Regions play in tourism strategy |
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FORUM & ARTICLES
Regions play in tourism strategy |
2006-06-19 12:12:12 |
| autor: Cristina Muntean |
The total number of tourists is expected to increase, but making them stay longer and spend more money is the key issue, says Rostislav Vondruška, the director of state agency CzechTourism.
In October 2007, the Czech Republic will become part of the Schengen visa area, which allows free movement of people between member countries. Simplified entry to the Czech Republic is one factor that should contribute to an increase in tourists. Experts also expect that the tourism budget earmarked for the Czech Republic from European Union Structural Funds for 2007?13 will stimulate the sector.
In its long-term strategy, the state tourism agency CzechTourism includes the promotion of regional destinations such as Karlovy Vary, West Bohemia; ?eský Krumlov, South Bohemia; and Ostrava, North Moravia; in addition to Prague. Another step for getting more incomers was signing strategic partnerships with representatives from areas such as China or South America, which have a large number of potential tourists. But poor regional infrastructure, poorly qualified personnel and limited entertainment opportunities are still drawbacks.
Q: How is CzechTourism preparing to draw the money allocated for tourism from the 2007?13 EU Structural Funds?
A: We don?t have the rules yet for the 2007?13 financial time frame. The rules will come from the Ministry for Regional Development and we expect to know them by autumn 2006. Then we?ll start preparing our projects, because indeed there?s a large quantity of money that we can?t ignore and would like to use not only for marketing the Czech Republic, but also for investments.
We have our own ideas, priorities and premises to be fulfilled. One example is the promotion and development of regional airports in Ostrava, Brno [South Moravia], Pardubice [Central Bohemia] or Karlovy Vary, which connect the Czech Republic with neighboring countries. This promotion will go hand in hand with presenting opportunities for investing in these airports, so if investments are made, we can expect a consistent development of these regions in the longer term.
Q: In the strategy published on your Web site, you state that the only risk for CzechTourism?s priorities not to be fulfilled is your own inefficiency. What makes CzechTourism inefficient?
A: I wouldn?t say we?re inefficient. But if we speak about a possible weak point, then it?s our limited opportunities to work abroad. Presently, we have 29 offices abroad and we intend to expand. But it would increase our effectiveness greatly to have some kind of ?Czech houses? abroad where all the state institutions cooperate and coordinate their activities. We saw that when we had to deal with individual projects, it was easy as we had to focus only on our activity. But when it comes to cooperating with other Czech institutions for more complex projects, it becomes harder to act together.
Q: What are you doing to improve cooperation with your foreign partners, such as tour operators and travel agencies?
A: We organize fairs, workshops and seminars; all these actions are aimed at this segment of partnership. We have also created a special type of joint agreement among CzechTourism, foreign carriers, and local tour operators and travel agencies, which is currently active mainly in Latin America.
For example, air carrier AeroMéxico will provide cheaper flight tickets. For the moment, this type of agreement is suitable for Latin America, but maybe in the future we?ll also take the Asian market into account. We would prefer to simply have more direct flights to some major Chinese cities, instead of complex agreements.
Through this cooperation we can stimulate Czech-based tourism businesses, too, as Czech operators of foreign tours can find reliable partners and sign contracts for their outgoing tourists. Because of our profile, we?re focused more on incoming tourists, but Czech tourists going abroad are also important for us.
Q: How do you select your co-workers for these partnerships?
A: Tour operators are selected through the expertise of CzechTourism?s foreign offices. We have already opened offices in Sao Paolo [Brazil] and Mexico City this year and in Buenos Aires [Argentina] last year.
Q: What advertising slogan for the Czech Republic are you currently promoting?
A: We used the slogan ?Come and slow down,? but it wasn?t suitable for economic interests, for example investors, exports and trade in general. You can?t say to an investor come and slow down... this is why we returned to our previous slogan ?A symphony for the senses.?
From my two years of experience, I saw that the first product the Czech Republic sells is Prague. Maybe if a tourist comes here and sees Prague several times then he will feel ? at least curious about something else and will be interested in other destinations.
But the point isn?t to simply bring tourists to other destinations, but to keep them there. Once you have tourists, you must satisfy their expectations and make their stay enjoyable, as word-of-mouth is the most powerful type of advertising one can get. This is an important aspect that we try to manage with the regions. We cooperate closely to develop our priorities, which include general services, such as transportation, but also specialized ones, such as hotels and restaurants.
The regions have become more active, and regional governors have started to understand the importance of tourism for the development of their communities.
Q: In your strategy, you also underscore the need to increase the number of tourists, their stays and local spending. How do you plan to accomplish these targets?
A: There are many ways to increase the number of tourists. One is the visa policy. If visas are canceled for some countries like China, imagine how many times the number of tourists might multiply. Once we are integrated into the Schengen area, a tourist applying for a visa for one Schengen member state will be able to travel to other countries without any problems. So, Chinese tourists might apply for a visa for another country, but then eventually come to the Czech Republic as well.
We?re trying to make ourselves well-known in China. We?ve recently opened a new office in Beijing, and there?s now a road show to 12 major Chinese cities to promote Czech culture, music, cuisine and so on. Private companies also came with proposals, so we?re confident in developing closer relations with Chinese partners.
For increasing the number of stays, we intend to promote spa tourism, because the typical tourist for this kind of activity comes and stays on average for three weeks.
To increase local spending, we intend to also focus on business incentives and events. A tourist who comes for a conference or an event and stay a few days spends twice as much as a normal tourist.
Q: What is the current profile of the average tourist coming to the Czech Republic?
A: Middle aged, professional, with an above average income, who has two vacations a year.
We?re aware that we don?t have any seacoast or high mountains for winter sports. But we can take advantage of vacations in spring or autumn; this is why our average tourist has a different profile.
Q: Promoting Christmas is also among your key priorities. Why?
A: Christmas, in connection with New Year?s Eve, brings two interesting types of tourists here. They can be young families eager for entertainment or retired people without children. We call them ?empty nesters.? Also, people come for Christmas shopping, so local spending increases.
Q: When the summer tourism season began this year, Prague officials said they intend to draw the attention of tourists to unusual or less-visited places, such as cemeteries. What do you think about this strategy?
A: It?s an interesting point of view; I believe tourists are very interested in Jewish cemeteries. Jewish people coming here are astonished how well-preserved their monuments are and how much the municipality has invested in their upkeep.
Q: This year, many five-star hotels opened in Prague. How would you comment on their reasons for choosing Prague?
A: Again, we are speaking only about Prague; this situation isn?t generally true for the entire country. The appearance of several five-star hotels is the result of business policies of major chains, as the majority of luxury hotels opening in Prague belong to international chains.
If these chains have guests in other capitals and those guests want to come to Prague, why would they direct them to the competition? So one explanation is that the chains follow their business partners.
In fact, we would love to have more of a five-star clientele. But now we need to focus mainly on three-star hotels for families, for the middle class, which for us is a more consistent target with a larger financial impact.
Q: What impact will the unclear post-election situation have on tourism?
A: The present post-election situation doesn?t affect our work at all, since we?re following our annual marketing plan that was approved at the end of last year, just like any other business entity does. The future may bring changes that could result from a unified presentation of our country abroad. Right now, however, this remains to be seen. |
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