2012 Best of Baltic Award

Press release:

5 Estonian destinations receiving the 2012 “Best of Baltic” Award at a ceremony at the Meriton Grand Conference & Spa Hotel

Tallinn, Thursday, August 30th, 2012, 18:30

Today at 16:00 was held at the Meriton Grand Conference & Spa Hotel the first 2012 “Best of Baltic” Award ceremony. The ceremony was attended by 34 tourism professionals, hotel and restaurant general managers and 6 members of the press.

Pierre Blime is the Director of the Baltic Ambassador Programme since 2006. Baltic Ambassador visits about 100 tour and MICE operators in 8 European countries every year to promote the best Baltic Sea Region destinations to them and push for more traffic toward those destinations. The Baltic Ambassador Programme works with 208 tour/MICE operators and so far has represented 36 Baltic destinations to them.

Mr. Blime gave an overview presentation about the challenges that Estonia is facing as a tourism destination and a number of opportunities that present to this sector for future development. After describing the advantages and the limits of what the Baltic Ambassador Programme can do for tourism destinations to market themselves better, Mr. Blime presented the awards to the winning destinations.

Out of 17 Estonian finalist destinations, 4 destinations received a 2012 “Best of Baltic” Award. The selection was voted via an online platform by 32 tour/MICE operators regularly sending travelers to Estonia. Some of the criteria of evaluation were “excellence in tourism”, “price/quality ratio” and “representative of local culture”. The awards were given, in order of ranking to the medieval restaurant Olde Hansa, Vihula Manor Country Club & SPA, Meriton Grand Conference & SPA Hotel and Nordic Hotel Forum. A special award of recognition went to the Seaplane Harbour Museum in Tallinn.

Mr. Blime concluded that the challenge for the future of tourism in Estonia is to be able to provide at the same time quality and unique experience, while remaining price competitive. Quoting a number of Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish tour/MICE operators met during the Baltic Ambassador missions, Mr. Blime said that right now some Estonian destinations “offer the best value for money” in Europe. He concluded that he hopes it will stay the same and that a number of opportunities with emerging markets will be seized. Mr. Blime added that “Tallinn should not remain content of the high figures thanks to cruise ship tourism – a not so profitable customer – but should use the summer high cruise ship traffic to promote better regular tourism the rest of the year”.

Summary Aug 30th slide presentation attached at the bottom of this page (pdf format)

Estonian:

Tallinn, 30. august, 2012

Viis Eesti sihtkohta saavad 2012 "Best of Baltic" auhinnad tseremoonial Meriton Grand Conference & Spa Hotellis

Täna, kell 16 toimus Meriton Grand Conference & Spa Hotellis esimene 2012 "Best of Baltics" autasustamine. Tseremooniat külastasid 34 turismispetsialisti, hotellide ja restoranide juhti ja kuus pressiesindajat.

Auhind oli korraldatud Baltic Ambassador poolt, turismiturunduse programm, mis alates 2006. iga aasta külastab umbes 100 turismi operaatorit kaheksas Euroopa riigides. Baltic Ambassador programmi võrgus on 208 ekskursiooni/MICE ettevõttet, ning tänaseks päevaks on nad esitanud 36 Balti sihtkohta.

Hr. Blime, Baltic Ambassador programmi direktor, rääkis oma presentatsioonis väljakutsestest, mis seisavad Eesti kui turismisihtkoha ees ning samas ka võimalustest, mis võivad aidata sektori edasi arengule.

17 Eesti finalisti hulgast, neli sihtkohta said 2012 "Best of Baltics" auhinda. Valik on hääletanud online platvormi kaudu 32 ekskursiooni/MICE ettevõtjate poolt, kes regulaarselt saadavad reisijaid Eestisse.

Auhinnade võitjad:

q Olde Hansa restauran

q Vihula Manor Country Club & SPA

q Meriton Grand Conference & SPA

q Hotel and Nordic Hotel Forum

Eriauhinda sai Lennusadama muuseum Tallinnas.

Hr. Blime järeldas, et väljakutse Eesti turismi tuleviku jaoks on samal ajal pakkuda kvaliteeti, ainulaadset kogemust ja konkurentsivõimelist hinda. Norra, Hispaania ja Rootsi ekskursiooni/MICE ettevõtjate sõnul, kellega hr. Blime kohtus Baltic Ambassador missioonide ajal, praegu mõned Eesti sihtkohtad pakkuvad "parima hinna ja kvaliteedi suhe" Euroopas.

Fotod: Horizon Development

Photo credit: Horizon Development

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In addition to the Award, "Best of Baltic" is the official website of the Baltic Ambassador Programme. It replaces its annual newsletter that was distributed in 2006-2009. The site is dedicated to tour operators working with the Baltic States and visited every year by the Baltic Ambassador Programme. It features the frequently updated list of "best of" and "worst of" in tourism destinations in the three Baltic States, but also those destinations specifically recommended by the programme and a number of news and tools that assist tour operators to better plan their production in the Baltic States. It also presents in details the destinations that are awarded as "Best of Baltic" by the Baltic Ambassador program.

http://bestofbaltics.blogspot.com/

For further information about the site: baltic.ambassador[at]horizondev.net