10 things I like about Slovenia

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

As the holiday season approaches, I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to my host entrepreneur Novi turizem and to the four tourism institutions/companies (NEC Cerknica, Vina Štekar, STB and Autentica) I visited so far for your invitation to collaborate with me and your hospitality. Without your support this exchange programme and my future business would not be possible.
I send my best wishes to you and your loved ones and hope that the New Year will be filled with happiness and most of all business success. I look forward to working with you in the coming year!

Being a "young ambassador" of Slovenia, I feel I should say some things about what I like most about this beautiful tiny country:

1. The variety of landscapes that can be discovered: from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea within one day!
2. Unspoiled character of nature.
3. The hospitality and modesty of the people.
4. Many people are multilingual: they understand and speak at least English and German. On the coast Italian is very common.
5. The hearty and natural food: some dishes are very German/Austrian/Hungarian-like :-). But also Slovenian pizza tastes fresher and more natural than Italian! My favourite food is jota and koruzni kruh.
6. The historical and cultural richness: Over centuries Slovenia was part of different kingdoms and empires and has been influenced by the Slavic, Roman/Venetian, German and Austro-Hungarian culture which can still be seen today in the architecture of the cities. My favourite cities are Piran and Ljubljana.
7. Since 2004 Slovenia is part of the European Union and introduced the Euro as a currency in 2007. This made travelling and economic cooperation much easier.
8. Slovenia as starting point for travels to Eastern countries: Experience and enjoy Slovenia and "the forgotten Europe" by going to Croatia, Hungary and the Balkans in just a few hours!
9. A Slovenian friend is a friend for a lifetime.
10. Relaxed atmosphere and attitude: since I have been living here I'm enjoying life more and I'm always late (yeah I know, these punctual Germans...)

Vesel božič in srečno novo leto 2012 :-)

Photo: Promotional presentation for "Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs" at youth club Cerknica (11.11.2011) for young people in the area including a group of young project managers. I was talking about the application process and my experiences with the programme as well as competitiveness of tourism in the Notranjska region. 

Authentic Experience

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

I spent the last days working with travel agency Autentica in Koper. Thank you Matjaž and Nina for showing me some of the attractions in Istria and on the Karst edge: we went to Hrastovlje, a small village below the Kraški rob (Karst edge - a natural border between Karst plateau and Slovenian Istria) with an old church surrounded by walls and world-famous frescoes inside (see photo). In Marezige, the "center of Refošk wine", we tasted typical Istrian wine at Dean Plahuta's ecological wine estate. A very spiritual place for me was "Slovenian Stonehenge" ;-) near Krkavče. Well, actually it's just one stone on a hill above the Dragonja valley which dates back to the 1st century. Anyway, just as we arrived at noon all churches on the hills around this strategical place started to ring their bells. Amazing!

"In search of the white gold" - "Night walk by torchlight" and "Become a caver for a day!" are just some of the charming slogans of authentic experiences that you can enjoy in the Slovenian Istria and around with Autentica. I translated some of their tours for MICE guests in Portorož  into German. I hope I did the job all right :-).

Until now, I wasn't really sure if I was able to open my own business in the future - well I have all the ideas in my head. I like to create individual tours to Slovenia and Estonia and I know from family experience what it means to manage your own business, but I'm actually not sure if I would find enough people to sell my tours to. Since I've seen what Matjaž and Nina are doing and that they really have success with the concept of offering authentic tours, I'm now getting much more motivated to try it on my own. They told me to be brave and think positive ;-) and most of all to pick the right target groups and find financial support for the first three years. We were also talking about working together in the future. Besides being manager of Autentica, Matjaž also works for the "incubator" of the University of Primorska in Koper, which gives innovative small and new companies and young entrepreneurs a platform and support to keep their business flourishing in the first years. I have to find a similar institution in Germany!

Days of Slovenian Tourism

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

On 8 and 9 December the Days of Slovenian Tourism took place at the Congress Center Bernardin in Portorož. The two-day event brings all tourism institutions of Slovenia together, including Slovenian Tourist Board, Ministry of the Economics, Tourist Association of Slovenia, Chamber of Tourism and Catering, Chamber of Crafts and Entrepreneurship, Association of Tourist Agencies of Slovenia as well as Slovenian Convention Bureau to talk about the future of Slovenia as a travel destination.

