Tour operators praise this year’s New Deal Europe Marketplace & Forum
The 2023 edition of The New Deal Europe Marketplace and Forum took place on 28th March at the Congress Centre, London, with record attendance. The event was branded a huge success after 135 marketplace delegates took part in over 1,000 pre-arranged B2B meetings focused on generating tourism to 12 countries of South East Europe. Each country had delegates present at the event, ranging from individual hotels through to national tourism boards, and several destinations including Slovenia, Montenegro and Moldova had the opportunity to showcase their product for up to 15 minutes on stage to all delegates.
Initial feedback from delegates was overwhelmingly positive. Event networking sponsors, Adventure Tech, said it was ‘an incredible event. We had a blast and met the most amazing people! What a day, what a success! while Angela Callaghan, MD of London based operator Highlight Tours, called it ‘a fab workshop’.
Stavros Saroulakis of international wholesaler and bedbank Webbeds said ‘The venue was perfect. It was organised impeccably. I had the great joy to participate and fully satisfied my business preferences, so well done and please keep carrying on’.
Speaking from a supplier perspective, Darija Reić, UK Director of the Croatian Tourism Board said it was ‘a fantastic event, very engaging and informative, and a great opportunity to talk all things Croatia with the travel trade. We will definitely come back next year’. Vlatko Sulev from the Balkan Prime Tours and the Incoming Tourist Association of North Macedonia stated: ‘I have been with New Deal Europe from its beginnings in 2019 and I have always believed in this project, as I knew how difficult it was for our small destination to enter the global market. We shall always be grateful to the Directors, Tine and Robert, for opening the doors to the Balkans and South East Europe and giving us access to the global stage through this great event’.
The Forum element of the event saw data on flight access to the region, tourism growth, and hotel rate analysis presented by Anna Borduzha of Mabrian Technologies, part of a research project which was specially commissioned by New Deal Europe. The figures informed the panel debate which followed, entitled ‘Is the New Deal Europe region the next big thing and if so, are we ready?’ with a panel comprising Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive of ABTA, Nejc Jus, Economic Research Manager at WTTC, Marija Labović, Acting Director of the National Tourism Organisation of Serbia, and Denis Ilic, Senior Product & Contracting Manager EMEA at global tour operator, G Adventures. It was moderated by New Deal Europe director and co-founder, Tine Murn.
The debate examined the continued increase in tourism from the UK to the region, highlighting many of the positive aspects of the destinations, including sustainable tourism, activity breaks, historical, cultural and gastronomic offerings and dramatic scenery. Murn summarised this as the ‘undiscovered exotic part of Europe’. When asked about the impact of world events, all panellists emphasised the safety of the region.
The positive tone was set at the start of the day with Strictly Come Dancing champion Aljaž Škorjanec, introduced as the most famous Slovenian in the UK, opening the event and encouraging everyone to ‘keep dancing’.
All delegates who have completed a survey on the event so far have said that they want to return to the New Deal Europe Marketplace & Forum in 2024. The date for next year’s event is set for 16th April 2024, and will have a tiered pricing structure for suppliers, with early bird offers starting from £800. Registration is open via info@newdealeurope.com.
