Visiting Kranj

Excited to experience Slovenia and get on with our research, we arrived in Ljubljana on Monday where we spent the night at Hostel Celica. On Tuesday, we took the bus to Kranj where the tourism board of Kranj had set up a busy schedule for us with meetings and other arrangements for the next 24 hours. We stayed at Hostel Cukrarna which has a manager who really goes that extra mile to make you feel comfortable and welcome.

The arranged meetings included both the Tourism Board of Kranj, the tourism commision of the municipality of Kranj, Hotel Actum, Hotel Creina and a meeting at the municipality with the mayor and vice-mayors of Kranj. We also had more informal meetings with other stakeholders.

For now our findings include the lack of networking and cooperation between stakeholders, the lack of a focus on specific projects at particular points in time, and the fact that Kranj needs to find a way to use its rich cultural and historical heritage in order to differentiate itself from other similar cities. We have listened to the various stakeholder, and will now work towards creating innovative ideas and solutions to the above issues.

Overall, Slovenia has left us with the impression of having a lot to offer. The Slovenes are very welcoming, open and friendly, and the sights are great. We cannot wait to present our innovative ideas in April.

Regards,
Anna, Pia & Pernille

Meeting in the City Hall

We arrived to snowy Ljubljana on 20th of February. After collecting our belongings at the airport, Jezersek Catering Company provided us a three course lunch where they presented all kinds of traditional Slovenian food to our class.

After lunch, we drove further to Ljubljana and arrived to the Celica Hostel in the early afternoon. We found the idea of the hostel very innovative; keeping the original size of the former cells definitely provided us a different and rather unusual experience.

Taking the opportunity that the entire class is still in the capital, we spent the first evening in Ljubljana, having a delicious dinner in a pizzeria called Ljubljanski Dvor.

Tuesday morning started with presentations held by one of our teachers, who gave the local representatives a general introduction to the tourism stream at Aalborg University. Furthermore, one representative from the Ministry of Economy and another one from Slovenian Tourism Board introduced us to Slovenian Strategy for 2012-2016.

In order to make our future group work easier in the university, we conducted several interviews as part of our field research;
1. Meeting in the City Hall with the Marketing Director of Ljubljana Municipality.
2. Interview with two representatives and the General Manager of Ljubljana Convention Bureau, who introduced us to some of the challenges concerning Ljubljana´s leisure and business tourism.

During our stay, we had the chance to see the Castle in Ljubljana as well to have an absolutely delicious lunch up there in the restaurant.

As the task of our group is related to Ljubljana’s outskirts, we visited one of the more developed town called Kamnik. Besides meeting the local tourism representatives, we got to see the major sights in town and enjoyed even a rather unexpected tour in the mountains.

Last but not least, we could not miss visiting the Slovenian Coast in the end of our great adventure. Both Piran and Portoroz made a great impression on us, as well as the presentations in Portoroz Touristica.  The social activities organized by the local students gave us a great introduction to Slovenian Culture furthermore they were fun and very entertaining.

In all, we enjoyed every second of our stay and already looking forward to going back to beautiful Slovenia! :-)

Koper - Challenge gets challenging

Arriving in Koper by bus we noticed that by first sight the city does not come across as the most interesting place to be. However, it turned out that the unfavorable view from the bus does not at all cover what attractions Koper has to offer. The city took us by surprise and turned out to be both beautiful and charming with a rich history, functional port, Mediterranean climate and fantastic waterfront.

Our tourism challenge is to figure out a way to brand the port in relation to the city and hinterland of Koper. In Koper, we met with both a representative from the port and from the municipality/tourism board and it turned out our task might be quite difficult since it seems we are dealing with two very different approaches to tourism in Koper. The representative from Port of Koper stressed that it is not in the favour of the port to attract tourists in large numbers; on the contrary, the port is mainly interested in the locals and getting them to know of the ports work and of their sustainable approach. Here we were presented with the challenge of developing an existing event of the port called Port Day.

