The number of exhibitors and visitors at Prague’s tourism fair, Holiday World, remained the same despite the economic crisis. Among countries represented at the fair for the first time was Iceland and Tanzania.
Central Europe’s premier tourism event, Holiday World, took place between February 2 and 7, 2010 in Prague, Czech Republic. Although occupying smaller area, the event attracted almost 700 exhibitors from 47 countries, which was comparable to the previous years. The total number of visitors reached 31,710.
For the first time the fair managed to lure exhibitors from Iceland and Tanzania as well as those from Australia and New Zealand. According to analyst Jaromir Beranek the more expensive destinations and regions that are far away from the Central Europe have to react to the globalized market satiated with attractive offers. Also they have to cope with the higher disposable incomes of travelers. “Thus they are willing to participate in tourism fairs not previously considered as their priority,” explained Beranek, quoted by Czech Press Agency.
“Most of the exhibitors decided to change their strategy. They now try to promote their product at greater number of tourist fairs although they have to limit the size of their exhibits,” said Holiday World’s manger Libor Patocka.
The partner country for the 19th Holiday World was Slovenia. The country’s tourism board tries to lure visitors from the Central Europe for longer stays since they usually only drive through the country on their way to the Mediterranean Sea.
Among the exhibitors were major travel agencies, tour operators, national tourism authorities and representatives of various countries as well as smaller regions. A rich accompanying program was also on offer for the professionals. For instance, the Association of Hotels presented the new classification system of accommodation launched in December in seven European countries. The Ministry for Regional Development then organized a seminar about the latest innovations in the tourism industry.
In conjunction with the Holiday World, two other international events opened their gates to the professionals as well as public – Golf World Prague focusing on golf and golf tourism and Top Gastro presenting the latest trends in gastronomy.
By Igor Fesyukov
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