Dear Friends,
Looking back on 2024, it was the first year with the new Governance System, with committees working more or less intensively on their topics but with lots of enthusiasm everywhere. This is a great result anyway. Motivation is the motor of innovation.
In Skal Europe, we experienced the same positive spirit. The decision to invent a mid-year meeting docked at a special club event, in 2024 the 70th-anniversary celebration of the Salzburg club created a new wave of cooperation and learning from each other. Skal International Europe will follow the successful first meeting by participating in the Skal Roma special event on March 14 – 16, 2025 in the wonderful “Citta’ Eterna”. President Luigi Sciarra already gave hints indicating a fantastic programme with a unique chance to see some hidden places regularly that are not easy to succeed in. Details will follow, the date is already fixed.
The decision to hold the AGA virtually was much appreciated and led to an excellent success with presidents of many clubs and countries present. The board of Skal Europe is proud that the use of modern media and virtual meeting culture seems to show how interaction in the future can work best. However, meeting in person should still be the backbone of our philosophy. Therefore, the AGA 2025 with the elections of a new board should be held face-to-face.
One of the best-perceived activities in Europe is the Skal Academy coordinated by Tito Livio Mongelli where renowned speakers hold lectures and open discussions on various topics. The next will be on January 16 focussing on the opportunities that the European sponsoring programme Erasmus+ can provide to make education and work in tourism more attractive. The structures of Skal provide an excellent basis for cooperation between clubs and businesses not just in the European Union.
On behalf of board member Alan Racic, we may invite you to the PLACE2GO International Tourism Fair taking place 28th-30th March 2025 at Zagreb Fair (Zagrebacki Velesajam), in Zagreb, Croatia. The Skal stand that will be present there has the goal to connect all Skalleagues, while also providing the opportunity to explore the travel offer of Croatia and neighbouring countries.
Skal Europe’s website is the best place to report on the activities of clubs and enterprises. We invite you to take the chance to post cost-free on the best-clicked network in Skal! It is an excellent opportunity too to make our work for you even better and more effective.
Dear friends, we live in a world where the values of Skal become more and more important day by day with every bomb detonating in one of the conflicts around us, and every financial and economic crisis unsettling the foundations of our society. We experience these values painfully especially when losing a close friend. Therefore, for all those who left us and our community, we want to mention and think of David Fontanella, a dedicated member of Skal and the board of Skal Europe. Let us think of him and all the others who went to the other side of existence, standing together and celebrating Christmas and the seasonal holidays with the words we cherish for 90 years already
Happiness – Good Health – Friendship – Long Life – Skal!
Franz Heffeter – President
