Dear Reader,
Welcome to our June Newsletter!
It has certainly been a busy month!
We successfully completed our AGM on 15 June, and despite needing to move it online at short notice, it was great to be able to share with you our plans and activities. In his welcome speech, Ambassador Nigel Baker expressed his appreciation of the Chamber as a great partner in launching the Race to zero campaign and pledged his continuing support for us and our members.
One of our members, Crowe SK, co-organised an event with us on "Doing business in „CzechoSlovakia“ – issues relating to VAT, permanent establishment and travel reimbursements" to provide guidance in order to help reduce the burden of doing business between Czechia and Slovakia and avoid errors which may cause fees and penalties from state institutions.
Together with Bratislava Tourist Board we organised a successful event "Reigniting the Slovak Economy through Hospitality and Tourism" on 24 June. Ambassador Nigel Baker opened our event, followed by a very well-received presentation by Tracy Halliwell MBE, Director of Tourism and Convention Bureau at London & Partners who joined us online. She shared with us her insight and her plans to help London recover from the pandemic, re-imagining the city as a place which is fairer, greener and more resilient than ever before.
It was followed by a panel discussion where we heard from Raduz Dula, Director General, Section of Tourism, Ministry of Transport and Construction, Martin Volek, Vice Chairman, Bratislava Tourist Board, Andreas Schuster, Cluster General Manager, Ensana Health Spa Hotels, Slovenské liečebné kúpele Piešťany and Smrdáky, Michael Tmej, Chairman of the Board and Managing Director, Vienna International Beteiligungsmanagement Gmbh, Košice Airport, Marek Harbuľák, President, Slovak Tourism Association. The panel discussion was moderated by Miroslava Remenárová, Chair of the Board, British Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia and Corporate Affairs Manager, Jaguar Land Rover Slovakia.
Our Chamber was the first to focus on this sector and we managed to bring experts from the public and private sector together to discuss plans and strategies that can help with the recovery and also to highlight the importance of this sector to the economy and wellbeing of the nation. I would like to thank our partners Bratislava Tourist Board and our Bronze sponsor, Ensana Health Spa Hotels, for their support.
If you missed the event, don't worry, as the recording will be available on the Chamber's Youtube channel shortly.
With summer in full swing and everybody planning their holiday, please follow this link when travelling to the UK for more information and also follow korona.gov.sk to keep up-to-date with measures and restrictions in Slovakia.
Our next programme in the calendar is "Summer drinks" at the British Ambassador's residence on 8 July.
I hope to see you there!
Take care and kind regards,
Hajni
