The Moscow International Travel and Tourism Exhibition (MITTE) occupied over 36,000 square metre gross and attracted exhibitors from 106 countries, 60 per cent of whom were internationals. MITTE had 125,000 visitors from all regions of Russia and neighbouring countries and 2,500 exhibitors.

The exhibition celebrated its tenth anniversary recently in Moscow. Bobby T Koshy, senior executive of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority said that select companies signed contracts in the area of $200,000 on-site.

MITT 2003 was visited by over 40 official delegations headed by ministers of tourism and directors and senior officials from national tourism organizations. The importance of the Russian market for the global tourism industry was stressed by Francesco Frangialli, secretary general of the WTO, who was present at the show.

The WTO was closely involved with many events scheduled alongside MITT 2003. These included the business and incentive travel seminar organised jointly with the Tourism Department of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation (supported by ITE Travel Exhibitions).

The Russian Travel Awards winners were announced. The winners included Greenex (best Russian Travel Agency; PAC group (best Russian outbound tour operator); KMP Group (best Russian inbound tour operator) et al.

The Russian travel awards are organised by TTG-Russia in conjunction with ITE Travel Exhibitions.