On Thursday, March 1, the first international forum WestHoReCaForum was held in Kaliningrad, gathering in one place more than a hundred participants of the hospitality industry of the region, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Italy and Lithuania. Honorable guests of the forum were Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Kaliningrad region Andrey Ermak and vice-president of the federation of hoteliers and restaurateurs of Russia Sergey Kolesnikov. The Development Corporation at the forum was represented by the general director Vladimir Zarudny and his deputy Oleg Skvortsov.
During the business program of the forum, the heads of hotels, restaurants, service companies shared their professional experience in the work of thematic sections, discussed issues and problems of the development of certain areas of the hospitality industry. According to the estimates of the regional authorities, the past year was quite successful for the tourism industry. The Kaliningrad region was visited by about 1.3 million tourists, the number of collective accommodation facilities increased to 260 units (total number of rooms is 12,300 seats). The annual aggregate revenue of hotels and hostels increased by more than 5.6% and amounted to 1.1 billion rubles.
Opening the forum, Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Kaliningrad region Andrei Ermak stressed that the government pays much attention to projects related to the development of sanatorium and resort infrastructure: the construction of sanatoria, spa hotels, and children's camps. This, he said, will reduce the seasonality factor to attract tourist flows.
The Kaliningrad Region Development Corporation is also confident that the future of hospitality, domestic and inbound tourism is behind projects that provide all-season loading of recreational resources in Kaliningrad and coastal cities. Vladimir Zarudny told about this in his report in the profile section "Hotel".
"The Kaliningrad region is the right place to invest in the HoReCa sphere. In the region the event tourism is gaining popularity, new events appear: music, culinary and film festivals. All these are magnets that attract the attention of residents of Russia and neighboring countries. Today we offer to potential investors, interested in investing in the hotel business, land for the construction of hotel complexes on the Curonian Spit, near the airport Khrabrovo, as well as in Kaliningrad. All sites can be obtained quickly, comfortably and on attractive commercial terms. We work with investors on the "one stop principle" and have a goal to reduce the transaction costs of those companies that are also included in the tourism business", Vladimir Zarudny said.
According to him, one of the anchor and bright hotel projects for the tourism industry of the region will be a golf field in the Svetlogorsk district and the 5 * hotel, a golf school, restaurants created nearby. At the moment, the complex is being designed, a strategic investor has been selected. Investment projects that ensure the development of water tourism in the region, as well as major festivals and holidays that will maintain interest in the Kaliningrad region after the World Cup have a great future.
The participants of the section showed great interest in the speeches of the representatives of the Kaliningrad region Development Corporation, assessing the practicality of the information provided.
During the day, the forum also featured an exhibition of goods and services of the HoReCa industry, as well as the sections "Marketing", "Functionality and services", "Design". Speakers and listeners were able to exchange information on the leading trends in the development of their areas and agree on further cooperation. At the same time, all participants of the first international forum of hospitality appreciated the high level of organization of the event and expressed the hope that it will be held on a regular basis.