Slovenia awarded by Food and Travel Magazine Italia; Aljoša Ota, the Director of STB's office in Italy, receives a special award

At the Food and Travel Italia 2021 Reader Awards, which took place on Friday, October 1, in Lavello in Italy, Slovenia received a prestigious award as The Best Foreign Destination of 2021 (Destinazione straniera dell 'anno). The selection was based on the assessment of experts from the field of gastronomy and tourism, the editorial board of the magazine and the votes of the readers. A special award went to Aljoša Ota, Head of the STB Representative Office in Italy, for leading the most successful foreign national tourism organization in Italy (Direttore ente del turismo dell'anno), awarded by the Board of Directors of Food and Travel magazine.

Slovenia impressed Italian readers with sustainability and numerous innovations, especially new investments in tourist accommodations. This year, Slovenia holds the prestigious title of European Region of Gastronomy, which next to Michelin stars also aroused a lot of interest among Italian readers. Research shows that Italian guests most often choose to travel because of the desire to learn something new, especially in terms of culture and gastronomy, which can surely offer top-quality culinary experiences to Italian guests.

MSc. Maja Pak, Director of the STB: "Exposing Slovenia as a country of unique green boutique experiences by reputable and globally recognizable magazines, such as Food and Travel Magazine Italia, significantly contributes to the visibility of gastronomy and Slovenian tourism among those tourists who appreciate quality and sustainable development. At the same time, the award is an important motivation for the further development of unique 5* experiences."

Last year, the gastronomic magazine Food and Travel Magazine Italia awarded Slovenia with a prestigious award for the destination of the year, and the year before as the emerging gastronomy destination.

On this occasion, Aljoša Ota, the head of the STB's representative office in Italy, emphasized: "It is a great honor for me to receive this special award, which I dedicate it to all my colleagues and fellow members of ADUTEI, which I have chaired since 2018. In the recent years, tourism has been marked by great changes and challenges. I am glad that with my work I was able to contribute to innovation and positivity. I hope that this is just the beginning of development and renovation for the entire tourism sector. I thank the Food and Travel editorial board for the recognition and for the trust."

The renowned and internationally recognized gastronomic magazine Food and Travel Magazine Italy presented the Food and Travel Italia Awards for the fourth time in a row as part of the gala event. This year's event took place in Lavello in the Italian region of Basilicata. The gala evening was attended by many distinguished guests, including Italian Minister of Tourism Massimo Garavaglia, Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini, Minister of Agriculture Stefano Patuanelli, Senator Dario Stefàno, Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Universities and Research Luigi Fiorentino, Marketing Director National Italian Tourism Agency Maria Elena Rossi, content editor of "The World's 50 Best Bar and Restaurant" Mark Samson, and many others.

Food and Travel Magazine Italia has a global reach of more than 600,000 readers. It is published in English, German, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese, Arabic, Italian and Turkish. The magazine is the winner of a number of awards, which confirms the great reputation and importance of the magazine in international gastronomy. It was first released in 1995 in the UK.

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