Meeting of tourism ministers of the Visegrad Group
The meeting was preceded by a conference of the representatives of the National Tourism Organizations of the V4 countries, aimed at developing a joint marketing plan to be implemented on third markets in 2011.
As Slovakia holds the presidency of the Visegrad Group in 2010-2011, the event was organized by the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development of the Slovak Republic, represented by Secretary of State Ján Hudacký.
During the meeting, representatives of the V4 countries expressed satisfaction with the ever closer cooperation in the field of tourism. They also discussed the problems related to the difficult global economic situation and its negative impact on tourism. Recognizing that tourism plays a significant role in the economies of the V4 countries, the parties reached a common position on the issue and adopted the following guidelines:
1. meetings of V4 representatives should be continued on a regular basis in order to strengthen relationships between the countries and share information and experiences, as well as specific solutions related to alleviating the crisis;
2. there is a need to continue coordinated actions aimed at increasing the numbers of tourists visiting the Visegrad Group countries including, in particular, tourists from third countries; these actions should include the development of a joint marketing plan and implementation of joint marketing activities in these markets;
3. there should be more emphasis on joint marketing activities in the Asian part of the Russian Federation, in the People’s Republic of China, United States and in Japan. The parties also consider it useful to explore the potential for such activities in new markets in Asia (India) and South America (Brazil);
4. work should also be continued on the improvement of the joint website http://www.european-quartet.com/ in four language versions: English, Japanese, Chinese and Russian.
The meeting ended with the signing of a protocol which regulates issues related to the Visegrad Group’s joint tourism marketing activities in third countries in 2011.
The Protocol was signed by: Katarzyna Sobierajska, Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Sport and Tourism (Poland), Michal Janeba, Secretary of State for Regional Development and Tourism at the Ministry of Regional Development (Czech Republic), Endre Horváth, Deputy Secretary of State at the Ministry of National Economy (Hungary) and Ján Hudacký, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development (Slovakia).
On July 1st, 2011, the Czech Republic will take over the presidency of the Visegrad Group for a one-year term.