The 13th edition of MITT, (the Moscow International Travel & Tourism Exhibition) was held at Expocentr, Kresnaya Presnaya from the 22-25 March 2006. It was a huge success. Over 2,500 companies including 1,500 international companies, representing 111 countries, 64 official national group stands and 6 regional pavilions gathered on 36,550 sq.m. (gross), for the most anticipated tourism event in Russia and the CIS, MITT 2006.

MITT again promoted the travel & tourism industry with a full four days of business networking, seminars, forums, press conferences and related events.

At the Opening Ceremony on the 22nd March, the guests, exhibitors and VIPs were welcomed by Mr Igor Smirnov, Head of the Committee for Tourism Legislation Coordination. He said, “the exhibition MITT is a traditional start of the tourist season”; Mr. Luzkhov , Mayor of Moscow, in his written address published in the MITT daily on 22nd March 2006, stated that “MITT is by right, the largest forum in Russia and one of the most popular worldwide. Constantly growing space of the exposition and the number of exhibitors prove the significance of MITT event”.

The event statistics endorse those comments and confirm that MITT is not only the largest event in Russia but one of the most significant industry meeting places worldwide. The event continues to deliver a keen and valuable audience to exhibitors year after year. An independent audit of MITT 2006 revealed that over 98,000 visitors attended the event – 69,345 were trade professionals and a record number of visitors had registered to attend prior to the show.

According to the UFI accredited report, 86% of the exhibitors rated the number of visitors as good to excellent; 96% of the exhibitors stated that visitors’ quality met their expectations and an impressive 92% confirmed that their return on investment met their expectations.

In addition to the exhibition, MITT 2006 provided a complete interactive travel & tourism industry forum with numerous parallel seminars, conferences, press meetings, round tables and presentations. The event offers an exceptional gateway to the lucrative Russian tourism market. The market continues to grow at a relentless pace with outbound figures reaching an impressive 20 million plus in 2005 and approximately 2 million package holidays were bought in the same year.

As always, international sections of the exhibition were located in Pavilions 2 and the Forum. The event registered an increase in space from international destinations with new exhibitors including Macedonia, Chonburi (Thailand), Agadir (Morocco) Taiwan, Belarus, Serbia as well as the North Cyprus Tourism Centre.

Major Russian tour operators, insurance and airline companies occupied the lower level of Pavilion 1. The inbound tourism section was also accommodated in Pavilion 1. The Moscow Committee for Tourism together with the coordination council “regions of Russia - Moscow agreement” presented Russian inbound tourism at MITT 2006 on a joint stand totalling 500sqm and featured 16 Russian regions. Mr Antyufeev, Chairman of the Moscow Committee for Tourism stated that the Government of Moscow considers tourism to be one of the main strategic and priority directions of the city’s development.

MITT 2006 received high praise from its many exhibitors and partners. Among them, Mr Khalifa Al Buamaim, Dubai DTCM Overseas Promotion Manager, interviewed during the event stated that “the level of organisation is plainly perfect. We have always participated in it and as you see, Dubai stand is very big, because our previous experience proved that we can sign lucrative contracts, find new partners and establish business contacts.”

Mr Tom Wright, VisitBritain Chief Executive also stated that “the importance of Moscow for the travel trade - and thus MITT as the largest event for the travel trade and consumers in the country - cannot be emphasised enough. VisitBritain can make the most of the investment in the Russian market by participating at MITT”.

Jurg Schmid, CEO of Switzerland tourism, commented. “Switzerland has been participating in MITT for over ten years, and we have no doubts we will continue to do so for the next ten years”.

Finally, the 8th Russian Travel Industry Awards ceremony took place on the first day of the exhibition alongside the luxurious MITT 2006 Gala Dinner at Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre and saw 16 Bronze Nikkas rewarding companies and Tourism Boards for their entrepreneurship and business influence on the Russian market.

MITT exhibition was held under the support of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the RF, Committee for Economic Policy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism of the State Duma of the RF, Moscow Government, Committee for Tourism of Moscow and Moscow Association of Entrepreneurs.

MITT is a member of UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organization), ITTFA (International Travel Trade Fairs Association), PATA (Pacific Asia Tourism Association), ICCA (Int. Congress & Conventions Association), cecta (Central European Countries Association), MPI ( Meeting Professional Industry) and accredited by UFI (Union des Foires Internationales).