Views on TBEX Ostrava

STYLE “I am very excited to see that TBEX 2018 was held in Ostrava, it can be added to the list of important events, that have an international reach, and build the image of Ostrava as a prestigious tourist destination with big potential. The main short-term benefit of the event in the immediate economic boost in the from of the delegate’s own touristic endeavors, the long-term benefits will be online promotion of Ostrava as a tourist location. We also think of TBEX as an important reference for the organization of other international events,” said Ostrava mayor Tomáš Macura. “The long-term goal of CzechTourism is the promotion of tourism in all the regions. For communication and the promotion of the destination we are using new media and social media with increasing intensity, and are beginning to more closely work with youtubers and other influencers around the world. CzechTourism has 23 branches abroad, through which we present the Czech Republic as a tourist location in local markets -- it was the USA and Canada branch that actually brought TBEX to the Czech Republic. The organization of the event itself then showcased the cooperation of multiple groups -- the CzechTourism agency, the city of Ostrava and the Moravian-Silesian Region,” said Monika Palatková, director of CzechTourism. “When I started communicating with TBEX in 2016, the primary focus was on Prague. However, Prague’s attitude towards the proposal was lukewarm, so I approached my colleagues from the Moravian-Silesian Region. Their overwhelmingly positive outlook on the event lead to Ostrava becoming the city to host TBEX Europe 2018, which ended up being attended by almost 500 delegates, from over forty different countries. We recorded a reach of twelve million users using the official TBEX hashtag within the first three weeks after the event on Twitter and Instagram alone. Right now, we are conducting reaśearch into how satisfied our visitors were, and into the full marketing reach of the event. We should have new results by September or October,” commented Jiří Dužár, assistant director/digital & strategy manager at CzechTourism USA & Canada. “Of course Ostrava had to compete with other influential European cities to host TBEX, but finally, it was the unique industrial environment of Dolní Vítkovice that persuaded the organizers, in fact, it then became a requirement for TBEX to be held there,” said Mgr. David Karčmář, director of Moravian-Silesian Tourism s.r.o. “TBEX, through its prestige and size, presents a great opportunity for positive PR for Ostrava, and, due to the postconference trips, the whole CZ as well. Looking at trends visible in online marketing, we can see that the power of influencers is formidable, and so it is clear that this is a media with lots of potential. In TBEX, we saw an opportunity to promote our breweries as tourist destinations (in other words providing commercial services at these destinations), but also advertise out brands to potential customers abroad, or foreigners visiting the CZ,” added Adam Hejtmánek, sales & commercial services, Plzeňský Prazdroj a.s. Text: Adam Koneval Radegast Nový Jičín - náměstí Štramberská trúba Landek Park Ostrava POSITIV ǀ 3/2018 75