On October 24, 2017, the Russia Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference will take place at the Radisson Blu Belorusskaya, hosted by Bench Events, co-founder and organiser of market leading annual conferences for those working in the hotel and restaurant investment sector in EMEA and South America, including the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference and the Africa Hotel Investment Forum.
There are more than 80 investment and development companies confirmed including: A.N.D. Corporation, AFK Sistema, Amtel Properties, Capital Group, ESTA Holding, Fosun Group, Gleden Invest, L&RP, IFD Lukoil, Kortros, Patero Development, RCI Investments, Red Square Development Company, RDIF, Russia China Investment Fund, Russky Dom Nedvizhemosti, SEZAR GROUP, Solo Alliance International, Stroyservis Voronezh Rossiya LLC, Summit Ascent Holdings Limited, TBF Development, VEB Capital, Venture Investments & Yield Management LLP (VIYM), Vesper Moscow, Zavidovo Development LLC and many others.
The investors will be joined by representatives of the major hotel management companies including AccorHotels, Alliance Hotel Management, AZIMUT Hotels Company, Best Western Hotels & Resorts, Cosmos Group, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, Hilton, IHG, IFK Hotel Management, Marriott International, Meininger Hotel Group, 7Days Premium Hotels and Wyndham Hotel Group. Financiers, consultants, lawyers, architects, designers and tourism officials will also be participating.
The conference will be opened by Alexey Konyushkov, Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism, and discussions will focus on strong macro and micro trends, hotel investment overview from industry leaders, honest and targeted closed-door discussions with relevant hot topics and networking opportunities par excellence. The conference will look at the potential for investors in the Russian Federation and CIS countries and discuss hotels as profitable business, bringing in the best expertise from around the region.
The opening remarks will be followed by Christopher J. Weafer, Founding Partner of Macro-Advisory Ltd who will give attendees an update on the Russian economy, macro-trends and key drivers for success. Vladimir Pantyushin, Director of Research at JLL will follow up with presentation on the Real Estate Investment Outlook and Thomas Emanuel, Director of Business Development at STR will present a Hotel Performance Report.
Tatiana Veller, National Director and Head of Hotels & Hospitality Group at JLL Russia & CIS, will then be joined by a panel of investors and developers to discuss the most promising investment opportunities in the market and where the big players think the future lies. Veller will be joined by Alexei Litvintsev, Senior Investment Director for Fosun Eurasia Capital; Igor Roganovich, Investment Director at JSFC Sistema; Igor Romanov, Member of Board of Directors at Azimut Hotels Company and Andrey Yakunin, Co-Founding Partner at VIY Management LLP.
Other plenary sessions will discuss how market performance is influencing hotel development, whether the Russian market is recovering enough to drive new investment and what the most promising investment opportunities are outside of Russia for outbound investment.
Following the plenary sessions, attendees will break up into smaller boardroom meetings and discussions include:
• Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan – what are the unique selling points of each investment destination and is there still potential for hotel development?
• Rise of the third-party management companies
• Independent hotels vs. branded hotels – the pros and cons
• Transforming top emerging domestic destinations from Sochi to Altai and Kamchatka
• Alternative accommodation investment – Services apartments, hostels, co-living – what’s next?
• Mixed-use development - What are the current trends and opportunities? Is there an “ideal mix” or “best recipe”?
