A new tender for tourism advertising highlights how cities now blend digital media, sustainability goals and brand building in a fast-changing visitor market.
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Ljubljana is preparing a fresh marketing push for itself and the wider Central Slovenia region, as TURIZEM LJUBLJANA launches a tourism advertising services contract to promote sustainable tourism and strengthen the destination’s brand across online and offline media.
Published on 9th December 2025, the contract notice from TURIZEM LJUBLJANA seeks service providers to advertise Ljubljana and the Central Slovenia region. The brief centres on promoting sustainable tourism, while also raising brand awareness through a mix of online and offline channels.
Although the summary is short, its wording points to a shift away from simple volume-driven promotion. By linking sustainability and branding, the campaign aims to shape how the city and region are perceived, not just how many visitors they attract.
The reference to “various online and offline channels” leaves scope for a broad media mix, from digital platforms to more traditional formats. It also signals an expectation that the winning provider will be able to co-ordinate messaging across those channels so that sustainable tourism themes are visible and consistent.
This approach mirrors a wider trend across public tourism bodies in Europe. Destination managers now commission integrated campaigns that combine strategy, creative work, media planning and post-campaign evaluation in a single package.
In June 2025 the Spanish Tourism Institute, Instituto de Turismo de España (TURESPAÑA), issued a notice for Marketing Services for Turespaña. It seeks a marketing and media agency to design and implement a business-to-consumer advertising strategy, manage media purchases, monitor how campaigns run, and provide evaluation and expert advice.
Also in June 2025, the Empresa Pública para la Gestión del Turismo y del Deporte de Andalucía, S.A. launched a tender for Media and Creative Agency Services. That competition covers the design and roll-out of a social awareness campaign about tourism in Andalucía, including creative development and the planning of advertising space.
Several other tourism bodies focused on international audiences during summer 2025. In July 2025 the national agency Česká centrála cestovního ruchu - CzechTourism launched an International Advertising Campaign to increase accommodation bookings from visitors in Great Britain, Ireland, Spain and Italy. Around the same time, JUDEȚUL SUCEAVA in Romania tendered for online promotion services to position the county as a tourist destination and support local tourism and economic development.
The emphasis on clearly defined source markets and conversion targets such as bookings echoes the twin goals in Ljubljana: to promote sustainable tourism and to strengthen how the city and region are perceived.
Digital platforms now sit at the centre of many public-sector tourism campaigns. In October 2025 the city administration VILNIAUS MIESTO SAVIVALDYBĖS ADMINISTRACIJA opened a competition for tourism promotion campaign services on travel booking platforms, specifying activity on the reservation sites used by travellers.
Other destinations are buying access to the owned media of airlines and tour operators. A prior information notice published in July 2025 by the ORGANISME AUTONOM PATRONAT DE TURISME DE LA DIPUTACIÓ DE TARRAGONA seeks a media agency to promote the Costa Daurada and Terres de l'Ebre brands through multiple media channels and the owned media of carriers and tour operators, as set out in its media agency selection notice.
Riga is using a similar logic for a specialist niche. A July 2025 tender from Rīgas valstspilsētas pašvaldības Centrālās administrācijas Iepirkumu pārvalde commissions a creative advertising concept for medical tourism, combined with foreign media planning and purchasing services for an international campaign.
Beyond tourism, other public bodies are looking for the same skills. In August 2025 the Czech Ministry for Regional Development issued a call for Advertising Space Procurement across integrated marketing campaigns, online platforms, outdoor and indoor sites, print media, television and radio. In November 2025 Université Libre de Bruxelles sought a Communication Campaign Service Provider for multi-channel information and recruitment campaigns, while in December 2025 Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem advertised for Media Buying Services to support domestic and international student recruitment.
Taken together, these competitions underline how public authorities now expect suppliers to handle not only creative ideas but also complex media planning, purchasing and reporting across print and digital channels.
The Ljubljana contract links sustainability directly to destination branding, reflecting a broader turn towards value and positioning in tourism marketing. In September 2025 the ΤΕΧΝΙΚΟ ΕΠΙΜΕΛΗΤΗΡΙΟ ΕΛΛΑΔΑΣ launched a procurement for Greece Tourism Promotion and Rebranding, covering strategic positioning, communication strategies, branding work, multimedia content creation, advertising plans and targeted events for tourism professionals.
Coastal destinations are also refreshing how they present themselves. In October 2025 the Vicepresidencia del Patronato de Turismo de Fuerteventura sought services for Fuerteventura tourism marketing, from advertising and communication strategy through to social media management and corporate communication. A similar aim appears in a notice from ОБЩИНА ВАРНА published in November 2025, which calls for an Advertising Campaign for Varna to promote the city as a competitive tourist destination in Germany, focusing on selected federal provinces and encouraging early sales of packages.
Slovenia’s national tourism agency is moving in the same direction at a larger scale. In July 2025 the Javna agencija Republike Slovenije za trženje in promocijo turizma announced a Global Digital Campaign to promote Slovenia as a tourist destination in 18 markets worldwide. The new Ljubljana-focused contract will sit alongside that national activity, giving the city and Central Slovenia the chance to add their own emphasis on sustainable tourism within the broader country brand.
For service providers, this combination of local and national work means campaigns must make sense at several levels at once: they need to support central brand messages while speaking to the specific assets and priorities of each region or city, such as Ljubljana’s focus on sustainable tourism.
The published information on TURIZEM LJUBLJANA’s contract is brief, but it is clear about two priorities: promoting sustainable tourism and building brand awareness for Ljubljana and the wider Central Slovenia region through “various online and offline channels”.
Given recent procurements from Andalucía, Turespaña, Costa Daurada, Greece and others, bidders can expect an emphasis on:
How TURIZEM LJUBLJANA structures the final contract – for example, whether it prioritises a single lead agency or allows for more specialist roles – is not detailed in the summary. What is clear is that the winning supplier will play a central role in how Ljubljana and Central Slovenia present themselves to potential visitors in the coming years.
With many European destinations now using tenders to align tourism growth with sustainability and brand goals, the outcome in Ljubljana will offer a further test of how far digital advertising tools can support more selective, long-term forms of tourism development.
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