Bratislava (source: Sme - Jozef Jakubčo)
Tourism flourishes in Bratislava and in Slovakia as a whole. Preliminary data indicates that the Slovak capital is experiencing a record year in the number of visitors while the number of business clients is increasing too.
“Bratislava is interested not only in ordinary visitors but in business clients who arrive here to attend various congresses, conferences and meetings, whom we consider important, lucrative clientele,” said Maroš Plitko from the destination management company, the Bratislava Tourist Board (BTB) as cited by the Hospodárske Noviny. “From the viewpoint of tourism, Bratislava has been growing for more than two-and-half years and the better proportion of visitors spending a night in Bratislava, are business clients.”
Neither the BTB nor the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of Slovakia have revealed the exact number of business clients. Most conferences in Bratislava are dedicated to technologies, especially the automotive industry. For organisers of meetings, incentives, conferences and other similar events, Bratislava is especially interesting due to price and the closeness of neighbouring metropoles.
Based on estimates, a business visitor spends five times more than an ordinary tourist. A company often covers the price of the hotel, which means they tend to stay in the more expensive ones and visit more expensive restaurants and attractions. In the end, they bring more money to a destination.
Neighbouring Vienna is the world number one in MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) tourism with several million business people visiting the city annually. Its proximity to Bratislava, the cities lie about 60 km apart, helps the Slovak Capital.
“In addition, Bratislava is still a relatively undiscovered destination and this makes us interesting,” said Plitko.
