The Image of Russia: Between the Past and the Future?

Abstract

Sergey Smirnov — Director, Institute for Social Policy and Socio-Economic Programs, National Research University “Higher School of Economics”. Address: 20, Myasnitskaya St., Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation. E-mail: socpol@hse

Alexey Kapustin — Head of the Department of the Institute for Social Policy and Socioeconomic Programs, National Research University “Higher School of Economics”. Address: 20, Myasnitskaya St., Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation. E-mail: cap027@yandex.ru

Nickolay Isaev — Deputy Director, Institute for Social Policy and Socioeconomic Programs, National Research University “Higher School of Economics”. Address: 20, Myasnitskaya St., Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation. E-mail: isnick@yandex.ru

As a successor to the Soviet Union, post-communist Russia has inherited the USSR’s international icons — ‘the Upper Volta with Missiles’ and ‘the Evil Empire’. During the last two decades great efforts have been made to improve the image of Russia abroad.

Some of them have succeeded, but others have not. The fact is that while the non-residents traditionally rate Russia as a country of fascinating culture, they are still way too skeptical about its attractiveness with respect to investment and travelling. Some well-known case studies have shown that Russia’s international image is significantly less attractive than that of OECD countries. On the other hand, it is no worse than that of the other BRIC countries (Brazil, India, and China) or of the former socialist states like Poland and Czech Republic. The attractiveness of Russia for inbound visitors is neither high nor low compared to other country destinations. However, Russian authorities pay insufficient attention to the promotion of the positive image of the country abroad: Russia’s total annual expenditures for promotion are equal in value to the expenses of Paris (which is not all of France!) or Singapore.

The authors identify two underlying causes which impede the growth of the number of inbound visitors (particularly as tourists) to the Russian Federation. One of them is that Russia has a limited number of tourist destinations equipped with globally acceptable standards of services for visitors. The other is the huge problem concerning the ‘Soviet’ image of Russia. The latter is particularly harmful, since it is the cause of a ‘vicious circle’ which ought to be disrupted: the majority of those who have travelled to post-Soviet Russia, at least, have also improved their opinion about the country as a comfortable place to travel. All conclusions which are drawn in the article are based on a series of personal interviews carried out in the hotels of Moscow and St. Petersburg.