The 19th edition of MITT, the Moscow International Travel & Tourism Exhibition, is once again attracting thousands of destinations and travel specialists who want to promote themselves to the important Russian travel market. 87% of exhibition space has already been allocated for next year’s event. MITT is the leading travel exhibition in Russia and one of the top five travel exhibitions in the world. In 2012 the exhibition will take place on the 21-24 March 2012 at Expocentre, Moscow.

In 2011, the event hosted 3,000 exhibitors from 189 destinations attracting over 79,900 attendees. Its continued success illustrates Russia’s growing demand for travel services and the spending power of Russian travellers. According to the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism, Russians made 39.3 million trips abroad in 2010, a 15% increase compared to 2009. Furthermore, Euromonitor International is predicting Russia to have an increase of nearly 12 million new outbound departures between 2010 and 2015.

Last year saw a number of new destinations with national groups taking part such as Abu Dhabi, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Botswana, El Salvador, Iraq, Karnataka, Korea, Mexico, Monaco, Niaragua, Tamil Nadu, Venezuela and USA as well as many others returning with ever bigger stands. Alfredo Perez Bravo, Ambassador of the United Mexican States to the Russian Federation stated “Mexico recently entered the Russian tourism market and within a short space of time, from 2007 to 2010, tourist arrivals have grown from 1,400 to 30,000 per year. Currently, the Russian market is the fastest growing market in Europe for Mexico.”

Maria Badakh, Head of Sales, ITE Group Travel Division commented on next year’s event: “MITT continues to be a growing success; it is the most important industry event for Russia and the event’s success reflects the importance of Russia as a growing market. With many countries cancelling or simplifying visa regulations for Russian tourists, I can see Russian tourists outnumbering German and British in the not so distant future.”