What is More Convincing for World Cup 2018 Fans? Russia’s Edgy New Tourism Logo or Their Governments’ Dire Warnings? · Global Voices
The logo's legend explains that the brick red rectangle on the far left is Crimea, the annexed peninsula that is the source of much of Russia's latest woes // russia-brand.com
With the 2018 FIFA World Cup beginning in June 2018, Russia’s federal tourism agency is seeking to put forth a fresh image of the country. Football matches will take place in 11 cities across Russia.
In anticipation of the games, Rosturizm recently unveiled the country's new tourism “brand”: “The Whole World Within Russia”, so named for the wealth of cultures and peoples that can be found in the country.
The result of a two-year-long contest with more than 500 submissions, the winning campaign draws upon the rich avant-garde artistic movement of Suprematism, developed in the early 20th century by artists such as <PERSON>, <PERSON>, and <PERSON>.
The main logo evokes the map of the Russian Federation, from the annexed Crimea across the Ural Mountains to Russia’s Far East and beyond. With over 170 officially-recognized ethnic groups and 100 minority languages in Russia, the logo seeks to convey the ethnic, linguistic, and cultural vastness of the country today. The collection’s other design concepts superimpose images of Russian artists, food, athletes, landscapes, and art styles onto the main image.
Various traditional Russian art styles integrated into the campaign's main suprematist design // russia-brand.com
The winning design will be rolled out at a moment of great anticipation for Russia's tourism industry. In tandem, state and industry leaders hope that the number of foreign visitors to Russia will continue to increase, spurred by interest in the game.
According to Rosturizm, foreign tourism rose by 14 percent from 2016 to 2017. 880
FIFA recently reported that over 3 million tickets have been requested for the World Cup’s various matches. In the event that demand outpaces supply, a lottery system has been developed to determine who will get tickets for certain matches.
With a reported 38 percent of these requests coming from abroad, the Russian government has worked with FIFA to develop a visa-free travel regime for the duration of the games. The visa-substituting “Fan ID” also comes with free transport between host cities, and given the enormous distances one would have to travel across Russia, these efforts are aimed at streamlining tourism during the games as much as possible.
Tourism experts are counting on the games to affect the amount of tourism even after the championship comes to an end. However, expectations have been tempered by the country’s experience with the 2017 FIFA Confederation Cup. As the press release for a tourism conference put out by the Russian business publication Vedomosti states:
…не оправдал ожидания туристического бизнес-сообщества, – гостей оказалось явно меньше, чем планировалось организаторами, жить они предпочитали в частном секторе, бронируя размещение через онлайн-сервисы в обход туроператоров, готовых предоставить им экскурсионные программы и удобную логистику.
…didn’t live up to the expectations of the tourism industry. The number of visitors was evidently much lower than organizers had planned, as these guests preferred to get lodging in private homes, making reservations through online services and bypassing tour operators, who were ready to provide excursions and convenient logistics.
For this reason, the projected number of World Cup visitors from abroad was lowered from about two million to one million after the Confederation Cup ended. 165