Travelcon is the largest professional tourism conference in the Czech Republic and annually attracts top speakers to České Budějovice as well as several hundred listeners who want to learn about current trends in tourism and marketing. During two days on April 18 and 19, experts from the Czech Republic and abroad will take turns on the stage of the National Pavilion Z at the České Budějovice Exhibition Center.
In the block “What’s wrong with Slovakia” will be the head of Slovakia Travel’s communications department, Judit Šipekiová, who will present the marketing campaign Slovakia will surprise you. Andreas Winkelhofer from Oberösterreich Tourismus will talk about the new strategy until 2030 and the perspective of tourism development in Upper Austria with an emphasis on human capital and sustainability. Stephan Moder from the Tourismusverband Ostbayern in Germany will focus on small businesses and the possibility of booking their services in tourism, as well as the Gäubodenfest folk festival in Bavaria, which attracts 1.2 million visitors over 10 days.
Petr Janeček from the national agency CzechTourism will talk about the economic effects of tourism and opportunities for their increase. He will focus on local fees and how to deal with them effectively. “The MICE segment is an increasingly discussed topic in our industry, so it must not be missing from the conference program. The topic will be addressed by the successful event agency Borovka event. There will also be a workshop on this topic by Petr Brínčil, who works as a MICE consulting specialist and has been preparing congresses for more than 20 years.” adds Petr Soukup, director of the South Bohemian Central Office of Tourism.
Marketing in tourism
In addition to tourism, an integral part of the conference is also the topic of marketing and its current trends and use in the tourism industry. What are the possibilities for creating content that will interest not only the followers, but also the algorithm of social networks will be the topic for Dominika Ratajová from Sítě v malíčku. Andy Sitta from Seznam.cz will show you how an ad you can watch before going to bed can look like. The conference will also feature representatives from Booking.com and marketing specialist Eliška Bielková, who will reveal the hidden potential of the Pinterest network.
Participants will try out the novelties
During the conference, participants will also try out several technological innovations in the field of tourism. For example, Face Reader from the University of South Bohemia, which can read emotions from the face, or AR Turismus from Virtual Lab, a technology that uses augmented reality. But the news is also prepared organizationally. With the ticket, each participant will receive a 20% discount on the ticket from České drah, which is a partner of the event, or Budějovice public transport and free entry to cultural organizations established by the region. “Free admission and free public transport are valid between April 17 and 20, i.e. before and after the conference. With this, we want to support the length of the overnight stay of the conference participants and the opportunity to look outside the lecture hall as well. It is precisely such steps that have an effect on increasing the economic impact of congress tourism in the destination and local service providers, and we want to set an example in this direction.” states Tomáš Polanský, director of the Budějovicko Tourist Region, which is the annual co-organizer of the conference.
Participants will also have space for negotiations with partners, including the South Bohemian Chamber of Commerce, EVENT PARK, Seznam.cz, the South Bohemian Film Office, the ENIGOO and BIOCULTUS companies, and others. The most interesting topics of the conference will be heard in a podcast, which will be recorded by the moderator Vojen Smíšek with the selected speakers directly at the event. An improvised podcast studio will be created in the camper van of the local rental company Tři lamy.
Travelcon is held under the auspices of the Governor of the South Bohemian Region, Martin Kuba, the 1st Deputy of the South Bohemian Region, František Talíř, the Mayor of the Statutory City of České Budějovice, Dagmar Škodová Parmová, and the Commission of the Council of the Association of Regions of the Czech Republic for Tourism.
The co-organizer is traditionally the Destination Company Českobudějovicko-Hlubocko and the main partner is the tourism agency CzechTourism with the Institute of Tourism.
Interested parties can find tickets, the complete program and detailed information on the website www.travelcon.cz.
