Russia could not unite

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   From the 14th till the 17th in ExCel, exposition hall in London, the annual tourist exhibition World Travel Market (WTM) 2005 is held. Russia was represented by a Committee of Tourism from Moscow, 11 Moscow companies, 13 hotels, 7 museums, Domodedovo airport, as well as 7 representatives of other Russian regions (Kaliningradskaya, Murmanskaya, Ryazanskaya, Nizhegorodskaya, Yaroslavskaya, Republic of Karelia and Yakutia).
   Russian participants in the exposition agreed in the opinion that the exhibition becomes more like an image-making campaign and a place of business meetings with overseas partners which would be difficult to organize outside the event. According to Ludmila Puchkova of ‘Lanta-Tour Voyage’, they successfully held negotiations on the summer season. Experts noticed an interest of foreign travel firms in Russia and China. ‘Intourist’s vice-president adds that special attention to foreign colleagues was paid to incentive tourism in Russia. ‘And it is not only old partners that come up to us with questions thereon, but new firms as well’, says Mr. Vlasov.
   On the other hand, according to some participants of the exhibition, the Russian exposition is losing out to other countries. An attempt to create a united stand of representatives of the Russian travel industry failed. ‘There was no unity, no much-needed common design of stand appearance, and there was the distinct impression that the regions got lost’- Sergey Sinitsin, press secretary of the Federal Association of Tourism, informed BANKO from London.