On April 24, representatives of government and universities, industry experts and company leaders came together to discuss key issues of increasing city competitiveness through the integration of creative industries into tourism and hospitality, and the prospects of international cooperation in the BRICS + CIS space.

The event was organized by RANEPA St. Petersburg and Kyrgyz Economic University named after M. Ryskulbekov, under support of the St. Petersburg Center for Competences in Tourism and Hospitality.

The development of creative industries is in highly demanded today, travel industry and tourist preferences have been changing, and only a unique approach to promoting travel destinations will make tourist flows grow.

Nana Gvichia, Deputy Head, Committee for Tourism Development, St. Petersburg City Government

St. Petersburg participates in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) enabling sharing its experience with other countries and developing new areas such as gastronomic, wedding, educational and creative tourism.

One of the key issues is the training of qualified staff for the industry. RANEPA St. Petersburg contributes by training professionals for tourism and hotel business and has been actively developing international cooperation.

We have been working at opening a UNESCO department, by coordinating of UNESCO commission secretary at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to conduct studies in the topic «Creative industry in the context sustainable development of modern cities”…

Olga Nesterova, Deputy Director, RANEPA St. Petersburg

The launch of the cyber guide «Kyrgyzstan. This is my land» — a joint initiative of RANEPA St. Petersburg and Kyrgyz Economic University, developed to increase the tourist attractiveness of the country and strengthen the national pride, was presented at the forum as a good example of creative industries and tourism integration.