Within Destination SMEs project Institute for Culture, Tourism and Sport Murska Sobota organised study visit in Slovenia between 17th and 20th of April 2018. During their stay in Slovenia project partners had the opportunity to learn about public policies and implemented initiatives related to destination management. They also met national and local stakeholders to exchange on the interest of these policies and practices.
During the dissemination event state secretary of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology presented recently adopted Strategy for Sustainable Growth of Slovenian Tourism for the period 2017-2021 that has strategic vision Slovenia to become a global green destination for demanding guests seeking a diverse and active experience, peace and personal well-being.
The Slovenian Tourist Board presented its activities focused on increasing Slovenia’s recognisability as a tourist destination and on promoting the innovative tourist products with added value, which are based on the principles of sustainable development, by way of innovative content marketing, the I feel Slovenia brand and the stories of Slovenian tourism.
The most of attention was dedicated to the Green Scheme of Slovenian tourism, which is a tool developed at the national level and at the same time certification programme for destinations and tourism service providers. Under the SLOVENIA GREEN umbrella brand it brings together all efforts directed towards sustainable tourism development, including tools for destinations and providers for evaluation and improvement of their sustainability endeavours and promotion.
Further the tools for promoting innovativeness in tourism and supporting development of innovative products and inventive projects were presented. The Snovalec (“creator”) award supports the realisation of creative, inventive, and innovative ideas in tourism while The Sejalec (“seeder”) rewards creative innovations that have already been implemented. Two new platforms were presented as well, namely The Alliance for Innovators and Researchers in Tourism and Hospitality that is an innovation platform focusing on encouraging, researching and promoting innovativeness in tourism, while the first block-chain based review platform Futourist is rewarding users for their content.
Over the three days, partners met and exchanged views with local stakeholders, among others also in destinations Ljubljana and Podčetrtek that were selected among the 10 World’s Best Sustainable Destinations at ITB Berlin 2018.
