Transport Ministry: Slovakia Visited by 1.3 million Visitors in 1Q19

Bratislava, July 16 (TASR) - Transport Minister Arpad Ersek (Most-Hid) stated on Tuesday that his ministry wants Slovakia to profile itself as a tourism product and that the first three months of 2019 saw a big increase in the number of domestic and foreign tourists in Slovakia. According to Lenka Sprochova of the ministry's tourism department, Slovakia was visited by 1.3 million people in 1Q19, which is an increase of 10 percent y-o-y. She added that the number of overnight stays, which was over 2 million, also grew. She's of the opinion that 2Q19 will see even bigger increases, given the fact that the World Ice Hockey Championship took place in the country in May. Slovakia was most often visited by Czechs, who were followed by Hungarians, Germans, Poles and Ukrainians. The ministry is also trying to figure out which Slovak destinations are visited most frequently. "We've identified [three areas] - Bratislava, Kosice and the High Tatras," said Sprochova, adding that the ministry wants to present these three "flagships" at fairs and exhibitions in the second half of 2019. According to the minister, promoting Slovakia via its sportsmen and sportswomen has paid off. Ersek noted that it was a good move to choose skier Petra Vlhova as the face of the winter campaign. In the future the ministry would like to put more focus on online marketing rather than on traditional promotion channels. "I'm referring to the number of fairs and exhibitions, which we've reduced. We want to use the money effectively for online marketing," stated Sprochova. zel/df/mf