On the other hand, the representative from tourism board was interested in bringing more tourists to Koper outside of the normal tourist season. As we experienced ourselves while staying in Koper, February is indeed a low season for the tourism industry; we stayed all alone in an entire hostel and saw no other tourists walking around the city. Moreover, we were informed that Koper wants to develop tourism focused on culture and history and that the preferred target group should be families with children. We find this very unlikely to be combined and would therefore like to make some other proposals on the subject when we have had the time to work on the case further.

Although we had a great time getting to know Koper and its surroundings, by now it is clear that we are presented with two different tasks or challenges and will either have to choose between them or make individual proposes for the two stakeholders. More to come…

36 hours in Bohinj just wasn’t enough

36 hours in Bohinj just wasn’t enough! Our group arrived in Bohinjska Bistrica on Tuesday afternoon and we were already awaited by a nice young man from the hotel who was there to pick us up. After we checked into the EKO Park Hotel, we were eager to find out what Bistrica had to offer. We had a little stroll around town, talked to some of the shop owners and admired the beautiful scenery of the snow-covered Julian Alps.

The next day we met Polona Meglič who is responsible for the Public Relations of the Park Hotel as well as Anže Čokl, the CEO. It was great to hear about the hotel’s vision and strategy, what kind of challenges it faced and how they had been operating so far. We really appreciated the open dialogue and sincerity that we were greeted with. After our conversation we had the opportunity to visit the Triglav National Park with a tour guide who shared a lot of his insight from his long work experience with us. I think I speak for my whole group if I say that we were in awe of the beauty of this place!

Driving back to Bohinj Bistrica, we then had a meeting with Klemen Langus who was telling us about his struggle to initiate and ensure cooperation between different stakeholders in the Bohinj region. Now it is up to us to come up with some -hopefully innovative- ideas to make sure that more tourists know about the EKO Park Hotel and the Bohinj region in general.

We would have liked to stay longer and the week was over a lot quicker than expected. Slovenia was full of
positive surprises and I am sure that many of us will return!

Tatjana, Anne Cecilie and Elena

Already missing Slovenia

Greetings from cold and rainy Denmark. We already missing Slovenia, especially missing the sunny weather of wonderful Portoroz. Our impressions of Slovenia are very possitive and nice places we have visited will stay in our memories for long time. Slovenia is such a destination with hospitable and kind people, open to new ideas and welcoming tourist from all around the world.

We were a group of three girls visiting Bled lake. Meeting different stakeholders of Bled, private and public, we got an overview of their thoughts and ideas regarding development of tourism in Bled and attracting more tourists during winter period. The beauty of frozen Bled lake has enchanted us at first sight and we were really amazed by the comfort and peace one can find there. Natural and also cultural potential of Bled is huge but of course development and modernization is needed.

So now hard work is waiting for us. We collected a lot of materials about Bled and we have spoken to many different people. Our task is to solve the problem of insufficient number of tourist during the winter period. We are looking forward to Innovation workshop tommorow where we can work on our ideas and think of potential opportunities to improve the situation of Bled and to solve the problem of Winter In Bled.

Have a beautiful day and we will come back to you soon.

Katka, Diana  and Maninder

Impressions of Ljubljana

Me and my classmates arrived in Slovenia on 20th February. Coming from windy Copenhagen we expected nice warm weather here in the south. However a snowy day welcomed us. To be honest it makes the country look quite beautiful, so we didn’t mind it. Our first stop was traditional Slovenian restaurant Kulinarično središče Okusiti Slovenijo to taste the local cuisine. Quite different and interesting from what we are all used to.

The next few days we spent in the capital. We were working on the project of hostel Celica going green. The hostel has unique style, history and atmosphere. The group had important meetings and discussion with the management of the hostel. They were quite honest to us and told us of their plans and problems. Our task is to see if we can suggest solutions to those problems and see if there is something they missed so they can implement it in their future plans of development.

