The award ceremony of the most prestigious international tourism competition, the World Travel Awards, took place at the Ethnographic Museum in St. Petersburg. The city received the right to host the ceremony due to the fact that it had already won prizes in the competition twice before. This year Russia’s Northern Capital was the victor in the “Best European City Direction 2017” nomination. “Tourism is an excellent means of communication between countries and peoples, it makes our world brighter and kinder,” said Georgy Poltavchenko, Governor of St. Petersburg.