The European Cities Marketing (ECM), association for Tourist Boards, Convention Bureaux and City Marketing Organisations in Europe is a non-profit global organization improving the competitiveness and performance of the leading cities of Europe. It provides a platform for Leisure, Meetings Industry and City Marketing professionals to exchange knowledge, best practices and widen their network to build new business. At their International Conference and General Assembly held in magnificent Dubrovnik on the Croatian seaside, famous movie and automobile industry mecca and tourist attraction, mag. Petra Stušek, managing director of Ljubljana Tourism, was unanimously elected Vice-president of the Board based on her previous successful work within the Board for the Leisure Industry and numerous awards the city of Ljubljana received for its sustainable development of tourism. Ljubljana has been a member of ECM since its establishment 10 years ago and prior to becoming a member of its board in June 2015, mag. Petra Stušek has been involved in the organisation for 4 years, participating in numerous expert meetings representing the role, winning attitude, and performance of Ljubljana as a sustainable destination. Throughout this period, she introduced sustainability in the organisation, which also included holding sustainability meetings of ECM in various European destinations.
ECM organization is governed by its Board and the Executive Committee of the Board is composed of the President, three Vice-Presidents (Leisure & Tourism, Meetings Industry, City Marketing) and the Treasurer, ready to act at any time. Other ECM members complete the Board to its plenum of 14 members. The three-years terms of the Board members overlap to avoid a board consisting only of newcomers.
Ljubljana and the high position of its Director in the Board of this reputable organization will without a doubt result in greater recognition of Ljubljana as a successful sustainable tourism destination in the world.
Petra Stušek: “The strongest attribute of ECM is the networking of its members and spreading knowledge and good practices. The organisation doesn’t pursue a conventional way of working, it’s members meet at least twice a year, often holding smaller-scale meetings of expert groups. This way knowledge and good practices can rapidly and effectively spread among members. At the most recent meetings we shared practices with cities, targets of terrorist and other attacks and, not to leave aside the tragedy of it, these were valuable experiences for other cities as well. I’m proud to be elected to the board of this prestigious organisation operating in the field of city tourism in Europe and elsewhere, which will enable me to spread the word about Ljubljana worldwide and at the same time co-create global trends in the city tourism sector.”
About ECM:
The global organisation for city tourism (ECM) enables a better competitiveness and success rate of the leading European cities by acting as a platform where experts in leisure, meeting, and city tourism collaborate with the purpose of sharing knowledge, good practices, and to network. In addition, they seek innovative solutions to preserve the growth of tourist visits, provide research and tools used to compare the success rate of single cities and improve efficiency, educate future decision-makers and leaders of European cities, and support sustainable tourism. The organisation brings together 105 member cities from Europe and elsewhere, including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Istanbul. The ECM board is composed of the President, the Vice-president for the Leisure Industry, the Vice-president for the Meetings Industry, and (a new position) the Vice-president for City Tourism Marketing.
