Investment. Although the fund is available for use across all the city’s venues, it will have a significant, positive impact on Expoforum, which the city’s primary congress venue, capable of hosting up to 4,000 delegates in its main conference halls in addition to its 50,000m2 of indoor exhibition space.

The fund, which is controlled by St Petersburg Government and the St Petersburg Committee for Tourism Development will be available to socially oriented non-profit organisations, who are stimulating business tourism and events in St Petersburg.

Subvention support will be granted as part of a competitive process, which will reimburse up to 50% of the costs of an event (up to 10 million Roubles).  Key criteria to achieve subvention support include:

    Number of international participants
    Event duration
    Event dates
    Potential for domestic and international media reach
    Alignment of the event with the development priorities in the St Petersburg Strategy for Economic and Social Development

“Expoforum is growing its presence internationally, with a variety of major events confirmed over the coming five years,” comments Maria Tsedeviyn, International Development Director at Expoforum.  “However, this comprehensive subvention strategy ensures we are competitive on the global stage.  With upcoming enhancements to the city’s ambassador programme and plans to simplify the visa process we are looking forward to significant growth in events from a wide variety of sectors.  Whilst the fund will benefit St Petersburg as a whole, the Expoforum team are particularly looking forward to the impact it will have on us in our position as the city’s primary venue for major events.”

Andrey Matsarin, Head of St Petersburg Convention Bureau adds: “St Petersburg has firmly established its presence in the global congress market. Our rich history and cultural offering blend perfectly with top universities, research centres and sector leading companies to make our city the perfect host for a wide variety of association events.  Our accessibility is superb as is our ability to deliver major events – as demonstrated by our work around the FIFA World Cup and the St Petersburg International Economic Forum at Expoforum, which welcomes tens of thousands of delegates to the city each year.”

The subvention application process has also been simplified with support available from the CVB as well as local consultants to ensure associations maximise their chances of financial support.