A study by global consulting company BCG says that Moscow has the potential to boost its tourist influx to some 32 million people a year by 2025, entering Europe’s top 10. But in order to do so, it has to take a series of steps.
The firm has drafted a scenario with an eight-point plan that it says would help realize the city’s tourism potential to the max.
The Russian capital has a good headstart. The growth in the number of tourists visiting Moscow after the World Cup (from September to December 2018) was up 117 percent from the same period a year earlier. Half of the visitors said that they were ready to recommend Moscow to other travelers. Before the World Cup (from January to May) the growth of the tourist influx was less than 13 percent.
“The successful hosting of the World Cup tournament in summer 2018 showed that Moscow can already offer world-class tourism services, and its infrastructure could accept much more intensive tourist flows than before,” the authors of the research said.
The research suggested that the contribution of tourism to Russia’s GDP may grow 1.4 times by 2025, with a six to eight percentage boost to the economy of Moscow. It noted that the city’s revenue may also double to 1.5 trillion rubles ($23 billion).
This will be possible if the city undertakes complex measures that are critical for attracting tourists and improving their customer experience, such as promoting the city in target markets, increasing accessibility for tourists, and improving the quality of service.
Tourism is the industry that determines the country’s image. Today, it is not enough to be only an economically successful state or megalopolis, you also need to be an attractive modern center for talents, investors, and tourists, while remaining a comfortable place to live in…” said BCG expert partner Konstantin Polunin.
Global tourism’s contribution to the world economy was more than ten percent of GDP last year and accounted for about 30 percent of exports, according to BCG.