St. Petersburg Hospitality Program launches in St. Petersburg
The coronavirus pandemic has made adjustments to the hospitality industry. Today, all the countries of the world are trying to do everything possible to ensure the sanitary well-being of their residents and guests. St. Petersburg has developed and proposed its solutions, becoming the first city in Russia to join the international movement to ensure safe tourism and recreation.
Chairman of the St.Petersburg Committee for tourism development Sergey Korneev noted: “An important step for restarting the industry will be the launch of its own St.Petersburg Hospitality marketing program. Today our task for the tourism sector is to work again efficiently after the restrictions will be lifted. Only the return of tourists to the city will be able to move on its restoration. St.Petersburg again should become one of the most popular destinations. The main goal of the new marketing program is the implementation of complex events that will help people to choose our city as the most comfortable and safest direction, and the hospitality industry to start its activity. Today we are launching the first part of the program “St. Petersburg Hospitality / Safe Tourism”.
The created roadmap for the gradual exit of the city’s tourism industry from quarantine restrictions was the beginning of the program.
Depending on the epidemiological situation, the list of activities is updated regularly.
Also specifically for the St. Petersburg tourism sector, the Committee has developed and agreed with Rospotrebnadzor the safety standards of organizations providing resort, hotel, touristic and excursional services. The document contains all the basic requirements for the sanitary-epidemiological regime, access features and other necessary measures. Before starting work, all organizations will have to ensure compliance with all safety standards and post information on this purpose on their official websites. This information can also be viewed in a special section on the Visit-Petersburg city touristic portal.
The next point was the signing of the Agreement on Cooperation with industry representatives. It is aimed at ensuring the interaction of executive authorities and business associations of the hospitality industry, as well as monitoring the industry for the period of exit from the restriction regime.
The implementation of these measures is necessary so that each guest can feel safe and can have a possibility to choose the direction that gives him this feeling of safety. The safety of guests must be confirmed, otherwise it is very easy to increase people's concerns and, as a result, they can refuse to travel. In order to avoid this situation, a unique sign of a safe and comfortable stay, “Safe Travels SPB”, will appear in St. Petersburg for the hospitality industry. This will become another direction of the program “St. Petersburg Hospitality / Safe Tourism” - the participation of the city in the Safe Travels international initiative.
“Safe Travels SPB” is a special sign created in accordance with international trends, a kind of quality mark confirming the security measures being taken, which all the participants of the St. Petersburg tourism industry and any related industries will be able to receive. It will provide the guests with the most important thing - it will allow them to get all the necessary information in order to feel confident that during their stay in our city their rest will be calm and safe. Together with Rostourism, with colleagues from different countries and from other regions of Russia we are actively interacting in preparation for the further development of the program for ensuring safe tourism and recreation”, explained Sergey Korneev.
Thanks to the use of a special sign of safe and comfortable rest “Safe Travels SPB”, program participants will receive priority among travelers when choosing a travel destination. For tourists this should serve as a guideline that here they can safely relax, for the industry - to attract more guests, thereby showing their concern for the comfortable and safe journey. By receiving the mark, the organization confirms compliance with all sanitary standards. Every company who received such a sign becomes a participant of the St. Petersburg marketing program to promote St. Petersburg as the safest destination.
Everyone who decided to choose St.Petersburg as their vacation destination will be able to go to the Visit-Petersburg official city tourist portal and see, including on the interactive map, every company which have already received the Safe Travels SPB sign. A special section will be created on the site where you can familiarize yourself with the list of program participants and see links to check such a list. By filling out the checklist, the organization confirms the implementation of mandatory and additional measures to ensure safe operations with the attachment of photo materials confirming compliance with the relevant measures. You can also ask any question about your stay in St. Petersburg.
Information support for tourists and the tourist industry is provided by the City Tourist Information Bureau, as well as by the Contact Center staff. Operators receive calls from both Russia and abroad, they speak four languages - Russian, English, German and French.