I joined Novi turizem team Tina and Dejan on Friday for the plenary session at the 14th Slovenian Tourism forum, where the new Development Strategy Plan for Slovenian Tourism 2012-2016 was presented. Thanks to headphones and translators I could understand everything :-)! There is still much debate on the vision and mission of the strategy. Some argue for instance, that Slovenia should focus on one main product. Others say, that there is no single USP that could work for Slovene tourism. The complexity of the brand Slovenia is the true advantage. All in all, the Slovenian Tourist Board wants to focus and encourage sustainable, high-quality and responsible tourism by promoting a GREEN sLOVEnia.

What I found really interesting was the presentation of Daniel Levine (Avant Guide Institute, New York). He talked about "The New Future of Tourism: How Slovenia will thrive beyond 2012" and showed us how Slovenia could and should use global trends in the tourism industry - personalize your products and services, post on social web, know who talks about you online and respond, think mobile and promote meaningful experiences including health, learning, environment, friends and family to name just a few of his tips.

Thanks for letting me join the event with you Novi turizem :-)! I met many innovative and inspiring people such as Tomaž Štefe, the initiator and former manager of Hostel Celica which is an old prison turned into a hip hostel, and Miha Anzelc from Židana Marela, a private company of three guys who found a market niche by organizing unique Slovenian evenings, special tours for photographers and stag parties for mostly British tourist.

Crazy! Already Christmas time?

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

It feels really strange to see all the Christmas decorations in the city centre in Ljubljana. I mean it looks nice, but where have all the last weeks gone? Still weather is playing tricks this year with around 10 degrees Celsius and just a little rain. Give me snow, then I might believe that Christmas time is here. Maybe some hot mulled wine on the Christmas market will help me to get into the holiday season feeling. Different to Germany, they serve mulled wine here either white (belo) or red (rdeča). Along the Ljubljanica river you can find hundred stands to gather your friends and colleagues. 

Do you know what? I will become the next Slovenian TV Super Star! Seriously.

Mrs. Mojca Reček, journalist of the national TV Slovenia, would like to make a promotional videoclip of Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme for the TV show "European Magazine" and asked me and Kamila, another young entrepreneur, to join the show. They will film us at work and do a little interview. I've never been on TV before. So, wish me luck :-).

Hey, did you hear about the new challenge of the Slovenian Tourist Board and Bank of Tourism Potentials in Slovenia? On the platform Challenge:Future you can still submit your innovative ideas (deadline: 12 December). It's all about "Old stories 4 new adventures" and young people from all over the world take part.

Take care and stay tuned!

I feel SOCIAL MEDIA

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

I've been following the development of the website and the marketing strategy of the Slovenian Tourist Board over the past 5 years. I think both improved a lot and I especially became a huge fan of the new brand "I FEEL SLOVENIA".


After all those years being a supporter of Slovenia as a "new" travel destination, I was able to set foot in the institution where it is all promoted: the Slovenian Tourist Board in Ljubljana. Here I learned a lot of things about the work of STB and all that innovative stuff they are doing. I had a meeting with STB web editor Luka Sever and Nina Cvirn who is responsible for social media (see photo) and they told me about the innovative strategies of STB in general and for e-marketing and social media.


What they are doing was at first not quite familiar to me. Of course, I know Facebook and Co., but there is so much more that you can do in the world wide web and SOCIAL MEDIA:


In the field of domestic marketing and public relations the STB established Next Exit and uses Foursquare. Both to simplify your travel and motivate you to go "off the beaten track" by using new routes and be able to get information via your mobile phone.


Facebook advertisements are used for specific target groups as well as the Facebook App "Slowwwbus", a game where you can win an adventure trip like rafting in Slovenia dependent on how high you scored.


STB also uses QR (= quick response) codes at their information stands during fairs and exhibitions. They even won a price at this year's World Travel Market in London for the Best Stand for Interacting with Travel Agents - Slovenian Tourist Board was singled out for the access to information made available to travel agents. Instead of weighing them down with brochures, agents could simply download everything they needed to know. A big screen where agents could also flick through digital brochures proved to be not only eye-catching but a good way of getting the information out.


Time doesn't stand still - every day there is something new. That is why the overall social media strategy of the STB including Facebook, youtube, Twitter, Google+ and Foursquare is under constantly development.


Another innovative thing I like to point out is the GREEN sLOVENia campaign:
They take part in the European Project called EDEN (European Destination of Excellence) and award best practise of green tourism e.g. ecological tourist farms.


On the next day I was kindly invited to the STB Motivational Event at Hotel & Castle Drnča near Radovljica with presentations and workshops about social media and web analytics to improve websites and user activities of all members of the portal slovenia.info. 