Of course we had some free time and we really enjoyed it. Ljubljana is a beautiful city full of history. The tour around the city was fascinating and interesting. The view from the top of the castle is magnificent. The people are warm and welcoming and that made our stay unforgettable.

After our stay in the capital we headed for the coastline of Slovenia. But more on that in the next blog…

Brainstorming on Ljubljana

Hello everyone,

we are five students with different cultural background studying Tourism Management at Ålborg University in Copenhagen, Denmark; Mette - Denmark, Judit - Hungary, Kasia and Magdalena – Poland and Petar – Bulgaria.

We have been assigned to work on a case concerning "Ljubljana and the outskirts-creating synergies and unique experiences".

We are in the phase of brainstorming and doing some desk research at the moment. The aim of our group is to find an innovative way to develop Slovenian tourism which might be done through improved marketing or product innovation.

Besides our academical objectives we are very much looking forward to experiencing the Slovenian culture and the local people’s hospitality. :)

Getting ready for Bohinj

Only 3 days to go and we finally fly out to Slovenia! An all-girls international group made up of a Dane, a Bulgarian and a German is very excited to travel to Bohinj and investigate the challenges of the Bohinj EKO Park Hotel.

We all know that green travel becomes more and more important and that a growing number of tourists are very eager to stay in environmental-friendly hotels. Our research and investigation will focus on promoting the Bohinj Park Hotel to foreign countries. We want to find approaches to market the one-of-a-kind hotel to the American, Japanese and Scandinavian market. We will also concentrate on finding solutions to prolong the logical tourist season and will try to distinguish which part of the public is most suitable to traveling in spring and autumn.

We are so happy to have the opportunity to experience an all-around tour through the Bohinj Park Hotel and discuss the hotel’s vision, goals and strategy with the director Anže Čokl. We are also eager to meet Klemen Langus, the director of the local tourist organization and learn more about the destination’s tourism objectives and be given examples of good practice.

Our group is very looking forward to a challenging and stimulating experience for both sides and we can’t wait for it to begin!

See you next week! Elena, Anne Cecilie and Tatjana

Going to Bled

So, we are leaving in a couple of days for Slovenia. I honestly confess the only image I had on this country was of a small island in the middle of a beautiful lake. Lucky me and lucky us, that’s where we are going, in Bled.

We are going as tourists and amateur researchers. We really hope we can get a clue on why tourists are not going anymore in Bled for the winter. That’s kind of the picture.

P.S. We are Maninder, Katka and Diana

Revitalization of the Koper port - preparations

Studying on the 8th semester on the Tourism Master program at Aalborg University we are a part of an innovation project where we should develop Slovenia as a tourism destination. In connection to this we are working on developing the city of Koper from being an industrial city to an attractive tourism destination, which means changing the tourism from mass to class.

Before arriving to Slovenia we have been reading about the city and different travel blogs in order to get a better understanding of the history of the city and to know about the image it has among tourists.

After looking at this we realized that the city has a lot to offer, but that there is also room for improvement if it wants to attract more tourists. Our plan is therefore first of all to focus on what Koper can offer the tourists and here the port is of course going to be an essential part. Furthermore, we want to look at what the target group of the city should be and if the city should develop new offers in order to attract more tourists. When we have studied this we are thinking about using our findings to develop the most appropriate marketing strategy for the city and to find the best brand/slogan for Koper.

We look forward to experience what Slovenia, particularly the city of Koper, has to offer. Also, we expect to develop skills that are essential for our future career and professional performance.

Celica going Green - preparations

We are five students from Aalborg University Copenhagen. All of us are from different countries in Europe, yet no one has ever been to Slovenia.
That is the reason why all of us are very excited and looking forward to our trip to the country. We think this is unique opportunity to develop our skills in real life business, while helping Slovenian tourism to develop.

The case of hostel Celica who wants to strengthen the eco-friendly side of the business is very interesting and unique. The brand and authenticity of the place are well branded and would be a challenge to work on the case. During our stay in the country we are sure to fulfill the purpose of our research but at the same time to have fun and explore and experience Slovenia to the fullest. 

