Big Foreign Investors visited Investment Forum in Saint Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG, Russian Federation - Oct. 27, 2016 - PRLog -- On October 24 of this year, the first investment forum was opened in Saint Petersburg. More than seven hundred delegates participated in the event. High officials from Russia, representatives of a large national or foreign business discussed problems of investing in large-scale economic projects both in Russia and in North-West. The main theme to discuss was an issue of enhancing investment attractiveness of the country and regions as well as of developing effective methods aimed at the attraction of foreign investments to different sectors of economy.

Georgy Poltavchenko, Governor of Saint Petersburg, Alexei Kudrin, Deputy Chairman of Economic Council under the President of the Russian Federation as well as business representatives participated in the forum. Soren Christiansen, Head of European Subdivision of Hermes-Sojitz International Investment Fund, attended the event and discussed the following topic: "Do foreing investors need Russian business?" It should be noted that interest of large international funds in Russian investment events is a good omen and gives evidence about foreign investors' interest in Russian assets.

According to participants of the investment forum, one of the most promising segments for investments is a hotel business. Within this segment the foreign investors' attention is mostly paid to construction of new 4 and 5 stars hotels. It is determined by a tendency of an increasing flow of foreign tourists in the Russian Federation (according to the Federal Agency for Tourism +5 % following the results of 2016) and inappropriate number of hotel facilities providing high-quality services and high service standards. According to the forum delegates, development of ecotourism in the European part of Russia is considered to be a particularly interesting area. Such investment projects attract the foreign investors that are ready to invest funds in development of hotel facilities for both external and internal tourist flow.

However, lack of clear understanding of a program aimed at the development of infrastructure and entertainment facilities in areas of potential hotel business development hinders active investments in ecotourism. Soren Christiansen, representative of Hermes-Sojitz, noted that the fund decided to invest in an ecotourism project in Karelia taking into account construction of a new federal highway from Saint Petersburg to Sortavala.

Besides, Hermes-Sojitz International Direct Investment Fund invests about EUR 55 mln in development of Scandic Regatta ecological project on the territory of Karelia that includes construction of a countryside hotel complex with 135 rooms, yacht club, health and entertainment infrastructure. The complex is to be opened in 2017 as a part of worldwide known international hotel brands.