The X International Tourism Forum "GREAT URAL" hosted a panel discussion "Business and MICE tourism: trends, changes and opportunities", where the speakers discussed the state of the industry, analyzed the portrait of a business tourist, considered the regions as alternative MICE destinations, and also identified several development trends in the field of business tourism

The discussion included three main blocks:

• The current state of affairs in the industry, where speakers answered questions related to the flow of business tourists, changing customer requests and the state of business events in the regions.
• Restoring demand for the attractiveness of regional events with discussion of support measures for customers and organizers.
• Prospects for the development of the industry, the main directions and trends for the coming year.

The session was attended by representatives of the leading industry associations, regional convention bureaus and a representative of the event agency:

• Sagid Zaremukov, Director, Russian Convention Bureau
• Elena Ublieva, Executive Director of the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs
• Arkady Kiselyov, Deputy General Director, Head of the Ural Convention Bureau, Investment Promotion Agency of the Sverdlovsk Region
• Natalia Serebrovskaya, Deputy General Director of the Convention and Exhibition Bureau of St. Petersburg
• Yulia Zholya, President of the National Association of Event Organizers
• Irina Karnaukhova, General Director of DEMLINK-ATLAS

The panel discussion was moderated by Daria Ostrovskaya, General Director of the R&C Market Research Company.

Based on the results of the speeches, the speakers identified several areas for further development: establishing partnerships with friendly countries, collaboration with the government, the use of grants and subsidies.

Key theses of the speakers:

• Sagid Zaremukov, RCB
  Canceled rotating conventions. The lion's share of the headquarters of industry associations are located in Europe, England, USA. Now the way out for us is to go to the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.
• Elena Ublieva, RUEF
  The market is trying to hold on to new business partners. Iran and India are new participants in our business events.
• Irina Karnaukhova, Demlink Atlas
  The Russian business tourism market of the post-COVID period is recovering.
• Natalia Serebrovskaya, Convention and Exhibition Bureau of St. Petersburg
  5 rotating congresses were held in St. Petersburg, 5 site inspections were held, 14 bids were prepared until 2028, including participation in Indian exhibitions, including wedding themes. Today, destinations such as India and Vietnam are in trend.
• Arkady Kiselev, Ural Convention Bureau of the Investment Promotion Agency of the Sverdlovsk Region
  Much attention is paid to the versatility of employees. Non-standard new regional products are being developed. There has been an increase in regional events.
• Yulia Zholya, NAEO
  If we compare the budget before the pandemic, then there is a drop of 70%. Including due to the cancellation of the New Year holidays. Holidays are frozen. Customers are considering new destinations such as Abkhazia, Kazan, Ural.