BSTC starts Marketing Campaign in Austria and the United Kingdom

With the aim to increase visibility of the Baltic Sea region and to contribute to the growth of the share of international visitors to the BSR, the BSTC project starts its Smart Destination Campaign in the source markets Austria and the United Kingdom. The campaign addresses potential visitors, tour operators and media by using various channels.

Tour Operator Summit in Vienna/Austria, 24.01.2018 | Picture 2-4 ©TMV; Picture 1,5 ©HMC - die Boutiqueagentur für Tourismus & Freizeit

As the project developed new tourism products last year that can now be found on the website www.balticsea.travel, the marketing campaign shall contribute to their further promotion and help to spread the word of the BSR as a diverse destination worth a visit not only in summer but also during off-season. The campaign addresses potential visitors, tour operators (TO’s) and media by using various channels.

Tour Operator Summits

On 24 January 2019, the first BSTC Tour Operator Summit took place in Vienna/Austria. 50 key Austrian multipliers, such as tour operators and media representatives, visited the B2B event at the Hilton Vienna Danube Waterfront Hotel. The workshops and presentations aimed at marketing the BSTC tourism products, their service providers and the BSR as an attractive travel destination. The service providers from Denmark, Lithuania, Poland and Germany showed immense interest in improving cooperation and collaboration between the regions and were actively involved in the presentations at the summit.

Following an internal workshop for tour operators in Gdansk last October, the BSTC will additionally be attending this year’s CITY Fair in London from 16-18 June 2019. Organised by the ETOA (European Tour Operator Association), it gives European destination suppliers from more than 25 EU countries the opportunity to meet selected tour operators, online intermediaries, wholesalers and MICE specialists. The BSTC will use the B2B event to talk to Tour Operators at up to 32 pre-arranged one-to-one meetings.

All summits are accompanied by media cooperation with TO’s and online marketing elements in the upcoming months to improve the dissemination and to bring about a travel decision by end-consumers. Therefore, the media packages shall be wide-coverage, comprehensive and target-group specific, and focus on image advertising of all partner regions as well as the BSR as travel destination.

Street Promotion

Additionally, the BSTC project partners are currently organising two B2C promotion campaigns in both source markets to directly address potential Baltic Sea visitors. During a two-day period in May 2019, guests of the mall Shopping City South (SCS) in Vienna can immerse themselves in the relaxing and varied world of the Baltic Sea region. With the slogan “Take a break”, the Baltic Sea Tourism Center presents its tourism destinations on an area of 90m² and offers the perfect diversion from a stressful shopping day. BSR-Impressions are shown on video screen, while the guests can enjoy a culinary excursion to the Baltic Sea countries and relax in wicker beach chairs. A photo booth provides a souvenir of the day and interested parties receive detailed information on the partner countries.

A second street promotion campaign is organised in London this year. Innovative marketing tools will attract a great deal of attention and offer travel occasions to the Baltic Sea region.

Study Visits

Furthermore, the project is implementing diverse study visits to the partner regions and their products. Tour Operators and media representatives are invited for tours to the Baltic Sea region. Several round trips provide unique experiences on the variety of tourism offers as well as newly established products and services. The trips lead along the Baltic Sea coast through the countries of Lithuania, Poland and Germany and Denmark. They highlight how varied this contiguous region can be and what it has to offer especially for British and Austrian travellers.

Further information on the products developed in the BSTC partner countries Lithuania, Poland, Denmark and Germany, visit: https://balticsea.travel/