The European Cities Marketing Spring Meeting in Gijon will be held February 4-7, 2015 and will be dedicated to "Balancing visitors and inhabitants".
Worldwide tourism is growing and the expectations for the next years are a further growth. The booming number of visitors, not only leisure tourists but also business travellers, has a shady side in a growing number of cities: locals are complaining about crowdy spots… Where the marketing organizations in origin tried to get more visitors, they are thinking now about the balance between visitors and inhabitants. That balance is necessary for a liveable city, the most valuable thing for inhabitants and for the economic impact of the visiting industry.
Speaking about the meeting’s subject, Ignasi de Delas, European Cities Marketing President, said: “This seminar will show that cities take their responsibility and want to prepare as for the future of growing number of visits. With a combination of a theoretical base, practical cases and existing solutions, participants will be provided with food for thought and tools for action for this “luxury problem”.”
Among key speakers, Cinzia De Marzo, DG for Internal market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs at the European Commission will give a presentation on “European Tourism Indicators System for Sustainable Management at Destination Level”. The different case studies will show the experiences from ECM member cities such as Aarhus, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bruges, Dubrovnik and Gijon, in terms of handling the pressure caused by day visitors or spreading international visitors over a greater area. The seminar day will be coordinated by Jelka Tepsic, Head of Communication Department, Dubrovnik Tourist Board. Vanguelis Panayotis, Director of Development of MKG Group will provide a presentation on “Track the hotel market performance in 2014″ in the frame of the Research & Statistics Knowledge Group session.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
