TOURISM- KEY TO GROWTH AND EMPLOYMENT IN EUROPE M arch, 20-21

Short presentation of Ljubljana Festival first organised in 1953 as festival of cultural, economic, folkloric, tourist and sport events by 1956 famous Slovene architect Jože Plečnik transforms Križanke monastery's garden into one of the finest open-air theathre in Europe in 2000 Municipality Ljubljana entrusted the Festival with the management of Ljubljana Castle – the third most frequented tourist and cultural attraction in Slovenia

Summer festival events each summer (operas, ballets, plays, concerts of symphonic, chamber and vocal music, concerts of opera arias, jazz, ethno, salsa concerts, exhibitions, international fine art colonies, open-air cinema…) hosts artists more than 50,000 visitors

Financing Ljubljana Festival is public institution founded by the municipality of Ljubljana municipality provides 25% of the funds 30% of income comes from sponsors 30% comes from the sales of tickets the rest comes through other activities (e.g. leasing out premises for various events)

Marketing / PR every year new graphic image design various promotional material (printed advertisements, radio and TV announcements, newspaper announcements, internet advertising) promotional campaigns (festival sweets, aprons, table covers and napkins which are distributed to pubs and hotels in the city centre) all promotional activities are designed in cooperation with an agency for counselling and promotion (regular mailing to the Festival Club members, press conferences and special attention to sponsors)

IT applications city ticketing system more than 300 selling points throughout Slovenia via internet and telephone sale custom-made internal computer system PEPE (planning, evidence, programming, evaluation), enables employees insight into all festival events, including technical data for individual events, planning and monitoring of costs

Visitors: number and characteristics 90% from Ljubljana and other major cities 10% form abroad 2/3 of the visitors are women, 45% of visitors have higher education the average age of visitors is 41 years due to the variety of our programme all age groups are represented

Role in creating new jobs and employment in the city and region Jobs during the festival season 29 fulltime employees employs 50 additional people during the season (technical support personnel) 10 additional people at Ljubljana Castle during the tourist season (May – October) The majority of additional staff are students, people in the public works programme prepared by the Employment Agency of the Republic of Slovenia participating in the on-the-job training programme co-funded by the European Union

Contribution to increasing income of the pertaining branches 2000 to 3000 artists participate at the Festival every year, they on average spend 2 days in Ljubljana, this entails certain number of night's lodgings, catering and transport services (air tickets, local transport …) around 100,000 visitors visit the summer theatre in the Križanke every season, this means additional income for local pubs, restaurants, taxi services, parking lots, souvenir shops … more than 500,000 tourists visit Ljubljana Castle every year, this also provides income for the local restaurants and pubs, public transport, taxi services and souvenir shops…

Tourist spending Attracting tourists Ljubljana had 497,106 night's lodgings in increased for 9.7% from 2004 average tourist stay in Ljubljana decreased from 2.2 day in 2004 to 1.8 day in 2004

Reasons for the decrease in the average tourist stay in Ljubljana the increased number of congress tourists, since the length of their stay is determined by the duration of congresses with the emergence of two low-budget airline companies, Ljubljana became a transit city for final destinations (seaside, mountains…) uncoordinated market appearance of different providers of tourist services fails to retain tourist in the capital

The city's destinations attract primarily people under 35 with university education slightly predominant are university educated women with relatively high income he largest age group are people between 20 and 30 (DINKIS – double income, no kids) more than 40% come by air and stay in a hotel

Cultural heritage and cultural events the senior citizens and students are equally represented (both 15%) among the visitors interested in our cultural heritage 1/3 of them come without any itinerary they usually decide for a guided tour of the city or visit museums (40%) Cultural events are visited mainly by people between 20 and 30 visitors above 50 prefer cultural attractions / monuments

In designing the marketing strategy special attention is paid to: appropriate target groups selection of events timely informing of potential foreign visitors simplifying the buying of tickets

Sources of information and trends the most important source of information are families and friends 19% say it is internet 10% say it is the tourist boards and 5% prefer media Age does not play any role when it comes to acquiring information via internet Older tourists want to book their tickets well in advance and are more ardent users of package offers The trend of visiting less known places and new European regions

Sources of information

The priorities in Ljubljana for 2006 improving recognizability of Ljubljana and its image further improving transport links (air transport) improving the regulation of traffic in the city centre reviving the old city core enhancing the use of the river Ljubljanica for tourist purposes adjusting the structure of lodging capacities to the demand

The identified long-term strategic goals (until 2008) prolonging the average stay of tourists to 2.5 day increasing the number of night's lodgings to 700,000 increasing the spending of tourist to 87.5 million Eur per year establish low budget airline links with at least three new destinations