Tourism – a Chance for the Regions of Europe - Institut IRE

Danijel Ivanagić, BA IT, Member of
County Council in charge of EU-Intergration
and Regional Cooperation,
Varaždin, Maja Lehman, Development
Agency of Varaždin County, Elizabeta
Dolenec, Director of Varaždin County
Tourist Board, and Alen Leverić, Head
of Department of Tourism in Varaždin
County, Development
Franco Ianniello, Head of Unit, European
Commission, DG Enterprise and
Industry, Dr. Hans Harald Jahn, Head
of Unit for Tourism, European Investment
Bank (EIB), and Dr. Ulrich Zacherl,
Director, Investkredit Bank AG
At the most important tourism conference
of the regions, this year’s IRE
Conference “Tourism and the Regions
of Europe - latest Developments” 150
participants from 27 countries and
more than 40 European Regions were
present at the welcoming speech of
the director of the Institute of the Regions
of Europe, the former Governor
of the State of Salzburg. 18 renowned
representatives from the fields of politics,
EU, tourism industry, tourism investors,
law etc. presented this topic.
Schausberger said, that he was pleased,
that the European Commission
had realised how important European
Regions are for tourism and that in
his opinion tourism plays a major role
in realising the Lisbon Strategy. He
was, however, also clearly criticising
the new EU tourism strategy, saying
that it left disappointingly small space
for the cities and the regions, when
one takes in consideration the huge
effort they made to improve the situation.
He also pointed out that regional
political activities in the field of
tourism and cities were very important
for small and medium-sized businesses
that are linked to the tourism industry.
The Head of the Tourism Section of
the Federal Ministry of Economy and
Labour, Mrs. Elisabeth Udolf-Strobl
highlighted the fact that in Austria
tourism is a typical interdisciplinary
field in which competences are split
and where a vast number of rules and
provincial and federal laws and currently
more and more European legal
provisions exist. She furthermore
states that it is the provinces which
are competent of issuing rules that
concern tourism and leisure-time activities,
therefore the provinces clearly
play an important role in tourism
and therefore it is also necessary to
establish cooperations and networks.
“The role that the regions play in this
context is a very strong one - they
should actively participate!” says Mrs.
Udolf-Strobl.
Franci Rokavec, state secretary for
local autonomous administration and
regional policy, emphasised the large
potential of the economic branch of
tourism in Slovenia. During the last
few years a great deal was invested
in quantity. Now it is necessary to
improve quality. The vision of a “modern
Slovenian tourism” was set up in
a development plan. Part of this plan
was the promotion of the construction
of 4 to 5 star hotels, as well as the
improvement of the quality of pensions
and private boarding houses and
the prolongation of the low season.
The total sum of investments which
currently amounts to EUR 1.6 billion
is planned to be raised significantly till
the year 2010. “Being a small country
we must find a specific way to be
different from the big countries where
tourism is a major income factor.
The keyword therefore is “authenticity!”
Slovenia should take advantage
of being a small country with a vast
and varied offer concerning its culture,
nature and landscape.
The Polish State Secretary Tomasz
Wilczak presented the current tourism
situation in Poland. There are 23 national
parks and preserves, as well as
PhD. Dipl Ing. Pavol Weiss, Director of
the Institute for Tourism, Bratislava, Albena
Shishkova, First secretary - Acting
Head of Community Policies Unit European
Integration Directorate, Bulgarian
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Ing. Gabriel
Kuliffay, Director of Tourism Department
of the Ministry of Economy of the
Slovak Republic, and Dipl. Ing. Ladislav
Monćek, Director of the Travel Agency
Montravel Tatraclub, Banska Bysrica
Leo Bauernberger, Director of Salzburger Land Tourismus GmbH, Mag. Roman
Himmler, MBA Vienna Airport AG, Head of Shareholdings, Dr. Andreas Hopf , Director,
Central Danube Region Marketing & Development GmbH, Univ. Doz. Dr. Franz
Schausberger, Mag. Dr. Stefan Eder, Dr. Helmut Falschlehner, Business Consultant
6 irenews 6 / nov06