London tourist office nominated for the prestigious award

The Slovenian tourist office in London has been nominated for the prestigious award "Travel agents` choice awards 2013". This prestigious award in the British tourist industry is awarded by the BMI Publications media house and is considered to be one of the most important annual awards in an extremely strong segment of the British and Irish economy.

According to the BMI Publications editor, Steve Hartridge, `The Travel Agents` Choice Awards are something special since they are nominated and selected directly by the British and Irish agents.«

The information office of the SPIRIT Slovenia Public Agency (the former Slovenian Tourist Board) has been operating since 2010 in the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in London, being managed by Tine Murn since its beginning; on the occasion of this prestigious nomination, Mr. Murn said the following: `We are glad that our work in the area of promoting Slovenian tourism in Great Britain has been noticed. Tourist offices in embassies and consulates are examples of good practice and cost rationalisation. Common cooperation between diplomacy and tourism has contributed to successful implementation of projects that would otherwise be barely accessible. Slovenia needs such models of tourist offices in other destinations as well, such as Russia, the Middle East, China, etc. Namely, many journalists and agents from other Anglo-Saxonic markets refer to us; for instance, from the USA. I am extremely happy and honoured that our work has been noticed among the British and Irish tourist workers and that this nomination really represents an award for our common work over the last three years. The British outbound market is one of the largest in the world, while British purchasing power is strong and the pound is a stable currency. So far, Slovenia has been collecting only crumbs from this market. However, good airline connections and selected tourist offer could lead to this market beginning to represent one of the leading markets for Slovenian tourist destinations.`

Recently, the British market has again begun to discover Slovenia. After an extremely successful conference of British tourist workers in Bled in May (The Travel Network Group Conference), attended by more than 300 participants, and the introduction of a charter connection between London and Ljubljana managed by the British tourist organiser Inghams, visits by British and Irish guests to Slovenian destinations have increased by 20 per cent in the highest season in comparison with the same period last year.

The finalists of the prestigious award will be presented in the September issue of the Selling Long Haul/Selling Short Haul magazines and at a special event for tourist agents on 1 October in London.

More information is available here.

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