TravelMole Interview: Maros Borsky, Enjoy Slovakia

Wednesday, 11 Sep, 2003 0

Tour operator Enjoy Slovakia is keen to get Brits to Slovakia and is pinning its hopes on a no-frills flight that launched this summer.

Enjoy Slovakia partner Maros Borsky told TravelMole: “We have quite a lot of Germans travelling to Slovakia by car, but flying is the way to bring people from the UK. You cannot squeeze people into coaches to come across Europe.”

The SkyEurope flight between London Stansted and Bratislava launched in July. Mr Borsky says: “Before the flight launched there were very few British people coming to Slovakia, but we hope now that this flight will open up opportunities. Prague is well known, and Vienna, so we hope Bratislava will be next.

“The problem for us is that we are a small country that cannot attract people with cheap seaside holidays, such as somewhere like Turkey.”

But Mr Borsky says Slovakia has a number of unqiue selling points.

He says the first task is to change people’s perceptions of Slovakia: “We are not wandering around in traditional clothes with bare bellies playing wooden instruments. We are a civilised society and tourism is not our sole industry, as it is in somewhere like the Dominican Republic. We make cars and have other successful industries.

“Prices are beginning to go up since we joined the EU, and in two or three years we will be level with most of Europe, but for now you can still get a large beer for ten pence.”

Apart from wanting to attract younger travellers and families, Mr Borsky says there is a grey market in the UK with plenty of time and money, who would enjoy Slovakia’s culture. He says: “Bratislava was once a Hungarian capital so it is filled with Baroque architecture.”

He says Eastern Slovakia, which is the other end of the country from the capital, Bratislava, is riddled with Gothic architecture and is a UNESCO site. Mr Borsky says: “A unique selling point we have is rural cottages. During communism people in the towns bought weekend retreats. These are now available for rent on a self-catering basis, for as little as £800 for four people for a week. We also believe spa breaks is something we can really sell to people who want to get away and relax.”

The country also boasts some small ski resorts. Enjoy Slovakia can offer a one-week skiing holiday staying in a four-star hotel for around 600 euros per person, including the flight, hotel and ski pass.

Mr Borsky says: “As far as we know we are the only operator offering holidays to the British to travel to Slovakia. We sell packages but we can also be flexible and give people what they want.”

SkyEurope is selling its Bratislava service as a cheap route to Vienna, which is about an hour away across the border. “Vienna is so close that people can see both cities in the same day”, says Mr Borsky.

Although the emphasis is on city breaks, from spring next year Enjoy Slovakia is launching a one-week itinerary. “It will be interesting to see if there is a market for this,” he says.

“Tourists coming to Slovakia at the moment are from Germany, Austria, and there are a few Arabs. We can’t get longhaul travellers so we are trying to encourage city breaks in Bratislava – we think that once the British see it they will love it.”