ZAGREB ZAGREB, April 4 (Hina) - The third annual conference of the European SITE Networking and Education Programme - the European branch of the Society of Incentive Travel Executives (SITE) - started in Zagreb on Sunday.
ZAGREB, April 4 (Hina) - The third annual conference of the European
SITE Networking and Education Programme - the European branch of the
Society of Incentive Travel Executives (SITE) - started in Zagreb on
Sunday.#L#
The conference, which is organised by the Zagreb Tourist Board, pooled
some 200 participants from 23 countries, including directors from the
SITE head office in the United States.
Opening the event, SITE vice-president Lex Granaada expressed
satisfaction with the conference taking place in Zagreb, which he said
had great potential for the organisation of incentive travels, as did
the entire country.
Welcoming the participants, President Stjepan Mesic's representative
Igor Dekanic said that tourism played an important role in Croatia's
development and adjustment to EU standards.
The head of the Croatian Tourist Board, Niko Bulic, said that Croatia
had successfully returned to the tourist market after a number of
difficult years and that it had a lot to offer to its guests, both in
its continental and coastal regions.
SITE is a non-profit association with some 2,000 members from 80
countries. Its members are mostly executive directors and owners of
destination management and travel incentive companies, as well as the
leading people of international hotel chains, airline, railway, road
and cruise companies, resorts, tourist organisations and specialised
media.
Incentive travel is the awarding of a trip by a company to its
business partners or customers as a reward or incentive.
Companies booking such travels are mostly big corporations like Bayer,
BMW, Mercedes, Siemens, Coca-Cola, American Express, Lufthansa, etc.
The participants in the conference, to last until Tuesday, will today
visit the eco-village Kumrovec, north-west of Zagreb.
(Hina) rml