The Russian bid-team from Sochi erupted in euphoria on Wednesday after Olympic president Jacques Rogge announced that the Black Sea resort would stage the 2014 Winter Games.

Sochi beat Pyeongchang of South Korea in a second and final round of voting by International Olympic Committee members after Austria's Salzburg were eliminated in the first round.

Sochi beat Pyeongchang by just four votes with 51 going to the Russians and 47 to the Koreans. Pyeongchang had led the first round with 36, Sochi followed on 34 and Salzburg went out with 25.

“Old New” Russian Destination

(courtesy of Business Travel Group (BTG), a Russian DMC serving Sochi – contact Tatiana Baklanova, General Manager on TBaklanova@btgroup.ru for additional information).

Sochi was very popular world wide destination in the middle of eighties. About three thousand hundreds of foreigners per year visited Sochi at that times but the economical and political changes in Russia corrected the situation. Nevertheless, nowadays Sochi is going through a real revival in international tourist’s world because of many reasons.

Sochi is a destination really worth discovering. It is the southern city of Russia which stretches along the Black Sea coast approximately on the same latitude as Varna (Bulgary), Boston (USA), Toronto (Canada), Sapporo (Japan), Shenyang (China) and the famous French Riviera. It is second longest city in the world (149 km).

The Mediterranean-style beaches are located only one hour away from Russia's alpine sports centre, Krasnaya Polyana, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with peaks higher than 2000m. Krasnaya Polyana means "Red Meadow" and is named for the beautiful red-coloured foliage that blankets the mountains in autumn before winter's first snowfall. Krasnaya Polyana is a ‘little Switzerland’ which is situated at the height of 600 meters above sea-level.

It is the largest ski resort in Russia which has the opportunities for all active types of rest and for organization of business meetings at the highest level. 300 sunny days a year make Sochi is one of the warmest cities in the Black Sea coast. Winter is hardly known here. That is why Sochi is called the city of three seasons (Spring-Summer-Autumn).

Sochi has a unique northern subtropical climate. It is one of the very few places in the world that offers you the opportunity to get a beautiful sun tan in the morning and go skiing in the afternoon. The best time for leisure is May – October, for business trips is September-May, for treatment & wellness - Autumn, Winter and Spring, the swimming season is 5 months from June till October.

Average air temperature in summer is +26.5C, water is 24,5C. Skiing season in Red Meadow resort lasts for 6 months from December till May. Average temperature in mountains is +2C/0C.

Sochi is something different from other Russia. It offers you exquisite Caucasian and Russian cuisine, hospitality of native inhabitants, warm sea with numerous beaches, palms and glaciers, alpine meadows and mountain peaks, high mountainous lakes and waterfalls uniting with good infrastructure and European service - high class international standard hotels with extended list of services, well equipped sanatoriums with the best Russian doctors, high class restaurants with different types of cuisine, wide range of entertainments (the city is home to the annual Film Festival "Kinotavr", “Russian Oktoberfest”, national festival KVN (the most popular Russian action of humor and laughter)).

Sochi is a city of diverse ethnic origins with one-third of the population of non-Russian nationality. This rich diversity is a legacy of Sochi’s stature as an international crossroads and enables people of all nationalities and backgrounds to feel at home in the city.

Sochi already has well-developed winter sports venues. The Russian Government has plans for significant additional sports facilities and the city’s infrastructure in both the coastal and mountainous areas.

Hosting the 2014 Winter Games in Russia would help create a world-class winter sports training and competition legacy for Russian and international athletes. Russia is one of the Olympic Movement’s greatest winter sports powers and yet has never had the opportunity to welcome a Winter Games.

In late 2005, the Russian Football Union announced that it was planning to establish a year-round training center for the country's national teams in Sochi and nowadays the work is underway on.

Almost 2 million tourists, who benefit from the over 20,000 high quality hotel rooms in the city, visit Sochi each year to enjoy the natural beauty of Sochi as well as attractions such as curative mineral springs and spas. The culture of the Sochi region is one of Russia's oldest and it has welcomed visitors for thousands of years – from travellers and traders on the ancient Silk Road to Russian Tsars.

Sochi is also the choice of the new democratic Russia - it is the favourite resort of President Putin (his official residence is located here), who enjoys skiing in Krasnaya Polyana and welcoming world leaders to his residence. Sochi has also been home to many famous Russian athletes including Olympic champion Evgeny Kafelnikov and tennis star Maria Sharapova.

Today Sochi is also one of the attractive destinations not only for leisure but also for international business and incentive tourism. Many business travelers say there is no place in Russia like Sochi when you need to work creatively or to hold an important meeting.

It is a favorite meeting place of Russian CEOs, bankers, scientists and journalists. Sochi venues host summits of Presidents and Prime-Ministers, congresses of associations and corporate events. Among the most memorable events that took place in Sochi are large-scale meetings of UN experts, the Paguosh conference, the world congress of Russian-language Press, conferences of nuclear physicists, a global congress of immunologists, meetings of Microsoft, Kodak, L’Oreal…

When it snows in Saint-Petersburg, Moscow and other areas of Russia, Sochi welcomes business travelers with sun and flowers, southern hospitality and excellent cuisine. Obviously, the energy of the sea and the atmosphere of home away from home act as catalysts of new approaches at summits, meetings, and at negotiations held in Sochi.