The fastest growing travel community in Europe.

welcome to

New Deal Europe

Developing tourism to the South East region of Europe.

Next New Deal Europe Marketplace and Forum:

24 March 2026

ABOUT

New Deal Europe's mission is to develop responsible tourism to the South East and Balkan region of Europe.

New Deal Europe brings together tour operators and tourism organisations with a focus on the South East region of Europe.

As such, New Deal Europe is the only travel market platform dedicated to generating business to this growing tourism destination.

There are five elements to the platform.

Representation - specialised in representing tourism boards, hotels, DMCs, and attractions to the key markets.

Consultation - supporting business development and growth with a focus on sustainability

Media - news stories, blogs and travel PR

Education - seminars and training courses, key note speaking and moderating

Events - 'New Deal Europe Marketplace and Forum' and other events

We are the 'go-to guys' for twelve European Countries.

Albania
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Greece
Kosovo
Moldova
Montenegro
North Macedonia
Romania
Serbia
Slovenia

NDE Marketplace and Forum

Emirates Stadium (home of Arsenal) – New Venue for New Deal Europe 2026

After three successful years at the Congress Centre in Central London, the New Deal Europe team has secured a larger and more suitable venue for its growing flagship event.

Following the success of event—held in late March 2025 in London, with over 1,500 pre-arranged B2B meetings and more than 200 delegates across two rooms—it became clear that a larger, more flexible venue was needed to support the event’s continued growth.

While the Congress Centre has served us well with its excellent location and professional support, we are excited to announce that New Deal Europe Marketplace and Forum 2026 will take place at the iconic Emirates Stadium — home of Arsenal Football Club. This world-renowned venue will offer a dynamic congress space with improved layout, accessibility, and visibility for all delegates, destinations, and sponsors.

We are confident this move will enable us to deliver an even bigger and more impactful event, ensuring equal opportunity for meetings, better networking flow, and enhanced presentation spaces.

Marketplace and Forum 2026 will take place on 24 March 2026 at the Emirates Stadium, London. Early bird price for suppliers is £1299.

Resounding success for Marketplace and Forum 2025

Our flagship event proved to be a resounding success with the B2B marketplace delivering over 1,500 successful meetings, paving the way for increased tourism to the region from global markets.

This year’s event set new records with over 200 delegates attending. Tourism professionals from all 12 destinations of Southeast Europe with tour operator and travel agent buyers from the UK, Europe and USA met for a day of insightful discussions, networking, and business meetings.

The event included three destination presentations focused on Croatia’s capital, Zagreb, the Julian Alps and Karst region of Slovenia and a special feature on Moldova, which included Moldovan wine and food tasting for the international buyers and the representatives.

The forum element of the event, hosted by the European Tourism Association (ETOA), opened with some primary research commissioned by New Deal Europe on visitor spend in the destinations.

Speakers Announced for New Deal Europe Forum 2025

The New Deal Europe Marketplace & Forum 2025 will take place on 25 March at the Congress Centre, London. The forum will focus on strategies to increase revenue per visitor in Southeast Europe and the Balkans.

Confirmed speakers include leading experts from ETOA, the European Travel Commission, The Travel Corporation, Kompas, and The Travel Collaborative.

The event will also feature over 1,500 B2B meetings and destination presentations. Due to high demand, 10 additional supplier spaces have been made available.

Do not miss the opportunity to be part of the conversation shaping the future of tourism in the region.

Our biggest marketplace and fam trip in Albania yet

The third B2Balkans Marketplace in Tirana on 12th February, held as part of Travel & Tourism Show Albania 2025, was our largest event in Albania to date. In partnership with Iceberg Exhibitions we brought together over 100 businesses, including 40 buyers from 18 countries, and facilitated more than 600 B2B meetings, strengthening connections and opportunities across the region.

The B2B event was followed a Fam trip in collaboration with Past and Present Journeys DMC. The route showcased the best of Albania, and featured visits to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, outstanding Albanian wineries, the stunning Adriatic and Ionian coasts, and two national parks. The journey concluded in Krujë, the historic hometown of Albania’s national hero, Skanderbeg, allowing just enough time for souvenir shopping in the historic bazaar.

It was an incredible opportunity to highlight the country’s rich heritage, diverse landscapes, and growing potential as a top travel destination.

New Deal Europe is proud to be building the fastest-growing travel community in Europe.

Another successful New Deal Europe marketplace delivered

In Zagreb, at the TOURISM 365 Conference, we facilitated over 600 business meetings among 89 registered travel professionals from 15 countries, including suppliers such as Croatia’s largest ground handlers, hotel chains, air and ferry operators, and destinations including Croatia, Slovenia, Zagreb, and Plitvice Lakes.