Hvala lepa Luka and Nina for sharing your knowledge and ideas with me! And thanks also for the invitation to the Motivational Event!


Don't forget to visit FEEL SLOVENIA on Facebook!

Martinovanje

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

Last weekend some friends and me went to Nova Gorica and nearby Goriška Brda. "Brda" means hills in English and the region is situated in western Slovenia near Italy. Again, I was astonished about another area I've never heard of before: with beautiful vineyards, medieval villages and many kaki trees - its fruits also ripen around St. Martin's Day. 

Nova Gorica I didn't really like so much. The town was buiIt in 1948 after a newly established border between Yugoslavia and Italy. If you like casinos and an average "American style" town, it  might be something for you. The old town (Stara Gorica) is nicer, but now lies behind the border in Italy. 

The events organized around St. Martin's Day (so-called martinovanje) in Slovenia celebrate the time when grape must turn into young wine and are getting livelier every year. Not only in Goriška Brda, but also in one of the other 13 wine regions such as Slovenian Istria, Karst, Vipava Valley, Dolenjska, Prekmurje and Štajerska/Steiermark.

Back to Goriška Brda: 

It's a picturesque area with around 80 different wine-growing estates. No offense, but it is more developed for tourism than the wine region in northern Portugal which I visited 2 years ago. There are signs everywhere leading you along "vinska cesta" (wine road) and many "kmetijas" (farms) have a restaurant and on average five guest rooms (Bed & Breakfast). 

I had a meeting with Jure Štekar at Vina Štekar in Kojsko. They produce ecological wines and offer home-made food in their restaurant. You can also stay in one of their four cosy rooms.

Don't miss it - it is really nice and the house was renovated last year.

Or visit their website for more information:

www.stekar.si/ in three languages 

www.vinastekar.si (wines, only Slovene language)

Jure gave as a little tour around the winery and we also tasted wine.

To be honest, I am not an expert when it comes to wine. I'll try to improve :-). But I can really recommend the following wines which I tasted in the last month and are typical for Primorska region (including Goriška Brda, Karst and Istria):

- Rebula (white wine from Goriška Brda)

- Kraški Teran (Teran from Karst region, a dark red wine)

- Refošk (Istrian red wine)

For matinovanje we went to the medieval village Šmartno and enjoyed a hearty jota (traditional soup) with white wine in a cosy gostilna (pub).

Thank you Jure for the great wine!

Don't forget to visit him at his wine farm ;-).

Na zdravje! 

Mysterious Disappearance

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

I would never have thought about visiting Cerknica and the rural area around called "Notranjska". Even many Slovenians don't know much about it, which is strange for me, because it is so close to the capital Ljubljana. Thanks to Anja from NEC Cerknica, who invited me kindly to stay at her home for one week, I could experience all the natural and cultural wonders Notranjska has to offer.

The biggest "disappearing lake" in the world (Cerkniško jezero) is an amazing natural wonder - it lies in a depression of the limestone plateau known as Karst and looks different in every season. Sometimes in summer it is completely dried out and you can walk across to see its sinkholes to subterranean caves.

If you're "lucky" you can meet bears in the Notranjska Regional Park - Slovenia has one of the biggest populations of brown bears who live here in natural forests. They are even exported to other countries ;-).

Together with Anja's colleagues we took an individual guided tour through Križna Cave. It was much better than the popular Postojna Cave which is too touristy for my taste. We walked 20 min. equipped with boots and our own lamps to a subterranean lake (one of 22! in the cave) and continued the trip by boat. The guide was very funny and multilingual.

What else? You shouldn't miss Rakov Škocjan, a valley (Karst dolina) and natural reserve with natural bridges. And then, to my surprise, we visited a hunting castle in Snežnik, which belonged to the Saxon family Schönburg of Dresden (a little piece of home in Slovenia :-)).

Not to forget the many "kmetijas" in Notranjska! Kmetijas are tourist farms that give you insight in their traditional work and producing of for instance jam, wine and brandy. We tasted home made brandy in Kmetija T'Dolenj with a beautiful view of the Cerknica Lake.

The region has a very good potential for natural tourism - in many ways. I recommend it especially for research and educational trips for instance for schools and students of geography/geology and hydrology. There is a interactive museum/interpretation center in Dolenje Jezero where you can learn more about the process of the disappearing lake on the basis of a living model.

Thank you Anja for the great time! I learned so many new things about Slovenia and the work of the Ecological Center which among other things deals with the so-called "interpretation of heritage" - one way of exploring and proving authentic tourism.

My head is full of new impressions and ideas!

