The Unique Charm of Hospitable Saint Petersburg», dedicated to the World Tourism Day, and the «Miracle of the World» festival. The experts recognized the high level of organization, innovative approach to event coordination and named them the best examples of holding events during the period of restrictions, thanks to the use of a new hybrid format. When working out the scenarios, the organizers paid special attention to scaling, in which not one location is involved, but several at once. This solution made it possible to maximally disperse the audience, located in a single landscape space, without creating congestion and dense congestion. The hybrid format was able to transfer some of the viewers online. The broadcasts could be watched in real time on the official tourist portal VisitPetersburg, on several of the city's most visited Internet sites and on popular social networks.
According to Sergei Korneev, the chairman of the Committee for Tourism Development of Saint Petersburg, the recognition by Russian experts indicates the highest level of events in Saint Petersburg.
«Now, when international borders are closed, and attending events offline is limited, we have taken the path of extensive coverage of city events online. So far, this is the only opportunity to enjoy our holidays and festivals for both foreign and many Russian citizens, - said Sergei Korneev. - However, the lessons of the pandemic were not in vain. We have learned to position event tourism in St. Petersburg on the Internet. Any event that took place on a grand scale on the network creates a wide international resonance and forms a deferred demand. For example, the «Scarlet Sails» festival for school graduates, organized by «Channel Five» with the support of the Government of St. Petersburg and "Aktsionerny Bank Rossiya", is one of the most popular events on a global scale, taking place in St. Petersburg. The event has been making a significant contribution to the growth of the tourist flow and potential of the city for many years, bringing it additional fame in the world. This year, for obvious reasons, «Scarlet Sails» took place without the full-time presence of residents and guests of the city, but the TV broadcast of the holiday gathered an audience of 16.5 million viewers. Broadcasting was also carried out on the official tourist resource of the city VisitPetersburg, which contributed to an increase in the geography of viewers to 30 countries of the world. As a result, the attention to our other events is actively and steadily growing. The last event held by the Committee for Tourism Development has already more than 1 million views from about 80 countries, but their number continues to grow even after the end of the event due to entries in social networks and their further use in information campaigns of Russian and foreign tourism organizations, from Spain to China. Many of the spectators are our future guests who will definitely take note of visiting the city on the Neva. When the pandemic subsides and the borders are opened, we will enter on a par with other tourist destinations in the fight for travelers, and this effect of presence, formed by online broadcasts, no doubt should seriously help restore tourist flow to the northern capital of Russia»/
The head of the Committee also stressed that due to the large number of postponed trips and events, deferred demand, which is estimated at billions, will play an important role in restoring the tourist flow.
«Our goal is to turn the travel dreams of people with different interests and preferences towards the classic and new offers of St. Petersburg. Information campaigns do not work instantly, so now we need to work on restoring tourist flows», added Sergei Korneev.
The festival «Maslenitsa 2.0» took place in St. Petersburg even before the covid restrictions and was held in an offline format, gathering 600 thousand spectators. The map of the event was divided into several thematic zones: art objects, a food court, an interactive and play area, a master class zone, and three stages. The main symbol of the festival was a giant futuristic Maslenitsa. With the augmented reality app, anyone having a smartphone could virtually dress up a figure and burn it. The culmination of the holiday was a light and pyrotechnic show. The symbol of the traditional farewell to winter has become a multi-level stage for fire theater performers. The ritual burning escalated into a grand fireworks that marked the onset of spring.
«TheUnified Calendar of Events of Saint Petersburg 2020»has become not only the most convenient and informative, but also the most extensive one presented in its category.
Under one electronic cover are collected all the key events, of which there were 600 in 2020. They are divided into 7 categories: Top-20, festivals and holidays of St. Petersburg, sports Petersburg, exhibitions of St. Petersburg, business Petersburg, St. Petersburg for children, city life.
Separately, it is worth highlighting the "TOP-20" section, dedicated to the largest international events held in St. Petersburg - they were selected by a special expert commission consisting of industry professionals.
The calendar is aimed at both tourists and businesses. For the first, it provides the most complete information about all forms of events taking place on the territory of St. Petersburg, indicating the date and place of the event, and for the second, it provides information that helps to plan their financial and economic activities based on their specific participation in each event.
It should be noted that other event projects in St. Petersburg were also awarded the Russian Event Awards 2020. The Grand Prix in the category «Best Tourism Event in the Field of Culture» was awarded to the IX St. Petersburg Festival «Opera for All» held in the city on the Neva in August 2020. The festival was supported by the Committee for Culture of Saint Petersburg. The organizers of the project are the St. Petersburg State Theater «Music Hall» and the Non-Commercial Partnership «XXI Century». A special diploma in the nomination «The best tourism event in the field of sports» was awarded to the Golf Tournament «Cup of the Governor of Saint Petersburg» - «Saint Petersburg Golf Assembly»,held on the eve of the World Tourism Day, September 26, 2020. The organizers of the event are «International Center for Golf Tourism», Golf Club «Peterhof». The event was supported by the Committee for Tourism Development of Saint Petersburg.
REFERENCE
The national award in the field of event tourism Russian Event Awards has been held since 2011. The Award platform has formed an up-to-date, energetic and professional community, in which regional Executive authorities in the field of tourism, recognized industry experts and organizers of tourist events in more than 70 regions of Russia are actively involved. The Russian Event Awards is more than a competition-it is an annual powerful impulse that gives a high-quality development of tourist events in our country, it is an opportunity for industry participants to share best practices and present the best practices in the field of event tourism.