The marketplace, which took place in October 2024, attracted some of the world’s biggest travel corporations, leading active and luxury operators, and upscale agents from key outbound markets such as Germany, USA, Canada, UK and Ireland. The event concluded with a FAM trip, showcasing some of Croatia's hidden gems, centred around the theme of ‘year-round tourism’.

And yes, we even moderated a couple of panels at the Tourism 365 Conference.

New Deal Europe is proud to be building the fastest-growing travel community in Europe.

New Deal Europe Business Meetings in Romania, Albania, and Serbia

At New Deal Europe, we ensure that we stay connected with our key partners across our markets and destinations to understand their needs and plans for the coming years.

In September 2024, we had highly productive meetings in Romania, Albania, and Serbia with representatives from the Ministries of Albania and Romania and the Tourism Board of Serbia. We also took the opportunity to meet with our valued partners from Incoming Romania, Iceberg Exhibitions Tirana, and RisiAlbania. In early October, we will be in Slovenia and Croatia, co-organising the TOURISM 365 Marketplace and FAM.

New Deal Europe back on sales missions in the USA

In July we were back on a sales mission in the USA visiting some of our the key Europe operators in New England, inspiring them with our destinations and creating new itineraries.

The visit took place exactly a year after we came to promote the Essential Balkans project, sponsored by Visit Europe and the European Travel Commission in 2023.

We were proud to learn that the project made a difference, with many US partners now including New Deal Europe destinations such as Romania, Montenegro, and Serbia in their future programmes. But there is still room for further growth, and we took the opportunity to promote other partner destinations in Slovenia and Northern Greece. We see a bright future for this 'last exotic part of Europe' in the US market.

New Deal Europe were delighted to be invited to the Resilience & Innovation Summit which took place in Sarajevo 6-7 June 2024

Organised by the Global Travel and Tourism Council with support from USAID and Travolution, the conference brought together world leaders in tourism to discuss destination development in South East Europe. Topics covered airline and hotel development, sustainability, biodiversity, investment opportunities, and entrepreneurship in tech development.

New Deal Europe co-founder, Robert Dee, was a guest speaker on the panel discussing the topic ‘Get the Message Right: Exciting more demanding and discerning consumers’.

He presented New Deal Europe’s recent work introducing Balkan destinations to the North American Market, highlighting the themes and messaging which resonated with tour operators, enabling them to engage with their clients more effectively and drive more visitors to the region. He also shared his personal story of his long relationship with the host destination Sarajevo, praising the people of Bosnia-Herzogivina as leaders in tourism resilience who have much to teach the global tourism community about overcoming adversity.

NEWS from 2024

Over 1300 meetings held at New Deal Europe Balkan Marketplace and Forum

The greatest selection of South East Europe tourism professionals ever assembled took part in the New Deal Europe Marketplace and Forum in London on 16th April.

The sold out event, covering destinations 'from the Alps to the Aegean,' attracted a record number of tourism professionals, with over 90 buyer and 65 supplier companies participating in the B2B marketplace, a 30% increase on the previous year.

All twelve countries of the region were represented at the event. This year they were joined by a thirteenth, Italy, thanks to a guest delegation from the Slovenian speaking Rezija region.

All suppliers had a full diary of B2B appointments for the Marketplace, and in total 1,240 scheduled meetings were arranged, with many more taking place during the networking sessions.

New Deal Europe announce topic and speakers for 2024 Forum

‘Is the tourism boom in South East Europe good for the region, and can it be maintained sustainably?’

The Forum element of the event will focus on the incredible growth in tourism to the Balkan region, with a keynote panel discussing whether this is good for the destination and if the growth is sustainable in the long term. It will be chaired by ETOA’s Director of Insight, Rachel Read, and panellists including UK tour operator, Melissa Tilling, CEO of Sustainable Journeys by Charitable Travel, and Dritan Xhengo, Managing Director and founder of Past & Present Journeys, a DMC from Albania, a country which last year welcomed over 10 million tourists for the first time. They will be joined by Krassimir Kiriakov, Head of the Commercial and Economic Section at the Bulgarian Embassy and a former Government Minister, who will be bringing his extensive public sector experience to the debate.

The Forum will begin with a presentation by Nejc Jus, Director of Research at the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), who will delve into their recently published data on tourism in the region.

New Deal Europe delivers another successful partnership event in the South East Europe.

The Tourism and Travel Show Albania 2024, delivered in collaboration with Iceberg Exhibitions, took place at the end of January in Tirana.