Kranj - preparations

When asking people whether they have been to Slovenia, common responses are either ”No”, or “I have driven through Slovenia, but didn’t make any stops there”.

We are a group of three students, doing Tourism Master Program at Aalborg University in Copenhagen. We have got the opportunity to do a case study in Kranj, a town that wants to attract more tourists by re-establishing itself as a picturesque and culturally appealing town with rich traditions and archeological heritage. Our task is to go to Kranj for a couple of days and observe the town, and then come up with solutions of how this can be done. The big challenge is though: How can Kranj use its sources in order to create a strong profile that differentiates it from other similar towns in Europe? How can we make people make a stop in Kranj instead of just driving through the country?

We are really excited about this project, where our academic skills will for sure be put to the test and where we get the opportunity to use them practically. None of us has been to Slovenia before, and our research is at the moment limited to desk research, until we head down to Slovenia on Monday. We do though see this as an opportunity to look at Kranj with the eyes of an outsider. Perhaps we can see some links and potentials that locals don’t see.

See you on Monday, sLOVEnia! Pernille (Danmark), Pia (Denmark) and Anna (Iceland).

Innovation Camp in Slovenia

From Monday, 20 Feb, to Friday, 24 Feb, a group of 23 Danish students and their 3 professors from the University Aalborg in Copenhagen will visit Slovenia with the aim to help various tourism destinations and facilities solve their real-life problems.

Over 10 challengers have gotten in touch with the Bank of Tourism Potentials in Slovenia who is hosting the students and in the end, the following seven challenges have emerged for the students to be solved:
Case 1 - Tourism Innovation Policy in Slovenia: BTPS today and tomorrow
Case 2 - Tourism in Ljubljana and Central Slovenia: making it work in a package
Case 3 - Hostel Celica Going Green
Case 4 - Winter in Bled
Case 5 - Bohinj EKO Park Hotel
Case 6 - The Case of Kranj
Case 7 - Koper: Revitalization of the Port

Students have prepared short descriptions of their challenges in advance that will be followed by their impressions from the field trip in the next weeks. Stay in touch!

Taking a look back

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

Sitting home in my warm kitchen feels good. I travelled 12 hours changing trains in Munich and Nuremberg. It was as long as a flight to San Francisco, but I enjoyed it anyway. The old-fashioned slow-motion journey took me through the beautiful snowy alpine landscapes of Slovenia, Austria and Bavaria. Here in Saxony, it's -10 degree Celsius outside, finally the winter hit Germany. Not much snow in my garden, though. This is my last post - after 4 months writing for the BTPS blog, it is time for some closing words. I've seen most of the chicken: the heart, the bottom, one foot, the back and the throat. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the head which is one good reason to come back :-). You don't know what I'm talking about? Look at the map and then you'll see...

I now have a pretty good picture about Slovenia's variety:
I discovered amazing natural phenomena like the sinking lake, I tasted eco wine and home-made food in some vineyards and medieval villages, I spoke to employees of the Slovenian Tourist Board about innovative strategies, I enjoyed the Christmas "wonderworld" in Ljubljana, I joined the "Days of Slovenian tourism" and learned more about the future development strategy of tourism, I could experience authentic tourism on the coast and on the edge of the Karst, I shared my experiences with "Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme" during several occasions, fairs, presentations and even on TV, I stayed at one of the most innovative hotels of Europe in the Slovenian Alps and talked to the director of this tourism area and travelled to "bravest city in the world" Maribor (this years European Cultural Capital) and finally saw one of Slovenia's many castles.

Slovenia has it all: mountains, caves, coast, vinyards, flat land and forests. All within a 1-2 hour drive. The landscape outside the two biggest cities Ljubljana and Maribor is rather unpopulated and untouched. Not even wind turbines. Sometimes I felt like being put back in time. I spent my last weekend in Ljubljana by walking up the castle hill together with my Slovenian friend and enjoyed a cappucino afterwards on the oldest skyscraper Ljubljana's with a beautiful view to the city. I also went to the "Alpe-Adria Tourism and Leisure Show", one of the biggest fairs in the whole region, to see what the neighbour countries have to offer and I met some old friends: the NEC-team from Cerknica and Nina and Matjaž from Autentica.

