The Committee of the National Council of the Slovak Republic for Education, Science, Youth and Sport, represented by Dušan Galis, the Government Commissioner for Youth and Sport, held negotiations in Jasná and arranged a meeting of all winter sports associations´ chairmen of Slovakia and Poland that is to be held in June in Krakow.
“We want to establish close relations with Slovakia and will try to introduce our common project of the Winter Olympic Games to the public as clearly as possible. It might be another impulse for development, new jobs and great promotion of both countries. We wish the whole Visegrad group would support our project,” said the Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Polish Committee Ireneusz Raś.
The Polish delegation could check the resort of Jasná and the level of preparation for the Olympic Games. “I liked what I saw here. It was very impressive. The infrastructure we could see reaches the highest world level, mainly the new Funitel cable car, which has improved the quality of the area considerably. I am sure this is the right place to organise Olympic alpine skiing races,” said the former Polish snowboarder and present Chairmen of the Preparatory Committee, Member of Parliament Jagna Marczułajtis-Walczak.
“The decision to start the candidacy of Krakow was conditioned by the fact if Slovakia was able to host alpine skiing competitions as we don´t have such mountains in Poland. Today, we are really satisfied because the infrastructure which operates here doesn´t lag behind the Alps,” said Raś.
The candidacy of Krakow has big chances according to Raś but requires a lot of work to be done. “The centre of the whole project is Krakow. We will not invest too much, only as much as it is necessary to the benefit of the Polish, Slovaks and visitors of other countries after the games,” added Raś. He mentioned it was too early to speak about a definite financial support of the Olympic Games but good promotion was necessary, though. Besides governmental help, both involved counties should show a strong resolution. “World Junior Alpine Skiing Championships 2014 will be held in Jasná next year. We want to use the event for promotion and Poland might be engaged there too. We and Slovakia would like to present the idea of the Winter Olympic Games during the Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane as well,” explained Ireneusz Raś.
“This kind of event affects the area it is held in. And the tourism. Our resorts are visited by 2 million of guests per year. The project of Winter Olympic Games will introduce Krakow and Jasná to even more people. We are happy that we meet all requirements already and can host fans and sportsmen at our resort. There is a lot of work to be done, however. Mainly in the field of road and railway infrastructure between our countries. But we are optimistic. What counts for us is the idea that the Olympics celebrate sport as such. And we believe they will increase the interest in sport in our country and the young generation will prefer physical activity to sitting in front of the computer,” said Bohuš Hlavatý, Chairman of the Board of the Tatry Mountain Resorts, a.s. company.
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Tatry mountain resorts, a.s. is a top subject in the field of tourism in Central and Easter Europe, which itself or via subsidiaries owns and operates attractive ski resorts and hotels in the area of the Low and High Tatras. These include the resort Jasná Low Tatras and the following hotels: Wellness hotel Grand Jasná, Tri studničky and Chalets Záhradky De Luxe. In the High Tatras, TMR owns and operates resorts Tatranská Lomnica, Starý Smokovec and the following hotels: Grandhotel Praha Tatranská Lomnica, Grandhotel Starý Smokovec, Hotel Slovakia and hotel FIS Štrbské Pleso. TMR also co‐operates the resort Štrbské Pleso and since the winter season 2012/2013 it has been leasing the mountain resort Špindlerův Mlýn in the Czech Republic in cooperation with SMMR, a.s.. TMR owns Tatralandia, the largest Slovak aquapark with all-year operation, which offers a lot of water and other entertainment in the Fun Park relax or in a special tropical hall with sea water. It also offers accommodation in bungalows and suites of the Holiday Village Tatralandia. TMR also owns and rents hotels Kosodrevina, Liptov and Ski&Fun Záhradky and Bungalows. More than 144 million Euros were invested by the end of 2012 in the already mentioned resorts, which helps increase the standard and visitor turnout in the Tatras. The TMR shares have been traded on three European stock exchanges – in Bratislava, Prague and Warsaw since 2012.