The official opening ceremony of the 19th Moscow Autumn Travel Industry Week MATIW-2013 took place in “Crocus Expo” in Moscow today. Among the honoured guests who welcomed the exhibitors and guests, there were Mikhail Strigoun, executive director of “Euroexpo”, Alexander Radkov, Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism, Sergey Shpilko, Head of Moscow Tourism and Hospitality Committee, Yuri Barzykin, Vice President of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry, and Maya Lomidze, Executive Director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.
The honoured guests wished the participants fruitful work and noted the exhibition growth, wide business programme, excellent organization, and congratulated the organizers with a new round of the exhibition development: the event re-branding.
“It is very important for an acting project to get a second wind. The Autumn Travel Industry Week has got a second as a re-branding. As we can see, not only the visual image changed (although the logo is very colourful), but also the internal content. The exhibition business programme has been significantly intensified: there are a lot of activities that attract professionals of inbound and outbound tourism”
Alexander Radkov, Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism
During the press conference dedicated to the event re-branding Violetta Tulich, the director of the tourism exhibitions department of “Euroexpo” explained in detail the new exhibition image and concept.
Working on the new image, the organizers have observed and analyzed the current branding and design trends for several years. And they did it! The next 20th anniversary edition of the exhibition to be held on September 2014 will have a new image. Featuring a new brand presence, Otdykh gets a distinctive visual expression for all its projects offering the added emotional value and reflecting modern trends in design.
Starting from 2014, all exhibitions composing Moscow autumn travel industry week MATIW will be held under OTDYKH brand that brings together all sectors of the travel & tourism industry: LEISURE — travelling, MICE — business travel, LUXURY TRAVEL — exclusive travel, and SPA & HEALTH — medical and recreational tourism.
The organizers demonstrated the new exhibition image in a heart shape with slogan “We love travel”, 4 logos of exhibitions composing the Travel week, and spoke about the new brand development and the concept of OTDYKH — “Home of Tourism”. Every year the exhibition brings together tourism industry experts who can safely say: “We love travel”. The concept thus goes to the heart of the tourism industry reflecting the exhibitors’ and visitors’ love for travel and tourism.
“And we love you, too! All we do at the exhibition, we do with love. We all come here once a year like at home, and with love”
Violetta Tulich, travel& tourism exhibitions department director, “Euroexpo”
Having decided to change the brand image and analyzing the market of agencies capable to perform this task “EUROEXPO” marketing specialists chose the German Agency HEYMANN BRANDT DE Gelmini. The agency has extensive experience in developing successful brand communication for the leading exhibition projects, including ITB Berlin, ITB Asia, IFA, International Green Week, etc.
After a deep analysis of customer preferences, the new OTDYKH brand architecture and visuals were adopted.
René Heymann, CEO of HEYMANN BRANDT DE Gelmini, spoke about enormous work that the agency has done together with “EUROEXPO”. After long discussions and considering various options, it was eventually decided to go back to the roots.
“Otdykh” looks back on many years of tradition: in 1995, the travel fair presented the full diversity of international tourism under the name “Otdykh Leisure” for the first time. The brand name Otdykh has well-established itself with exhibitors and visitors over the years. The Organizers decided to use the reputation of the original well-known “Otdykh” brand in the international manner: the brand “OTDYKH” is to be communicated exclusively in English.
We invite you to visit the Moscow Autumn Travel Industry Week MATIW-2013 that will be running until 20 September at IEC “Crocus Expo”.
17.09.2013