Print Preview : Slovenia is the first official partner country of Nordic Travel Fair MATKA 2009

Slovenia is the first official partner country of Nordic Travel Fair MATKA 2009
For the first time in the history of the Nordic Travel Fair MATKA, a partner country has been chosen for the event in international style. Slovenia, a client for the fair since 2004, was chosen as the first partner from amongst several good candidates.

The numbers of Finnish people travelling to Slovenia has increased at a staggering pace in the last few years. In 2007, nearly 20,000 Finns visited the country. Tourists have been attracted in particular by the versatility of Slovenia’s nature and its many charming cities. In particular, the capital, Ljubljana, has been popular amongst Finns as it is easy to fly to direct from Helsinki all year round.

“Slovenia is still a relatively unknown country to Finns, and the partnership will surely benefit both visitors of MATKA and Slovenian tourism. Slovenia has many good golf and skiing destinations, for example, which will become better known to Finns at MATKA,” says Rilla Engblom, Exhibition Group Manager in The Finnish Fair Corporation.

In practice, the status of partner country will mean more visibility in all pre-event marketing and plenty of visibility and audibility prior and during the fair. Slovenia will be in the spotlight, for example, during press events, at the opening and naturally, in many other ways during the fair.

“It is with great pleasure that we can announce, for the first time, that Slovenia will be a partner country at Northern Europe's largest tourism trade show, MATKA 2009. The Finnish and other Nordic markets are increasingly important for Slovenian tourism. Our activities and attention specifically focus on Finland, one of the fastest growing markets for tourism in Slovenia. The number of Finnish visitors to Slovenia is increasing every year. Just for comparison, Slovenia registered a more than 50 percent increase in the number of Finnish visitors in 2007 over 2006,” says Dimitrij Piciga, Director of the Slovenian Tourist Board.

“In terms of tourism, Finns are an important target group as they visit Slovenia not only in specific seasons but on a year-round basis. I certainly believe this positive trend will continue in the future. We will work to intensify our efforts—also by cooperating at MATKA 2009, which, as I see it, is a very good opportunity for the promotion and presentation of Slovenia,” he continues.

International travel fairs have already had their own partner countries for several years. “We are also going to turn this into a great tradition in future by selecting a partner country every year,” Rilla Engblom says. “We believe that many countries will be interested in this partnership in future. This will also support the impressive speed at which the MATKA fair is becoming known internationally,” she adds.

The Nordic Travel Fair MATKA, being held at the Helsinki Fair Centre 15-18 of January 2009, is the industry’s largest event in Northern Europe. The MATKA 2009 theme is "Our World – Our Responsibility". In 2008, the fair attracted over 1,100 exhibitors from 75 countries. Nearly 85,000 people visited the MATKA and Caravan fair, approximately 16,000 of which were travel trade professionals. Theodore Koumelis - Thursday, June 19, 2008