I want to thank you all for your cooperation, kindness and openness! SLOVENIA ROCKS!!! I really loved meeting and talking to so many different people and I am happy that I got so many insider-tips and now know places where only locals go. I will tell everyone I know about your beautiful tiny country and who knows, one day I might bring tourists on my own. ;-)

Adijo! Se vidimo!

Final explorations

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

I was full of expectations when I decided to go to Maribor - this year's European Cultural Capital to work with tour operator Slavija turizem, your "personal travel assistent" specialized in group tours and active sport & fun tours in Slovenia and the neighbouring countries. I was a bit disappointed. Maybe I should have come in the summer...Maribor is the second biggest city of Slovenia with approximately 100.000 inhabitants and suffered a lot since the decline of the industry that came with the fall of Yugoslavia. However, I stayed in a really cool hostel in Maribor Tabor on the other side of river Drava ca. 10 min. away from the city centre. Just ignore the ugly socialist blocks and go to the old part Lent (see photo). There you can see the oldest grapevine in the world which was planted ca. 400 years ago. You can still see the remains of the city walls and some medieval towers. "Glavni trg" - the main square with the city hall looks beautiful and German/Austrian. No wonder, Maribor is actually the capital of Slovenian Steiermark. I recommend the restaurant "HappyPek" where you can eat a daily menu (kosilo) for 5 Euro. Also the rest of the pedestrian zone reminds me of Germany especially because of all the chains of German shops (Müller, dm, backwerk, Lidl...).

I talked to Sašo Cosic, the director of Slavija turizem, and he said he really enjoys living here 'cause there is so much more that you can do around Maribor than in Ljubljana. The Pohorje mountains are just a few steps outside the city, where you can do all kinds of sports: from hiking to cycling in the forests to "night skiing" until 9 pm in the wintertime. There must be wine growing hills and some wellness spa hotels here as well, but I didn't have the time to explore them. Sašo wanted me to help him to find partnes in Germany. I did research on German tour operators with a similar programme as Slavija turizem and biking clubs from my area and contacted some of them. I know that many people in Germany have never heard of Slovenia and if they did, they have no idea how beautiful it actually is and are also afraid of communication problems. Even some of my friends think I'm crazy to come back here over and over again. :-)

On the weekend my friend Matej and me went to the nearby castle Štatenberg in the region Makole which is ca. 30 km south of Maribor. It is more like a palace (Slovenian: dvorec) and dates back to 1720. Franc Kociper, volunteer at the local tourist society and highly motivated man welcomed us. He and a bunch of other people founded this tourist society one year ago to bring the baroque castle with its frescoes, old furniture, ethnological collection as well as the restaurant back to life. The actual owner of the castle, a company from Slovenska Bistrica has no real interest in investing. Hard times. The area around is not very spectacular. Franc told us about "the old times" when there existed a hotel in the castle and they offered horse riding and hiking trips in the hilly region around. His son runs the restaurant which is decorated with antique furniture and a hall can be used for special occasions such as weddings or small concerts. It has potential, of course, but when he asked me if German tourists would come here, I couldn't lie. We have so many castles, palaces, fortresses in Germany which are in a much better condition that I think it would be hard to compete. However, if they organized some events and renovated the place, work together with other local tourist societies to offer something else than just the visit of the castle in this area, there might be a chance of attracting Slovene tourists. They think about opening a youth hostel in the future which is a great idea.

On the way back we stopped in Ptuj, the oldest city of Slovenia, again with a caslte. It was 6 o'clock and nobody was on the streets. We couldn't find a descent restaurant, so we returned and had dinner in Maribor.