Adijo!

My travel plans

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

One month of my stay is already over - three months to go!

I worked out the dates of my travels around the country. So far I want to visit eight different places all over Slovenia:

1. Notranjska Region and Ecological Center in Cerknica www.nec-cerknica.si/domov

2. Nova Gorica/ Brda wine region on St. Martin's Day, wine-estate Kojsko http://www.vinastekar.si/

3. Slovenian Tourist Board in Ljubljana http://www.slovenia.info/

4. Travel Agency Autentica in Koper http://www.autentica.si/

5. Castle Štatenberg and Tourism Association in Makole www.slovenia.info/?grad=3622&lng=2

6./ 7. Bohinj Turizem & ECO Hotel http://www.bohinj.si/ & http://www.bohinj-park-hotel.si/

8. Tour Operator Slavija Turizem in Maribor http://www.slavija.si/

I will do longer and shorter visits, bigger and smaller projects. With all of them I will talk about their business and situation in the Slovenian travel industry and try to learn about their products and offers in general and also if they are doing anything innovative. Others asked me to help with creating a product, how to put this especially on the German market and to find contacts in Germany. I will also look at their German websites if any correction is needed.

I am looking forward to meeting everyone and willing to learn & help as much as I can!

Check out my travel route (pic)!

Ariane

Getting started

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

I've had some time now to reflect on the few weeks I've spent here and to clearly define my goals for the upcoming months.

Meanwhile it has been great weather for Ljubljana ;-). I remember being here last year during the same time and it was raining cats and dogs! I couldn't get my shoes dry for over a week and got a cold just right after I arrived. A Slovenian friend told me that Ljubljana has even more rain in average per year than London. Unbelievable. Anyway, this year it's a whole different story. With almost 30 degrees Celsius by the end of September it is said to be the hottest summer in 100 years. Well, it just started to rain today....

Last week I joined Tina to the opening of a new tourist agency here in Ljubljana called PREMIKI (which means movements). It's a further development of Turag4all and it's all about accessible tourism. They focus on target groups with special needs such as disabled people, old people or pregnant woman. It is a really interesting concept, I think, and I wish Dolores will have a fruitfull business! We'll see if there is a possibility for cooperation in the future.

Yesterday I met Sebastjan Rosa, the Slovenian coordinator, and we presented the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneur Programme together with a young entrepreneur from Spain at Studentska Arena, the biggest event for students in Ljubljana. That is where the photo of this post was taken :-).

I was thinking about how to make the best out of my stay here. Tina posted the news about my stay on the BTPS website and I got many emails from tourism providers. YEAH!

I already got in contact with Anja from Notranjska Ecological Center and we agreed to do a little project together. I will visit her and the ECO Center in the beginning of November and we want to try to create something together, which is great and exactly what I was looking for. Of course, such things take time - so I decided to do a longer project with her lasting until January.

You probably won't believe it, but I seriously did some research at the library of the Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. There you get access to search engines for academic journals and I found loads of papers in English on Slovenian tourism. 

So, my mission is to find and/or create innovative and authentically tourism products with the help of any tourism player who is interested to collaborate with me. Hereby I would be happy to help and promote rather unknown places in Slovenia, you know, everything except the top destinations >Postojna Cave, Bled and Ljubljana<.

It's getting better and better!

Stay tuned about my journey around GREEN sLOVEnia!

Lep pozdrav,

Ariane 

Hej Slovenija! - Hello Slovenia!

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

Here I am - a young ambitious girl from Germany :-)! Being relieved that all my university final exams are behind me, I will discover innovative tourism in Slovenia for the next 4 months.

Actually, this is not my first time in Slovenia. I fell in love with the country 5 years ago when visiting a friend and keep coming back every now and then. After 5 years of studying Geography, Business Administration and English at the University of Trier (Germany), I am now ready to do my own thing.

I intend to open my own travel business (a tour operator) with special focus on small and rather unknown countries like Slovenia and Estonia - a market niche in Germany. Looking for and providing authentically and innovative tourist products is my overall-goal. I am glad to be able to do this exchange with the New Tourism Institute sponsored by Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme. Hvala lepa Tina and Dejan!

An important part of my stay will be visiting Slovene tourism businesses of any kind. So, if you are a hotel, cultural or natural sight, restaurant, travel agency, tourist information, city marketing agency or any other tourism player in Slovenia who has creative ideas and offers some kind of innovative or authentic product - get in touch with me (ariane.goerke@googlemail.com) and we can arrange a meeting!

I'll keep you posted!

Ariane