Mega Events and Nizhny Novgorod after World Cup 2018
On November 29th, 2016, a panel talk on ‘Tourism Marketing & Mega Events’ by Luiz Moutinho, a leading expert in marketing, the founder of FutureCast Lab - the laboratory for marketing forecasting, and Professor of BioMarketing and Futures Research at Dublin City University Business School, was held at HSE Nizhny Novgorod.
The event was organized by the Department of Marketing of the Faculty of Management at HSE Nizhny Novgorod and moderated by the faculty’s Dean Denis Fomenkov.
The discussion was also attended by Sergey Panov, Minister of Sports for the Nizhny Novgorod region, Maria Denisova, Director of Sales at Courtyard Marriott Nizhny Novgorod, Irina Shafranskaya, Academic Supervisor of the programme Marketing, and Alexander Zakharychev from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Entrepreneurship of Nizhny Novgorod Region.
The event started with a welcome speech by Sergey Panov, Minister of Sports. After that Professor Moutinho used his presentation to share his views on tourism marketing. The speaker highlighted the factors that distinguish mega events from large events, for example, infrequency, different budgets (often measured in billions of US dollars), and a large number of international participants.
The participants also discussed the way these global events have an impact on the venue, including the economic impact resulting from flows of capital, money spent by tourists, and the change in city infrastructure. The Professor gave the example of Barcelona, host of the World Aquatics Championships in 2013, when the springboards for jumping into the water were installed in the city and opened up a magnificent view on the streets, so that fans from all over the world were able to appreciate not only the athletes’ skills, but also the urban architecture.
Despite the profit from mega-events, these large-scale activities can also result in higher risks including traffic jams, large crowds of people, threats of terrorist attacks and more.
Also, while planning such events, it is important to avoid building ‘white elephants’ - constructing a large number of facilities for a short-term event that are rarely, if ever, used after the event finishes.
At the end of the presentation Professor Moutinho spoke on the key aspects for organizing a successful event, and mentioned that one of the most important aspects is the message from organizers to people around the world. Professor stressed the importance of this message, as well as the quality of delivering information to participants both before and during the event.
Professor Moutinho’s presentation was followed by a discussion, dedicated to Nizhny Novgorod, the organising of the 2018 World Cup and its possible outcomes.
Participants discussed the future of Nizhny Novgorod after taking part in this global event, the building of the city brand, some necessary activities aimed at tourist attraction, and the values that can be promoted among tourists.
According to Moutinho, the main thing is the desire of the residents to attract tourists to the city. Hospitality and smiles are the key factors to success, and Nizhny Novgorod has a good chance of becoming a new tourist destination.
Professor of BioMarketing and Futures Research at Dublin City University Business School
‘I would like to thank the HSE administration for their professional approach. I delivered a lecture about current trends in marketing for HSE students and I was impressed by their enthusiasm and ambition about this topic. It is important to understand that these young people are future professionals who will work on the attractiveness of the region using modern marketing tools. The activity of HSE in this area deserves respect.’
Other participants of the event also shared their impressions:
Director of Sales at Courtyard Marriott Nizhny Novgorod
‘We are glad that HSE invited us to this event, we have always supported such projects, and we are ready to hear residents' opinion on the problems and development of tourism industry in the region. It would be great if such meetings were organized more often, we are ready to host them aton the territory of our hotel’.
‘We do not often receive such guests as Luiz Moutinho, and for us it is a great honor. It’s a double success for us to gather so many experts, researchers, businessmen, and officials in one place to analyze the situation around the World Cup from different points of view. It's great that we started the dialogue here, at HSE, and we will continue discussing this issue, as after this discussion there will be other large events that will positively influence the city. I hope the Higher School of Economics will be an integral part of that dialogue.’
Irina Arkhangelskaya
PR specialist
‘I think it was a very useful discussion, as we are in for a mega event, and an insight on how to organize it, how to attract an audience, how to develop the hospitality industry – all these issues are relevant for us. Professor Moutinho helped us to understand the key aspects of this work, and the values we must cultivate in order to attract an audience’.
Daria Evplova
4th-year Management student
'I would like to mention a few points. First, the event organization was of a very high level, there were no problems or hitches. Second, many interesting speakers, who highlighted the problems of the upcoming event from different points of view, took part in the discussion. And, of course, I was impressed by Luiz Moutinho’s presentation. I'm incredibly pleased that we were able to attend the discussion with one of the best marketing experts in the world and a colleague of Philip Kotler. There were no boring theories or empty words. I would like to thank HSE for an incredible opportunity!’