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Introduction
 The
Hotel Association of Macedonia is a
voluntary and non-profit trade association
of hotel and catering businesses in
Macedonia. HOTAM works to enhance and
improve the hotel business climate in
Macedonia by representing and promoting the
industry to the general public, governmental
bodies and allied organizations within the
country and abroad. They assist the hotel,
food and beverage industry to improve their
sales and profits while protecting the
rights, professionalism, ethics and
performance quality of the industry through
the establishment of ethics and rating
standards aligned with those of the European
Union.
The OrganizationThe
organization was founded in 1992 as a group
of catering and tourism services within the
Economic Chamber of Macedonia. In 2004 the
Association was reorganized in line with new
statutes adopted by the Chamber and the
elected management committee was reduced
from 11 to 7 members.
The management
team consists of the management committee
working closely with the president,
vice-president and the board of directors.
In addition, an elected five-member
supervisory committee reviews all of the
organization's financial activities. As the
country strives to move toward a market
economy and eventual integration into the EU
the sustainable development of Macedonian
tourism and the promotion of inbound travel
from foreign markets has become a primary
activity of HOTAM.
ServicesHOTAM
provides a variety of services to their
members and to the travel and tourism sector
in general, including organizing and
participating in numerous domestic and
international fairs and seminars. Regular
and special meetings are held for skills
transfer and information sharing. The
organization actively participates in making
and improving industry regulations.
Hundreds of
thousands of full colour hotel guides,
brochures and flyers are printed and
distributed each year at fairs and events to
promote the country as a desirable tourism
destination and to enhance the image of the
Macedonian hotel, food and beverage
industry. The president of the Association
represents the membership with governmental
agencies, presides at regular and special
assembly meetings and supervises the
production and distribution of updated hotel
directories and travel brochures to member
establishments.
Group benefits
such as coordination of the members'
dealings with purveyors and distributors to
obtain group rates and discounts, along with
an initiative for obtaining lowered VAT
rates for the hotel and tourism sector have
been recently been commenced by the
president and a three-person volunteer staff
at the Association's newly-established
office in Ohrid.
The MarketMost
of the larger hotel operations in the
country are active members, so for the most
part potential new members are relatively
small and newly-formed businesses with
limited resources for training and
marketing. Membership in HOTAM can help them
improve their earnings and increase the
value of their investments with sales and
management training as well as sophisticated
marketing information and materials. The
directory of member hotels was recently
converted to an international symbol-based
format offering a much more user-friendly
and economical product directed toward many
expanding nearby foreign markets.
There are more
than 100 businesses in Macedonia involved
with hotels. In addition, there are
potential association members outside the
mainstream hotel industry, such as guest
houses, private lodging services and tour
companies offering transportation and
lodging packages.
Since HOTAM's
goal is to bring together all interested
parties in the hotel, food and beverage
industry, the organization has a broad
target market with management focusing on
developing trends such as religious,
historical and eco-tourism, independent
travel, emerging hotel operating companies
(domestic companies and individuals desiring
to bail out of other industries and become
hoteliers), international operators poised
to enter the market, small family-owned
operations and alternative travel and
specialty tour companies offering lodging.
Travel agencies
specializing on in-bound tourism and even
licensed tour guides are prospects for
membership in the Association.
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