Social Tourism

Juan Lopez, young Spanish entrepreneur discovering Slovenian tourism (more pictures)

Today me and Tina from New Tourism Institute went to the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce to attend a conference about social economy. We arrived in the afternoon for the workshop "Social Economy and Tourism”. At the beginning I didn’t know anything about what I was going to listen to, but at the end of the conference I was very pleased with what I have heard. I'll tell you about the workshop:

It was about tourism, but what is tourism? The World Tourism Organization says that tourism are all the activities that people (tourists) do during their travels in places different than their own place, for a consecutive period inferior to one year and major a day, with leisure proposals, business or other motives. But I want to highlight the existence of sustainable tourism; in this tourism profits are important, but it’s necessary to merge them with the environment and social necessities. The answer on how profits can be merged with social necessities is Social Tourism.

At the workshop there were three speakers, all in charge of different Social Tourism projects.

First, Dolores Kores spoke on behalf of the Turag4all tourist agency. The idea of the Slovenian Association for Mental Health ŠENT was to establish a travel agency for people with special necessities. They think that tourism is not a luxury, but a basic right that all the humans have, so people with disabilities should not be discriminated. The agency wants to help people with mental problems to get employment and also sells tourism products for the disabled guests. Dolores told us that she wants to cooperate with new partners and we agreed I can work at her tourist agency in the next two weeks.

The next guest was Antonio Zurino from Italy. He explained us the idea behind "LE MAT.” He told us about the Social Cooperative System that they use: in these cooperatives workers own co-operatives, self-help entrepreneurs action for empowerment and decent salaries for their members, and many of the workers are exclusion people or people with disabilities. This system is used in different fields, such us agriculture, tourism…  In the tourism sector there are “LEMAT” resorts in Italy (from Trieste to Bari or Palermo) and even in Sweden (Vägen ut! Kooperativen). People who work in these resorts are ex-prisoners, ex-alcoholic, ex-drug addicts… Antonio believes that Slovenia is also ready for such cooperatives and why not start one?

The last spokesperson was Andreas Zebisch from Austria. He is the manager of Seminarkultur an der Donau, a hotel in Wenesufer. This is the only hotel in Austria where the employees have mental problems. He told us that work with these people is a gratifying experience, and amongst the ten objectives of success in his experience are flexibility and struggling against the superficial.

To sum up, tourism is a right for all the people and with tourism we can help people with problems or disabilities to integrate into the society. I am looking forward to learning more about social tourism while working in the specialised tourism agency in the next two weeks.

My first adventure: Kamniška Bistrica and Velika Planina

Juan Lopez, young Spanish entrepreneur discovering Slovenian tourism (more pictures)

Sunday 24th October 2010, 06:00 a.m. Ljubljana (Slovenia) the alarm clock went off. Time to get up. Darkness. I left home, I was prepared for the adventure that awaited me that day. In the street all was silent and the darkness was only broken by the full moon light. I went to the bus station and went to a place that had never before heard of: Kamniška Bistrica.

In Kamniška Bistrica, Maja expected me. Maja is a nice lady who among her many jobs promotes tourism in the area. But, what is there to see in Kamniška Bistrica?

Kamniška Bistrica is an Alpine river in northern Slovenia, left tributary of the river Sava. It springs from the Kamnik Alps, near the border with Austria. It is 33 km long. Kamniška Bistrica flows through the town of Kamnik, where it is fed by the river Nevljica. So Kamniška Bistrica is in fact a river, but also the name of one of the most beautiful valleys I have seen in my life.

As a good hostess Maja showed me the most significant places of the valley, among which are the following:
• The spring of the river Kamniška Bistrica: The water springs from the moss-grown rocks and then stops for a short period of time in the artificial lake. The lake is a good place for refreshment.
• Predaselj gorge: The gorges Veliki and Mali Predaselj present the narrowest part of the riverbed of the Kamniška Bistrica. A few minute walk along the gorge opens a beautiful view on the riverbed and the colour of the river pure.
• Plečnik's Mansion: This building was built by  the architect Jože Plečnik and was The Royal Hunting Lodge of the King Alexander (Yugoslavian King).
• Memorial Park: It’s a park which includes the memorial tablets of all casualties in The Alps. There is also a memorial tablet for Tomaž Humar, one of the best Slovenian alpinists.

Maja and her Tourism Association can help you organize your trip to Kamniška Bistrica, she will show you the most beautiful and hidden places, and organize all kinds of activities such as hiking, mountain biking, archery, fishing, kayaking, zip line ... and she could  prepare a typical Slovenian food.

