DST 2019 - Plenary Session

12.00 - 13.00

Registration of participants, Grand hotel Union lobby 

13.00 - 13.45

Opening address

• Zdravko Počivalšek, Minister of Economic Development and Technology
• mag. Maja Pak, Director of Slovenian Tourist Board

14.00 - 15.00

Tourism redesign - changes to raise value

Architecture as a destination mark

Boris Podrecca, architect

Regarding a strategic positioning of the extended term tourism, specific site patterns have to be pointed out. The more the common globalization of the environment spreads, the more locally contextual and identity characterized premises will be interpreted in the foreground. All of this beside postmodern, historical fakes and remakes has to be abolished. 

A déjà-vu of the global hotel brands with their conventional corporate identities does not respond anymore to today’s needs of a culture- and regeneration tourism. Equally these conventional icons provide just barely a stimulating frame for the business milieu. A new, ecologically responsible generation demands more and more a radical purification of the stigmatized hotel stereotypes. Contemporary, non-artificial and  non-picturesque standards are requested.

Sustainability and green tourism to increase value

Guy Bigwood, Global Destination Sustainability Index

Climate change has become a reality as phenomena such as droughts, rising sea levels and heat waves affect guests' behavior and their choice of destinations on a daily basis. Only destinations that will actively adapt to them will retain their authenticity and attractiveness, so sustainable management and care for the natural environment are the only way forward. Slovenia has embarked on this path many years ago, and green DNA can also be redeemed for raising the value and improving the reputation of both the Slovenian brand and the destination brands within it.

15.00 - 16.00

Coffee break

16:00 - 18:00                 

"All together for added value in tourism"

With the Sustainable Growth Strategy of Slovenian Tourism 2017-2021, we have set ourselves the goal of making Slovenia a green boutique destination for the discerning visitor - in order to achieve it, it will be necessary to find the answers to the many challenges that Slovenian tourism faces today. In the second part of the plenary session, we will therefore confront the opinions of the most prominent stakeholders in Slovenian tourism and try to find answers that would allow redesign of tourism and a leap towards higher added value.

How to attract investors? Should hoteliers and other private-sector investors also invest in destination infrastructure or is it primarily a municipality's task? It is well known that in Slovenia we are facing a lack of quality accommodation outside cities and tourist centers.

Should we open the door to hotel chains in Slovenia or are smaller boutique accommodation a better way for Slovenian tourism? What are the advantages and disadvantages of chain membership, what are the changes in the business and marketing of a hotel, why some are not visible in the chains?

How to tackle the lack of (quality) staff in tourism? There are no five star experiences in tourism without friendly and knowledgeable workers. What does the country do in the field of education to inspire young people to catering and tourism, and what are the needs of the economy and the situation on the ground?

Will the economy continue to deliver good results and growth in the coming years or are we facing a new crisis? How to respond to unpredictable fluctuations in the economy - by investing in smaller boutique hotel stories or major investment projects? What are competing destinations doing in this area and what is the danger of going down the path of Croatia, where the trend has turned negative this year?