Completely refurbished in 2004, the Grand Hotel Bellevue combines business and spa tourism.

MICE tourism: mountain resorts offer ideal facilities for conferences, while the capital is also holding its own

“Right now, there are two important regions for convention tourism here in Slovakia. One is Bratislava and the other is the High Tatras. We’ve become the flagship of the industry in Slovakia,” says Janka Gantnerovna.

She may be 100% business, but Gantnerova likes the heights of the Tatra Mountains. Nothing matches the views atop Lomnicky Stit (2,634m), accessible by cable car. The General Manager of the Grand Hotel Bellevue, Gantnerovna is a tireless promoter of alpine retreats. Together with thermal spas and Baroque castles, everything here is geared for relaxation.

In 2006, almost 300,000 people were drawn to this part of northern Slovakia for peace and quiet. “The High Tatras have always been considered a center of tourism. But it used to be a mainly agricultural region,” says Gantnerovna. In the 1990s, winter sports like snowboarding gave the mountains a new cachet. With the winter sports came water parks, wellness resorts – and the convention halls.

The Grand Hotel Bellevue is situated in Stary Smokovec – in the heart of the High Tatra resort’s principal town, 1,010 meters above sea level. Rooms, as well as the sun deck on the eighth floor, look out over a scenic view of the Poprad Valley and Low Tatra mountain range.

Begun as a family resort and arising from two hotels – the Hotel Bellevue and the Hotel Sport – the Grand Hotel Bellevue was fully refurbished in 2004. A conference hall was added, with capacity for 600. It attached five multipurpose rooms for special events.

Featuring 141 rooms, a wellness center and sports facilities, the Grand Bellevue serves as a nexus between business conferences and health spas. Meanwhile, the airport of Poprad, 10 minutes away, serves as a conveyor belt for distance travelers.

Bratislava certainly has lures of its own, starting with its proximity to Vienna (64 kilometers) and Budapest (180 kilometers). It may lack the bird’s eye view of the High Tatras, but the outlook atop Koliba Hill is no less inspiring. Orange roofs huddle tightly next to the Danube, occasionally interrupted by glimpses of the city’s gleaming New Bridge, once a hotly debated architectural scandal.

“We want to cover the city of Bratislava from four angles: a city break destination, a magnet for convention tourism, a destination for real estate investors and a business hub,” says Andrej Durkovsky, the city mayor. Quality of life, as characterized by the ultra-civilized ‘presso s mliekom’ (espresso), is one of Bratislava’s selling points.

At the other side of the country, Kosice, with its rich history, also has MICE potential. It was once the second most important city in the Hungarian Empire. Slovakia’s first university was founded here in 1628 and St. Elizabeth Cathedral is the easternmost example of Gothic architecture.

Zdenko Trebula, president of the city and autonomous region, thinks Kosice is full of legacies. “There are many castles, caves and historic landmarks. Within our region there are five of Slovakia’s accessible cave sites, all of which are UNESCO World Natural Heritage sites,” says Trebula.

His strategy is to market Kosice as a logistics hub. With investors like US Steel, Kosice has bolstered its image as a metallurgical and engineering center. Its broad gauge rail network connects directly to Russian sources of iron, copper and coal. “If a train departs from Vladivostok, it can come straight to Kosice,” says Trebula.