Promising regional projects were presented at the RUSSIA EXPO
Tourism and industry, education, urban environment.
Achievements and prospects in these areas were discussed at the plenary session
"Space of the Future: Northwestern Macroregion" at the RUSSIA EXPO.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has set a goal to increase
the number of trips within Russia to 140 million by 2030, and the regions of
the Northwest are making every effort to help achieve these figures.
"Last year the growth of tourism in our country showed
record figures: according to the results of statistical reporting it turned out
83.6 million tourist trips. And I want to point out that more than 11 million
of them fall on the regions of the Northwest. This shows that the macroregion
is developing very actively, and there is almost everything for tourism to
continue moving forward with big and confident steps," said Director of the
Tourism Development Department of the Ministry of Economic Development of
Russia Alimbek Khidzev.
The head of state also set a task to bring the contribution
of tourism to the country's GDP to at least 5% by 2030. Natalia Ishchenko,
Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Kaliningrad region, spoke about the
development of tourism in the Kaliningrad region in terms of work in this
direction. She also drew the attention of those present to the need to develop
human resources in tourism and hospitality industry.
"New projects in the sphere of tourism and hospitality
industry require qualified personnel, we are also engaged in this. There are
nine educational institutions of higher and secondary education in the
Kaliningrad region for training personnel in various directions in this sphere.
About a thousand specialists graduate annually, and by 2030 we expect that the
number of professionals in this industry will grow by six thousand
people," said Natalia Ishchenko.
Inna Karpova, Development Director of the Glampoint
eco-hotel, told how to increase the interest of business in restoration of
architectural monuments with the help of state support measures, and at the
same time to increase the tourist attractiveness of historical heritage sites.
The speech, among other things, was about involving cultural heritage objects
in economic turnover.
"One of our
objects is located in the town of Bagrationovsk — it is the Preisisch-Eilau
Castle, which has been in disrepair for almost 200 years. We opened this
site in 2022 and have been actively developing it since 2023. Here we have
attracted grant funds, and we also use another support measure, which is the
involvement of cultural heritage objects in economic turnover. Yes, we have
come a difficult way, but nevertheless, it is all real, and we are grateful to
our colleagues for supporting us and allowing us to implement such large-scale
projects aimed at the development of tourist infrastructure," said Inna
Karpova.
The experts also discussed the industrial potential of the
Northwestern macroregion. Evgeny
Bogdanov, First Deputy Governor of the Novgorod region, and Sergei
Zhestyannikov, Deputy Governor of the Vologda region, spoke about the
development of mechanical engineering, chemical, radio-electronic and other
industries — including through the formation of human resources potential,
implementation of state support measures and development of investment
projects.
