PREDSEDOVANJE EU 2008 EU Presidency 2008 PREDSTAVITEV ...

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we all hope. As Mr Krajc says, most Europeans, including Slovenes, don’t know which Member State currently holds the EU Presidency. This is particularly a political project and a lot of people aren’t interested in politics. The Presidency will however, certainly be a good experience for service providers, who will organise new forms of events and reposition themselves in the European market. Perhaps they may in this way also get new events. Do you know how much effect the Presidency’s had on tourist points in any of the countries who’ve already presided over the EU? When I spoke to a representative of the Vienna conference bureau regarding the effect of the Presidency on the occupancy of meeting capacities, he surprised me by saying that they’d really seen a higher number of events. I should also point out that the scope of events in Vienna is much larger. The problem in Slovenia is mainly that hotel capacities are limited and if a larger event is held here, this has an effect on the whole Slovenian tourist scene. How do you assess the quantity and quality of our hotel and meeting facilities? The government quickly saw that our meeting capacities were limited, thus it decided to build a new congress centre in Brdo, something we welcome. For this centre to really thrive after the Presidency as well, it also needs accommodation capacity nearby. Right now the congress centre’s capacity and accommodation available aren’t proportionate, meaning that another hotel with a few hundred rooms has to be built in Brdo. That’s the only way the centre can be a candidate for international events in the long-term, the only type which could fill such capacities. For event participants it’s unacceptable that it only takes ten minutes to get to an excellent congress centre from the airport, but in the evening at the end of a trying day, they have a half-hour drive to their hotel. We simply can’t compete if that’s our offer on the international market. Political events are different of course, as they’re usually one-day events where people come in the morning and leave in the evening. Unfortunately there aren’t enough of these on the international level. There are many more international corporate events and expert association events which the centre in Brdo will be able to get, playing an important role in meetings that usually include at least one overnight stay. In this case, the capacity shortage would certainly stand out. Of course, there’s a question about whether the centre in Brdo will even market itself in such a way in the future. Is any additional capacity being built to ensure there’s enough during the Presidency? I don't have any information on this, but it can be seen in the accelerated investment in meeting and hotel capacity in recent years, also due to the Presidency. Most hotels and meeting venues have thus been promptly renovated, Cankarjev dom and Gospodarsko razstavišče to name but two, while renovations are also being speeded up on the coast. A short period of calm will probably follow this. We have seen 10% growth in key players’ events which is above the Slovenian average. Once hotel occupancy in key destinations reaches international levels, we can also expect the arrival of foreign hotel chains and service providers, which we welcome in the sense of increased capacities. Can the Slovenian meeting offer measure up in terms of quality with offers in countries that have already presided over the EU? Slovenia has over 20 years’ experience in the area of meeting organisation, even the most demanding ones. In my experience, I can tell you that we Slovenes’ve always been superior hosts. If the right players are included in the organisation of the EU Presidency, we will show the world that Slovenia is also able to organise events at the highest level, while at the same time offering beauty and tourist destinations. I’m sure that given the number of people who will visit us in this period, there will be a certain number who return either on business or from personal interest, something that all of us want. Do you think the government should co-operate more closely with meeting activity experts when organising activities? To prepare for the Presidency, the government should form a close association with meeting activity experts. The implementation of meetings isn’t just the organisation of transport, the hire of halls, hotel reservations and perhaps a dinner or so, but a great deal more. The Slovenian Convention Bureau could offer suitable help as a non-profit organisation that also provides expert and impartial information on destinations, event venues and event providers. At the same time, the Bureau operates as a professional intermediary between event organisers, service providers and supporting organisations whose common objective is finding suitable solutions for the organisation and execution of events. The fifty-four members include meeting venues and hotels, professional congress organisers (PCOs) and destination management companies (DMCs), the Ljubljana Tourist Board and other service providers. In other words, all those professionally involved in meeting activities. Finland is a case where the representative office of the Convention Bureau was in the team preparing for the Presidency nearly a year in advance. Jakica Jesih 28
