Climate change is a fact, and it is leading consumers to change, along with their values and behaviour. Owing to the growing ‘green market’, services and facilities are changing and adapting, too.

Within the range of advanced tourist services around the world, sustainable forms of tourism are becoming an increasingly powerful trend and represent one of the biggest opportunities for its further development. At the same time they represent the essential orientation for further development, since only this kind of tourism, which is based on the economic success of tourism business and is at the same time kind and constructive towards the natural, cultural and social environment, can also survive in the future.

At the Slovenian Tourist Board we are convinced that sustainable or green tourism is a developmental opportunity for Slovenia. It is a response from all stakeholders in tourism to the changes in the environment, aimed at ensuring the long-term competitiveness of Slovenian tourism and increasing the quality of life of Slovenia’s inhabitants.

With the aim of developing green tourism we should recognise the dimensions of the problem, so in 2009 we carried out certain surveys and analyses of the green market, linking up with climate change experts, we implemented our first green incentives, formulated strategic principles of green tourism and familiarised tourism businesses with all of this (thematic issue of the magazine TUR!ZEM, website, 12th Slovenian Tourism Forum at Radenci, “Tourism in a green economy”). In 2010 our organisation has introduced the “Slovenia-friendly office” project, and we are striving for the use of the most environment-friendly materials, while also planning our events to be “green”.

We will then need to study the impact of tourism on climate, and climate on tourism, the changes in tourist flows and we will need to formulate a strategy for developing and marketing green tourism through an action plan, together with all the competent state sectors and together with tourism providers.