Director of Ljubljana Tourism Petra Stušek, MA, was elected Vice-President of the Board at the International Conference and General Assembly of the international organisation European Cities Marketing.

Petra Stušek’s high position in the renowned organisation will lead to greater recognisability of Ljubljana as a successful sustainable tourist destination in the world.

Ljubljana has been a member of the organisation for 10 years, ever since its establishment. The Director of Ljubljana Tourism has been involved in the organisation for four years and in 2015 became a member of its Board. She took part in numerous expert meetings held during that time, representing the role, winning attitude and performance of Ljubljana as a sustainable destination. Throughout this period she has been introducing sustainability in the organisation, including holding sustainability meetings of ECM in various European destinations.

The numerous awards which Ljubljana has received for its sustainable development of tourism and her work within the Board and the organisation itself were the basis for her unanimous election to the position of Vice-President of the Board for Leisure Industry at this year’s ECM International Conference and General Assembly in Dubrovnik.

The ECM Board is composed of the President, the Vice-President for Leisure Industry, the Vice-President for Meetings Industry, and (a new position) the Vice-President for City Tourism Marketing.

At her election Petra Stušek said: »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, its members meet at least twice a year, often holding smaller-scale expert group meetings. This way knowledge and good practices can rapidly and effectively spread among its members. In most recent meetings we shared practices with cities, targets of terrorist and other attacks, which are, despite the unfortunate tragedy, 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.«

The global organisation for city tourism (ECM) increases competitiveness and success rates of leading European cities by acting as a platform where experts in leisure, meeting and city tourism collaborate with the purpose of exchanging knowledge, good practices and networking. In addition, they seek innovative solutions to sustain the growth of tourist visits, provide research and tools used to compare the success rate of 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.

ECM is a global partner to numerous organisations with which it co-creates trends in tourism and other areas. It is working with organisations such as ArrivalGuides, ETOA, Imex Group, IBTM World, Toposophy, Digital Tourism Think Tank, Modul University Vienna, Forward Key, MKG Hospitality, HQ Magazine and others, and on project basis with UNWTO, ETC and the European Commission.