NATIONAL TOURIST BOARDS AND THEIR ROLE

National Tourist Boards are national tourist organizations founded with a view to promoting and creating the identity, and to enhance the reputation of tourism at national level. Their mission also includes the planning and implementation of a common strategy and the conception of its promotion, proposal and the performance of promotional activities of mutual interest for all subjects in tourism in the country and abroad, as well as raising the overall quality of the whole range of tourist services on offer in the country.

Most Significant Tasks

• to encompass the total tourist offer at national level;
• structuring and conducting operational market research for the promotion of tourism at national level;
• designing programmes and promotion plans of tourist product at national level;
• organizing, conducting and implementing all business operations concerning the promotion of the tourist product of the country;
• analysis and appraisal of the purposefulness and efficacy of implemented promotional activities;
• establishing a national tourist information system;
• performing global and tourist information activities;
• providing and coordinating the incentives of all the Tourist Boards, as well as all economic and other tourism subjects which operate either directly or indirectly, in order to improve and promote tourism in the country;
• establishing tourist representative offices and branch offices in foreign countries, and the organization and supervision of their work;
• cooperation with national tourist boards in foreign countries and with specialized international regional tourist organizations;
• according to reports received from county tourist boards, analysis and evaluation of activities by plans and programmes of the established tasks and the roles of the tourist boards' system;
• taking necessary measures and planning activities for the development and promotion of tourism in the less developed areas of the country.

Typically the management bodies involved within a National Tourist Board are: the Parliament, the Tourist Board, the Auditing Committee, and the President. The duties of the President of the National Tourist Board are undertaken by the Minister for Tourism. Activities are based upon an Annual Work Programme and the Financial Plan, passed by the Assembly. The organization’s revenues come from the following sources: tourist taxes, membership fees, allocations from the state budget, and other sources.