Alpine valley Bohinj

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

I didn't consider myself as a mountain person before. I always prefered beaches, cultural and historical places and cities for travelling. But here in Slovenia I became a mountain lover! "On the sunny side of the Alps" you can find inner peace and enjoy untouched nature much better than in the typical "mass tourism" Alpine valleys and ski-resorts in Austria. In the heart of the Triglav National Park in north-western Slovenia lies Bohinj, a beautiful glacial lake surrounded by the Julian Alps. I was very lucky to be invited to stay at ECO Resort & Spa Bohinj Park Hotel, one of the most innovative and ecological hotels in Europe. From there you can easily reach ski-center such as Vogel or go hiking around lake Bohinj in the summertime. The nearby waterfall "Slap Savica" is also nice and very famous for France Prešeren who is considered as the Slovene national poet (he wrote "The Baptism at Savica Falls").

I had a meeting with the hotel sales manager Jana Pekovec and she showed me around the hotel which includes among other things conference rooms, a small bowling center and cinema and of course the Aquapark which is included in the price for hotel guests. I checked the German image brochure and website for any mistakes and also helped to find German tour operators who are specialized in eco/ luxurious hotels. The hotel and the rooms have a simple design in the colors white, black, beige and brown. From everywhere you have a beautiful view to the Alps and the small remote village Bohinjska Bistrica. I missed pictures on the walls and green plants. The corridors are kind of dark and only lit up by small LED lamps - all in the name of being sustainable and saving energy. Anyway, the hotel was awarded with the Green Globe Certificate and won the "Sejalec" in 2010 (Slovenian tourism award for innovation). In addition to the hotel, a project to build a new eco ski-resort under the new brand "2864" (which is the height of Slovenia's highest mountain Triglav) has started. If you want to know more about the story behind 2864, watch the 3-min. film "Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories".

On Wednesday I went to Turizem Bohinj to talk with director Klemen Langus about the situation of tourism in the area and the annual "International Wild Flower Festival". In the area you can find over 1,000 different species of wildflowers. To extend the season and to promote the importance of the natural and cultural heritage of Bohinj they came up with the great idea to organize a festival in May and June. For more information, click here.

Happy New Year

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope your 2012 will be terrific!!!

Some of my friends have asked me how to start a business, what the requirements are to join the "Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme" and especially how the state can support you with the whole process. I know, many of you never thought about opening their own company because it is risky and you will for sure not earn a lot of money in the first years. It is true - you need to be a little dreamer, have courage, initiative and most of all like what you're doing. Anyway, I would hereby like to encourage you a little - maybe someday in your life, there comes the time when you want to do your own thing instead of working for somebody else and become your own boss :-)! I probably won't start my business right after my time here in Slovenia. I feel I still need more working experience first and I also would like to go to England and Estonia to do more research on tourism. 

The opening of a new company is an asset for everyone: When a start-up succeeds it is not only profitable for the founder itself, but also for the labour market (because new jobs are created) and the state (through taxes). That is why persons starting up a new business are supported in many ways (here I describe the situation in Germany, but there are similar programmes in other European countries, too). You can get a start-up grant from the "Arbeitsagentur" (German employment office) when you are unemployed and want to open you own company. A good business plan and a certified financial plan (by a tax consultant or chamber of commerce) are necessary. The "Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau" (German bank institute) is providing specific loans for start-ups. In addition to that, founders of a new business are entitled to get 90 % refund on start-up coaching by the KfW. There are many start-up initiatives carried out by universites or other institutions such as "Exist" - a programme of the German Ministry of Economics designed for students, graduates and scientists. "Exist" supports in particular technology oriented business ideas and everything based on scientific realizations.

Sometimes you have to change your perspective to find a new solution! Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme can help you with that! It is designed for young people who either are in the first 3 years of their own business or want to start-up. Go out and broaden your mind! You will be hosted by an experienced entrepreneur in another European country and can learn from him or even make future business contacts. All you need is a business idea and a business plan. Apply now!

Photo: TV-Interview about my working project in Slovenia for Evropski magazin (European Magazine) RTV 2