After seeing the wonders of Kamniška Bistrica, Maja, a friend of hers and I went to Velika Planina. Velika Planina is a grass plateau located at 1,500 meters altitude (Kamniška Bistrica is 600 meters high). From Bistrica,  Velika planina can be accessed by the cabin lift or through the mountain road. In Velika Planina, you can do all sorts of activities. In summer, you could go hiking, mountain biking, visit the typical shepherd houses, see the church of Santa Maria. In Winter, Velika Planina is a perfect place for snow lovers: skiing, sledge-runs, cross-country skiing, snowshoes walks  ... But we were in the autumn: at first the sky was overcast, but when we started climbing, fog broke out so we could barely see 10 meters far which made it easy to get lost. But going with these two experts, there was no problem. After an hour and a half we saw the houses of shepherds and arrived at the church of Santa Maria. All was quiet, silence, harmony ... The tiredness and the cold was coming over us, so we went to eat at Jarški Dom. As we were cold, we drank dušica (a traditional herbs liqueur) and the soup obara with žganci, so pretty quickly we were warm again. Finally we tried the traditional dessert štruklji. Everything was delicious. We were in heaven. On the way back the fog lifted and we could clearly see the traditional houses of the shepherds and the nearby Alpine peaks, such as Grintavec (2.558m).

In the evening we had dinner at the International Center Picnic "Pri Jurju" where we enjoyed a traditional Slovenian dinner and we talked animatedly to Marjan, the owner. And to finish the day, I stayed at the hotel Pri Orlu, a cute hotel, where in every detail there is a good taste.

I want to thank all the people I’ve met on Sunday, but especially Maja. Thanks for all and we are meeting soon!

Why Slovenia? Why not!

Juan Lopez, young Spanish entrepreneur discovering Slovenian tourism (more pictures)

Hello everybody,

I’m Juan López and I’m from Salamanca (Spain). I arrived to Slovenija on 14th of October and I’ll be here until mid-December. I’m here as a part of European Commission  program “Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs”. This program is a new cross-border business exchange programme aimed at helping new or would-be entrepreneurs to acquire the relevant skills for managing a small or medium-sized enterprise and experienced businessmen or women, looking for fresh perspectives and international cooperation opportunities.

When I saw the “Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs” webpage I thought why not start a business? And I thought it could be a good idea to meet different entrepreneurs and different companies from which I could learn many things. I was sure I wanted to participate in the program. But where to go? I could choose between the 27 European Countries forming the European Union (except Spain) and I chose Slovenia, but Why?

I have travelled through Europe and I have been in big countries like France, Italy or Germany. These countries are wonderful but are often crowded and people are very stressed. I wanted to visit a small country that is not very well known or at least not known in depth. Discover its cities, its people, its food, its landscapes. And so I thought why not go to Slovenia?

I know some people who have been here and they have told me that Slovenia was a beautiful country and that people were very hospitable; I have watched some TV-documentaries and I have read some books. Then I wanted to go there, the European Commission approved my request, I packed my things, I took the plane… and here I am in Slovenia.

I found a Host Entrepreneur that wanted to take me in, his name is Dejan Križaj and he is the director of New Tourism Institute and the initiatior of Bank of Tourism Potentials in Slovenia project. Through the Bank, NT cooperates with numerous tourism businesses and organisations so he can help me get in touch with tourism companies that I will visit.

During these two months I will write about Slovenia, so I can help people get to know this small great unknown country, which is at the crossroads of Central Europe, the Mediterranean and the Balkans.

I hope you like this blog and if you have any questions, suggestions or comments do not hesitate to be in touch with me by email: juanloopez@gmail.com

See you soon!

New blogger starting his Slovenian journey

In August, you could follow the adventures of Adam McRae, winner of StormIt Challenge Give me three days of GREEN sLOVEnia. We would like to thank Adam for his excellent writing and reporting and of course please, do all follow his advice: Go to Slovenia.

From Canada to Spain. Tomorrow, Bank of Tourism Potentials in Slovenia team will be joined by a young Spanish entrepreneur Juan Lopez, 28, who will visit Slovenia as part of EU business exchange programme Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs. Juan will stay in Slovenia for two months during which he will be discovering the country not only from the tourist point of view but mainly from a business point of view. His long-term goal is to open own tourist agency in Spain and Bank of Tourism Potentials will help him meet as many tourist workers, professionals, agency owners, volunteers, managers and other key tourism players as possible.

Same as Adam, Juan will report on all the activities in our blog so do not forget to tune in on regular basis for the next two months! And of course, shall you wish to meet and greet Juan and host him in your organisation, do not hesitate to contact us at info@btps.si!