Dimitrij Piciga, MSc. Director of the Slovenian Tourist Board How do you assess what the EU Presidency means for Slovenian tourism? Slovenia’s Presidency of the EU is highly important for Slovenian tourism. The tourist sector will experience both direct and indirect effects from the Presidency. We estimate that 15,000 to 20,000 foreign guests, diplomats, economists and other guests will visit Slovenia just within the scope of the Presidency’s official programmes. Also, we shouldn’t forget the Slovenes travelling throughout Europe during the Presidency, who make up a tourist segment that is sometimes underemphasised. On the other hand, the Presidency is a chance for Slovenia to showcase itself as one of the countries bringing up topics that have great significance in the future of Europe. For the Slovenian Tourist Board, the Presidency starts this year with the promotion of Ljubljana as the European Capital 2008. The STB is planning to carry out activities in all European markets in 2008 involving smaller promotional events that weren’t usual before, and these have added promotional value. What activities is the Slovenian Tourist Board planning in the time preceding the Presidency and during it? Europe: a land between Portugal and Slovenia The entire project is in the final reconciliation phase and the STB, with the Government Communication Office, will certainly take on the important role of promotional coordinator abroad. In Slovenia, the STB will act as a service and the main partner in promotions, while the Slovenian Government Logistics Centre will be in charge of logistics. This will be a complete marketing project, which we’ll extend to all the EU Member States. We think this part has the greatest added value for tourism. We also estimate that entry into the smaller markets is really important, as otherwise these markets would not be in the programme of activities. There’ll be more information on the entire programme after 1 May, while the entire tourist economy will be included intensively in the project according to the partnership formula, namely co-operation. Promotion abroad is based on some ten fundamental events and smaller accompanying ones. The co-ordination teams of the Government Communication Office and the STB have been working on the project intensively since September 2006 aiming to attract as many foreign tourists, members of the expert public and economists to Slovenia as possible. Let me emphasise that promotion abroad is as important as the execution of the Presidency in Brussels and Slovenia. Through these activities, we inform the individual markets that Slovenia exists and communicate what Slovenia has to offer in a focused manner. Events will be tailored to individual countries. Is information already available regarding, for example, what Austria gained during its EU Presidency from a tourism viewpoint? Co-operation with the Austrian national tourist association is excellent and the management has sent an assessment on the results of the Presidency to us: • 35 million guests visited the website; • sub-menus under ‘current events’ on the Europa website contained over 3000 documents; • 513 officially recorded events were carried out; • organisers sent out over 2250 newsletters; • 24 of the largest events were accompanied by press conferences; • 75,000 people tried the e-quiz. Slovenia is preparing a similar quiz in the form of a prize-winning chat & play quiz; • according to estimates, Austrian hotels accommodated 50,000 guests. I believe that Slovenia will closely match Austria in terms of the number of events. We think Slovenia will welcome 15,000 to 20,000 visitors as a direct result of the EU Presidency. 29
Page 1: REVIJA SLOVENSKE INDUSTRIJE SREČAN
Page 4 and 5: Kratke novice REVIJA KONGRES - REVI
Page 6 and 7: Short News The regular annual meeti
Page 8 and 9: Novice soustanoviteljev V hotelu Pa
Page 10 and 11: Co-fonders News Hotel Park successf
Page 12 and 13: 12
Page 14 and 15: Na Gospodarskem razstavišču zaklj
Page 16 and 17: Kolumna: Srečo Peterlič Smo obuti
Page 18 and 19: Predsedovanje Evropski uniji 2008 B
Page 20 and 21: ki se odvijajo v času predsedovanj
Page 22 and 23: lahko ponudil ustrezno pomoč. Oben
Page 24 and 25: predsedovanje, odvijali tudi drugi,
Page 26 and 27: venues and services - including for
Page 30 and 31: It is already clear that the 2008 t
Page 32 and 33: Predsedovanje EU - Finska Oh, kakš
Page 34 and 35: EU Presidency - Finland Oh, what a
Page 36 and 37: Kolumna: Matjaž Kek Kdo potrebuje
Page 38 and 39: Column: Matjaž Kek Who needs who?
Page 40 and 41: Kongresna mesta pod žarometom Malo
Page 42: ta 1981. V tem obdobju, z delno pre
Page 45 and 46: contemporary and versatile venues f
Page 47 and 48: Mi to znamo. Smo mednarodno uveljav
Page 49 and 50: Slovenian Convention Bureau Congres
Page 51 and 52: By Tony Carey, CMP, CMM Proving you
Page 53 and 54: Avtor: Matjaž Žnidaršič (matjaz
Page 55 and 56: Case Studies Author: Matjaž Žnida
Page 57 and 58: Planning Corporate Events Choose yo
Page 59 and 60: Technological Trends Communications
Page 61 and 62: Srečko Koklič Culinary Trends It
Page 63 and 64: The Web and Event Organisation Is Y
Page 65 and 66: Organizacija kongresnih in incentiv
Page 67 and 68: strokovnih, gospodarskih ali intere
Page 70 and 71: Marketing in the Meetings Industry
Page 72: economic contributions, articles in
Page 75 and 76: Meeting Statistics Slovenian Meetin
Page 77 and 78: Hotel Robotrade je vodiln
Page 80:
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