Russian tourism and airports: World Cup spin-off benefits

With the FIFA Soccer World Cup Finals having entered the knock-out stage, the standard of entertainment has varied from sleep-inducing (France-Denmark, Belgium-England) to sensational (Spain-Portugal, Germany-South Korea) but has been generally attractive.

Little spectator trouble has been reported (so far); overall there has been excellent weather and media commentators have been falling over themselves to extol the virtues of cities they would never have visited otherwise.

The Soccer World Cup offers Russian cities and airports a rare opportunity to promote themselves to the outside world.

Some cities and their airports will be wondering if and how they can reap the benefit in the future. Some will benefit more than others in the medium and long term.