Jakob Prize




»The Jakob prize, an award for quality and excellence in tourism of the Alps-Adriatic region, will be presented for the 2nd time on the first day of the event, on 26 January at 7:30 pm, at the official opening of the Alpe–Adria: Tourism and Leisure Show. Each year, on the basis of previously set criteria, the international expert jury consisting of Joško Sirk, innkeeper and recipient of the Michelin star from neighbouring Italy, Lojze Wieser, publisher and culinary expert from Austria, Miloš Milovanović, assistant director of Serbian National Tourist Organisation, and the jury’s president, Prof. Janez Bogataj, PhD, president of the Expert Council of the Slovenian Tourist board, selects the best one, who contributed a significant share to the mosaic of innovative tourist endeavours of the Alps-Adriatic region. The subject of the Jakob 2012 prize is: Innovative tourist products in fields of alternative forms of rest and relaxation. We are hoping to receive truly innovative proposals and examples of good tourist practices, which offer alternatives in the fields of rest and relaxation. The emphasis is thus on innovation, i.e. the component, which is the foundation of tourism development, in close connection with sustainability and nature. This is not only a Slovenian orientation, but also the core of tourism endeavours within the framework of the European Union.«

Prof. Janez Bogataj, PhD,
President of the international jury for the Jakob prize and President of the Expert Council of the Alpe-Adria: Tourism and Leisure Show


Subject of the 2012 Competition:

Innovative tourist programmes in the field of alternative forms of leisure and relaxation.


Recipients of the 2012 Jakob Prize:


- Project of Ecological Village of Forest Fairies at Camping Bled, Sava Turizem d.d. – Camping Bled and
- Project from Austrian Styria entitled Nature Park in Motion, Nature Park Zirbitzkogel-Grebenzen.
 
The project of the Ecological Village of Forest Fairies at Camping Bled represents an innovation in the range of services currently offered by campsites. Its special feature is the fact that the houses originate from the local tourist heritage (culture, forestry) and that the tourist offer (food, sanitary facilities, etc.) is based on the local culture. The special value of the project is that the tourist offer was created in a relatively simple manner, without excessive investment. Nonetheless, the results are enviable.
 
Similarly, the project from Austrian Styria, the Nature Park in Motion, is an example of distinctive innovation connected with the central aspiration of the global tourist development, i.e. natural and sustainable development. The project is of extraordinary high quality, including its infrastructure, and is based on studying the nature through the culture of reading. The jury believes that this could be a good example not only for Austria but also for the comprehensive European tourist endeavours. The jury also concluded that despite the fact this year’s number of applied projects was relatively high, the applicants did not fully understand the purpose and goals of the competition and particularly its subject – the emphasis of which, as always, is on innovation.

 

Jakob 2011 Prize Winner: Hotel Triglav Bled project, Chef Uroš Štefelin Culinary School

 

The prize was presented to the winner at the Fair by Zoran Janković, the Mayor of the City Municipality of Ljubljana