Welcome note

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen! Good evening!

It is a great pleasure for me to be once again here in Ljubljana at the opening of the Tourism and Leisure Show. By staging this event on a regular basis Ljubljana is becoming with The Show a business junction of the leading tourism actors of the region and wider areas. As Secretary General of the Alps Adriatic Working Community, which is the one of the longest standing crossborder co-operations in Europe, I am naturally in favour in the promotion of our common area. I am very much interested in closer ties between our Working Community – especially our project group Tourism which is presided by the Republic of Croatia – and the organizers of the Show. It would be nice if the Show would be upgraded in the future with a B2B oriented event that would bring a good business environment to the whole Alps-Adriatic region with all our members participating.

I emphasize once again – and I will not stop doing it until we have achieved the aim – that we have to promote our common area together in interesting tourism markets around the world. We already had an interesting morning which was under the Motto “Alpe-Adria – the rising star of Europe”. And indeed this is what we are. Marketing experts of the individual regions and states have to stop seeing each other as competitors. Let us join forces and promote the Alps Adriatic area together – on tourism fairs worldwide, in major international TV channels, in international magazines. The idea is great, but it needs implementation on a bigger scale. With our - admittedly small - means my organization, the Alps Adriatic Working Community, will be helpful in achieving this aim.

I want to thank the organizers for there effort to organize this fair, wish this fair a great success and all visitors an enjoyable time during their visit of the Tourism and Leisure Show and to Ljubljana.
Thank you very much!


Wolfgang Platzer,  PhD
Secretary General of the Alps-Adriatic Working Community


Dear guests, good evening.

Allow me, to welcome a few representatives of institutions, particularly important for the development of the Show. Among them is the esteemed Mr. Wolfgang Platzer, PhD, Secretary General of the Alps-Adriatic Working Community, who wholeheartedly supports the idea of a regional fair and whose endeavours resulted in officially turning the Alpe-Adria Show into the leading tourist event of the Alps-Adriatic region in October 2011. Greetings to dear Mr. Marjan Hribar, MSc, General Manager of Tourism and Internationalisation Directorate of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Slovenia, which, together with the City Municipality of Ljubljana, is the honorary sponsor of the Show. I would also like to welcome the esteemed Mrs. Maja Pak, MSc, Director of Slovenian Tourist Board, which participates as a partner of the Show alongside with Tourism Ljubljana, Go.mice and Turistica in the Expert Programme of the Show. The Slovenian Tourist Board presents itself at the Show also with two exhibitions entitled Sejalec (“Sewer”) and Snovalec (“Designer”). A warm welcome also to Professor Janez Bogataj, PhD, President of the international jury for the Jakob Prize and President of the Expert Committee of the Show, as well as to its other members ensuring and maintaining the expert support of the Show. Greetings also to Mr. Peter Misja, President of the Slovenian National Tourist Association, which is also a partner of the Show, and represents the tourist and cultural heritage through more than 100 of its local associations.

Together with other individuals, over 300 exhibitors from 11 countries present themselves at the Show. At the same time, the Boat Show presents 16 nautical companies. Alpe-Adria Show is the only event of its kind, presenting the tourist offer to the public according to destinations – within and outside of the Alps-Adriatic region, and by products of the exhibition programme, i.e. by 4 typical types of tourists. Visitors are guided through the Show by icons symbolising these 4 different types of tourists and also by guides of the Slovenian Association of Tourist Guides, another partner of the Show – the guides will be available for specific advice or guided tours through the Show.

Our Show is entertaining, lively, active and green, and, due to local culinary specialties, even tasty. An important novelty of this year’s Show is the incorporation of wine and gastronomy. In cooperation with the Slovene Association of Chefs and Confectioners and other partners, we have prepared an International Chef Competition, which will take place for the duration of the Show in front of a live audience of visitors. The challenge for the master chef is open also to young chefs. Slovenian winemakers are with us also this year. Events organised by Vinska družba Slovenije invite you to taste the wines and learn more about them.

Also this year, we have been very successful in developing the part of the Show focused on expert contents. Today and tomorrow we are hosting two professional meetings – Meeting of Tourist Guides of the Alps-Adriatic Region and a Meeting of FIJET Travel Journalist of the Alps-Adriatic Region with a resounding round table discussion on the significance of brand development in tourism. This evening, we will present our Jakob, the prize for quality and excellence in tourism in the Alps-Adriatic region. Tomorrow, we are hosting Travel Zoom Focus, a professional conference on strategic and creative marketing in tourism. We are hoping to hold many more of such events in the future since the vision of the Show includes also the development of its business model.

We are extremely pleased and very proud that this year, the Alps-Adriatic Working Community officially approved Alpe-Adria: Tourism and Leisure Show as the leading tourist event of the Alps-Adriatic region, and that the number of more remote destinations interested in the Show is continuously growing. This year, Morocco joins us for the first time. This is a considerable success for the leading fair-type event in the field of tourism and leisure, for Ljubljana as the tourist centre of the region and, also in a much wider sense, for the development of tourism in Slovenia.

Congratulations and many thanks to all of you, contributing to the development of the Show. Stay with us. We are here. Alpe-Adria. Let's travel together.

Mag. Iztok Bricl, M. Sc.,
Company Managing Director of GR Ljubljana