What is unique about Ugra, how to attract tourists and how the Russia exhibition helped the regions become recognizable – we talked about this with Ugra entrepreneurs and government officials at the Ugra News expert club.
The choice fell on philosophy
We talked with the creators of the Ugra exposition at the Russia exhibition and with local entrepreneurs who are working on positioning the district. They are confident that the “Russia” exhibition has become a tool that will allow Russians to learn more about the regions of our huge country and about the products that are made in them.
As Deputy Director of the Department of Economic Development of Ugra Dzhumagul Kirimlidis said, when preparations for the exhibition had just begun, creative entrepreneurs came to the rescue.
– We had two ideas on how to show Ugra. The first is through the letters “Yu” or “X”, which are associated with Ugra and Khanty-Mansiysk. At the exhibition, many regions used exactly this option – they played with the first letter of their subject. The second option had a deeper meaning – to show our great natural resources. Not only oil and gas, but also rivers, swamps, forests. This is our brand. And it’s cool that our rivers are so zigzag, winding, and fascinating. Representatives of the creative industries began to develop this idea. They managed to convey this idea and philosophy to people through the designs at the Ugra stand. In the museum we presented our wealth – stones, mineral resources, aquatic biological resources. The second point: the mammoth is our calling card,” added Dzhumagul Kirimlidis.
At the exhibition, Yugra spoke about large infrastructure projects – a special economic zone in Nyagan, the Unity Park science and technology center, a bridge across the Ob River in the Surgut region, and a large-scale perinatal center.
Deputy General Director of the Ugra Development Fund Igor Usatiy noted that our stand included the slogan “See Ugra – fall in love with Russia”:
– In recent history, probably, none of us will remember such a large-scale exhibition, where all the regions and the largest companies under one roof talk about their achievements and how good they are, what is necessary, important, interesting in them, why it is worth going there come on a trip, work or stay forever. If we talk about meanings, it was important for us to create the slogan “To see Ugra is to fall in love with Russia.” This phrase hides a lot: the comfort of our cities, hospitality, this is the calling card of Russia. And in the content part we have already described all the achievements of the region, and we also approached this carefully. Each item was assessed by the government and the regional governor.
What is our Ugra like?
Experts believe that the Russia exhibition is another tool that will open our country to Russians and attract travelers to the regions.
– As it turns out, many people still don’t know that we have mountains – the Subpolar Urals, or that at the Dodo deposit we have caves with unique snowflakes that are not found anywhere else. These are the features – there are a lot of them in every region, and the “Russia” exhibition is just one of the very good reasons and tools for opening up your country to the people of Russia. It is still difficult to talk about numbers and estimate the flow, how many tourists we have attracted and will attract thanks to participation in the Russia exhibition. But there is complete confidence that it will increase manifold and we will break through the ceiling of a million tourists per year,” said Igor Usatii.
At the exhibition, Ugra clearly reveals another of our brands – “New Year’s Capital of Siberia”. On the very first day of “Russia”’s work, guests were greeted at our exposition by Father Frost and the Snow Maiden. This kind of interaction went really well. We were one of the first to start sending postcards with our species, launched New Year’s mail, and the box was overflowing in just two days. After us, all regions repeated this activity at their stands. There is a market at the exhibition where you can buy products from regional brands. Ugra products include Taiganika cosmetics, handmade scarves by Alena Cherkashina, As-Alang ceramics, Suri and Yomas clothing.
– Each item was confirmed by certificates of compliance with GOST, declarations, and underwent preliminary safety inspections – this is a high responsibility. We were immediately told that the regions would have quotas, because the market area is small, and the regions have many brands. But we also took part in fairs, to which Ugra brought fish, wild plants, marmalade, fireweed and much more. And in the “House of Russian Cuisine” pavilion a gastrofestival was successfully held, where Russians were given the opportunity to taste Yugra, noted Dzhumagul Kirimlidis.
There are tourists – there are sales
Our brand “Ethnika” also attended the “Russia” exhibition. Its founder, Nikolai Andreichenko, said that the main mission of the company is to promote the culture of the peoples of the North – the Khanty and Mansi – through natural, healthy products. Since 2019, marmalade and chocolate with Siberian berries and nuts have been produced in Ugra. Every year the sales geography expands and the company’s turnover increases by 50–70%. Nikolai Andreichenko also connects the growth in sales with the tourist attractiveness of the region:
– Our chum-style stands with the inscription “Taste the taste of Ugra” are available in 50 hypermarkets in Ugra and the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. When imported manufacturers left the market, people began to notice local products more often. Tourist flow directly affects sales. When large events, festivals, and forums are held in Khanty-Mansiysk, their participants are our main clients. They buy gastronomic souvenirs and healthy sweets from us. At the end of 2022, we moved to a new workshop and began conducting excursions to production – a kind of industrial tourism. We form groups of 20 people, organize tastings, people really like it. Schoolchildren from Nyagan, Yugorsk, Sovetsky came to us, they say that it’s more interesting here than in museums, because you can try it.
The head of the advertising and production company Favorit, Ilya Sokolov, noted that his business is also influenced by the number of events held in Ugra.
– We prepare sites, exhibitions, and design events. Our field is not directly related to tourists. But we notice that people who come to one event in Ugra, for example, a biathlon, often do not know what else they can do in the area, since tourism here is somewhat “hard to access,” the expert said. He added that we need to talk more about our unique routes and make this information accessible.
“I would divide tourism in Ugra into two parts: event tourism, which is presented at a very good level, we see a continuously steady flow of guests, and inbound tourism, in this part we are at an embryonic level,” said entrepreneur Andrei Korepanov. – People are very interested in locality. Now in the top are Dagestan, Yakutia, Buryatia, Chechnya – these are regions that are maximally different from others, people are interested in coming there, seeing these differences from their usual way of life. We don’t need to become like someone else, we need to develop our locality.
In his opinion, the main interests of tourists in Ugra are indigenous peoples, history, ethnicity and natural resources. In this regard, he proposed developing tours to camps and supporting restaurants serving Siberian cuisine.
– Another important area is the labor feat of the inhabitants of the North since the time of the first Russian settlers, the exploits of our grandfathers during the Great Patriotic War and what we are now actively developing – the opening of the oil and gas industry. This is what sets us apart. Everything else probably exists in other regions,” noted Andrey Korepanov.
As General Director of the Khanty-Mansiysk Souvenir Factory Maxim Belenkov said, the region once placed emphasis on event tourism, but now it is necessary to adjust this strategy, to do something permanent.
– We will jointly develop the Ugra brand and do everything possible to improve it. It seems to me that this requires some kind of executive body that will accept ideas from residents of our district, from entrepreneurs who are developing the industry, from tourists. They must accept all information, process proposals and implement the most useful ones,” the entrepreneur emphasized.
Experts suggested developing and distributing booklets in restaurants and hotels with information about tourist sites in Ugra, museums, attractions and places where you can buy souvenirs and taste Siberian cuisine, as well as supporting local bloggers who will talk about Ugra on social networks.
Tags: Entrepreneurs told Russia exhibition attracted tourists Ugra
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