The sold-out event featured a B2B marketplace with over 70 delegates, including 30 international buyers from the USA, UK, India, and key European markets. All the delegates at the B2B sessions had a full day's schedule, meaning around 1,000 meetings took place on the day. Robert Dee, Director of NDE, was joined at the opening ceremony by the Minister of Tourism for Albania, Ms Mirela Kumbaro, whose support undoubtedly indicates the importance of this event for Albania. The event was followed by a two day fam trip in Albania.

This was our tenth event and third in the region, and we are experiencing an enormous demand for future events in other countries too. Our partners are firmly embracing the New Deal Europe way of organising events, and they appreciate the quality of the businesses we bring together, as well as the importance of the topics we cover.

New Deal Europe starts the year with a new recruit: Simon Young, who will oversee our flagship event in April.

We are delighted to welcome Simon Young to the New Deal Europe team. Simon will oversee all logistics and event management for our flagship event, the New Deal Europe Marketplace and Forum on 16 April 2024.

Simon, who has an extensive background in event organisation and the travel and MICE sectors, said: “I’m delighted to work with the team on this exciting event, and helping promote a region that I love is a real thrill. I believe we can take New Deal Europe Marketplace and Forum to another level and reaffirm it as a highlight in the calendar. I feel at home already!"

The team at New Deal Europe is in the final stages of securing the Central London venue for the event and plans to open registrations by the end of the month.

New Deal Europe b2balkans event in Albania, 31st January - 1st February 2024, Palace of Congresses, Tirana.

New Deal Europe, in partnership with Iceberg Exhibitions, is delighted to invite you back to Albania for our second B2Balkans Marketplace and FAM trip, following the successful event we held in 2022.

Marketplace will return to the Palace of Congresses in the vibrant capital city of Tirana, providing an opportunity to forge connections with a range of suppliers from Albania and the wider Balkans region. The Marketplace will be complemented by a comprehensive two-day fam trip for the hosted buyers, organised by the local tour operator.

This will be New Deal Europe’s second marketplace in Albania, following the success of last year’s event. Demand for Albania and the region has grown massively in that time so we have increased the number of places available. However we anticipate that demand will once again be high so please book early to ensure your participation.

New Deal Europe Virtual Marketplace 2023, took place on December 12th and December 13th

The New Deal Europe Virtual Marketplace is the largest global travel trade event focused solely on the Balkans and South East Europe.

Day 1 (12 December) was devoted to the 'Essential Balkans' project, funded by the EU through Visit Europe, which aims to deliver more tourism from North America. It was only opened to buyers from USA and Canada to meet with suppliers from the ‘Essential Balkans’ partner countries: Montenegro, Serbia, and Romania. Day 2 (13 December) was opened to all buyers and to suppliers from the entire New Deal Europe region.

NDE Virtual 2023 was delivered in partnership with the European Travel Commission and European Tourism Association (ETOA).

New Deal Europe event in Croatia: 75 participants from 19 countries held more than 400 meetings

We'd like to express our gratitude to everyone who participated in the TOURISM 365 Conference and Marketplace 2023 at Terme Tuhelj, Croatia. A special thanks to Ivana Kolar and her team. This was ourinaugural collaborative event in Croatia, and it couldn't have been realised without Ivana's unwavering persistence and boundless energy.

We were honoured to participate in and moderate several content sessions of the conference. However, we're even more pleased with the outcome of the B2B marketplace: over 75 participants from 19 countries held more than 400 meetings. Many of our hosted buyers embarked on an exceptional FAM trip, organised by Julius Rose and various Slovenian and Croatian partners from Eastern Slovenia and Croatian regions including Zagorje, the capital city Zagreb, Kvarner, and Istria. This event truly showcased the year-round offerings in this breathtakingly beautiful piece of land.

Join us for another New Deal Europe event soon!

New Deal Europe event in Croatia, 2nd - 4th October 2023, Terme Tuhelj.

The TOURISM 365 Conference B2B Marketplace, in partnership with Julius Rose, marks our debut travel trade event in Croatia, championing year-round tourism.

On the second day of the Tourism 365 conference, the Marketplace will facilitate top-tier meetings with handpicked travel advisors, product directors, and programme managers from leading global travel trade firms.

We're dedicated to offering an optimal platform for destinations, hotels, DMCs, and other travel service providers to connect with international buyers.
Our emphasis lies on buyers devoted to endorsing year-round tourism in Croatia and its surrounding regions.
Our ongoing discussions focus on championing Tourism 365 concept, extending the summer season, and highlighting inland tourism. This year's conference will bolster our efforts to actively promote 365-day tourism products and provide a robust platform to attract visitors during the autumn-spring period.

The TOURISM 365 Conference B2B Marketplace, in partnership with Julius Rose, underscores our commitment to advancing year-round tourism through our inaugural travel trade event in Croatia. 2 - 4 October 2023, Terme Tuhelj.