The event was a pleasant surprise, the speeches were factual and it was clear that the speakers – whom we introduce and bring brief information from their speeches – spoke concretely, professionally, without unnecessary phrases. It is a pity that the questions were only from the moderator and there was not at least a minimum time space for questioning from the plenary. It certainly wouldn’t hurt the conference.
In the first part on the topic of 2024 – the preparatory stage for the transformation, the following had the floor:
- State Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Sport of the Slovak Republic Marek Harbuľák
- Chairwoman of the Association of Tourism Organizations Michaela Podoláková
- Vice-President of the Tourism Association Roman Berkeš
- General Manager of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of the Slovak Republic Martin Novotný
The second part brought the speakers’ view of the future period of 2025 – 2027 tools for the development of tourism and its support, which was perfectly expressed by:
- State Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Sport of the Slovak Republic Marek Harbuľák
- CEO of Slovakia Travel Ivana Vala Magátová
- Secretary General of the Slovak Association of Travel Agencies Radoslav Oliver Košík
- Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Tourism Support Fund
Basic ideas from Part 1
Transport accessibility, new regular transport lines from Bratislava, Košice, Piešťany airports
VAT in accommodation and catering services with the aim of competitiveness of prices on the international market
Strategic decision-making in accordance with the documents that are needed at the national level, with the subsequent possibility of their continuation at the level of KOCR and OOCR
Setting priorities for tourism development
Up-to-date data, new e-visitor system in terms of demand
Tourism Fund with Representation of Stakeholders from the Tourism Industry
Classification of accommodation facilities, currently for the needs of para-hotel accommodation facilities (mainly guesthouses)
Evaluation of subsidies for Regional and Regional Tourism Organizations (OCR and KOCR) with the aim of feedback
Opportunities to connect the offer of Slovak regions with incoming travel agencies
Key areas in destination management are the development of networking, harmonization of calendars of individual DMOs, development of B2B relationships
The recent importance of the local accommodation tax has been the collection of EUR 20 million in the territories where OOCR operates and EUR 5 million from other territories.
The need to expand destination marketing management through OOCRs even in territories where they are not yet established.
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Basic ideas from Part 2
The main goal of the Ministry of Tourism and Sport of the Slovak Republic for 2025 is to implement a system of tourism support tools and to publish calls for project submission.
The collection and processing of data at regular intervals on both the supply and demand sides is a prerequisite for decision-making processes. It is necessary to digitize the system of management processes and database creation. The current first project is the e-visitor platform.
Slovakia Travel currently also works with less traditional source markets, e.g. in the Scandinavian countries. Already this season, it will present an intensive offer on traditional source markets from neighboring countries.
The importance of creating a package offer in domestic tourism is increasing. With the creation of a product, the connection to communication with the public is of particular importance.
Slovakia Travel develops marketing activities in the aforementioned source markets of the Scandinavian region. The new air route Bratislava – Copenhagen creates the basis of accessibility for visitors to Slovakia from these countries. Slovakia Travel pays increased attention to promotion for the needs of domestic tourism. Currently, in cooperation with TV, it presents a series of programs about gastronomic wandering in search of local offer in hospitality establishments, their local specialties, interesting dishes and drinks.
Tourism will be presented at EXPO OSAKA with the theme – viticulture, winemaking, wine. Slovakia Travel is ready for the Expo in terms of content. It prepares all presentations and documentation in Japanese, as required by the Japanese market. The preparation of the event of Slovakia’s participation in the Exposi requires intensive cooperation with the Ministry of Transport of the Slovak Republic and the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic.
The mutual cooperation between Slovakia Travel – OOCR – travel agencies is proving to be successful.
Travel agencies (309 member travel agencies in SACKA) carried out trips abroad worth EUR 1.1 billion last year, but only in the amount of EUR 5 million as part of incoming for foreign guests.
Travel agencies are open for better mutually beneficial cooperation with hotels. The possibility of including the offer of hotels in the catalogs of travel agencies is a rational and effective opportunity.
In the future, the SACKA database will also be suitable for communication within domestic tourism. The goal is to get a customer “at the time we want, where we want and who we want”.
As part of the incoming, SACKA plans to increase the activity of travel agencies in inbound tourism. He expects that incoming travel agencies can receive revenues of EUR 200 million from foreign visitors.
The Tourism Fund with the representation of stakeholders from the tourism industry will direct support to public administration and the business sector. It is currently preparing short-term action plans.
Infrastructure development projects will need to be linked to national calls and coordinated funding.
Edited by: L.Nov.
Photo: I. Leyseková, L. Nov. FIJET SLOVAKIA
