Alpe-Adria Show is Here Once Again
The end of January is already traditionally reserved for tourism at the GR - Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre. Following last year’s successful thematic and destination breakthrough of the refreshed largest tourist fair-type event in Slovenia, the Alps-Adriatic Working Community expressed its official support to
Alpe-Adria: Tourism and Leisure in October last year. As indicated by the name of the Show, in addition to presenting remote foreign destinations, it also includes the
tourist offer of the Alps-Adriatic region, which is
tailor-made for the visitor, i.e. it is organised by tourist products. The largest novelty of this year’s Show is
Wine and Gastronomy, which will provide a rich range of tastes of the Mediterranean kitchen and Slovenian wines.
The Boat Show, which takes place at the same time, will showcase boats up to 10 m in length and other nautical equipment and services. The honorary patrons of the Show are the Ministry of Economy of the RS and City Municipality of Ljubljana. This year, on 9,000 sq. metres of exhibition surfaces, over 300 providers of tourist services from 11 countries and 16 nautical companies present themselves. At the official opening, which will take place on the first day of the Show, 26 January at 7:30 pm at the Jurček pavilion, the Jakob Prize will also be presented.
The Significance of Regional Integration
This year,
the Alps-Adriatic Working Community has also officially certified the Alpe-Adria Show as the central tourist event of the Alps-Adriatic region. The event integrates 10 individual regions of Italy, Austria, Hungary with Slovenia and Croatia in their entirety. This considerable achievement not only of the central fair event in the field of tourism and leisure in Slovenia, but also of the development of tourism in general, positions Ljubljana as the tourist centre of the region, which is thus developing into a recognisable business junction of leading tourism actors of the region and also the wider area. The Alps-Adriatic region is also becoming more attractive for organised visits of tourists from remote destinations such as China, Japan, the USA, etc. As emphasised by Wolfgang Platzer, PhD, the Secretary General of the Community: “We need a joint approach for the joint marketing of the whole region in interesting tourist markets around the world – after all, the Working Community stretches from Lombardy to Hungary, from Burgenland to the far south of Croatia. Slovenia and Croatia have already set a good example and I hope that the marketing experts from other parts of the region will join them for the benefit of all of us. We should not perceive each other only as competition. Our common Alps-Adriatic region has so much to offer.” The Show, with its destination breakthrough in the Alps-Adriatic region, which is home to 14.8 million inhabitants on 136,245 square metres, enables the integration of local, small-sized tourist services providers and endeavours for their greater visibility not only within the region but also on other remote markets.
The mission of the Alpe-Adria: Tourism and Leisure Show is the promotion of friendship, understanding and multicultural dialogue and integration in the field of tourism of the Alps-Adriatic region and its presentation in other markets. Such integration of 5 different cultures and languages within Europe represents a significant tool for international communication and the marketing of its tourist potential.
Tourism in the Alps-Adriatic Region
Why not discover the land of our national minorities abroad, drive to Lake Balaton or visit Austrian destinations, which are close by and easily accessible? In addition to Slovenia and Croatia, the following regions within the general Alps-Adriatic region present themselves in their entirety:
• Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardy and Veneto from Italy, which are represented by the Italian National Tourist Organisation ENIT
• Carinthia from Austria
• Baranja and Vas county from Hungary, which are represented by the Hungarian National
Tourist Organisation
In addition to Croatia, Slovenia is the only other country covered by the Alps-Adriatic region in its entirety. This year’s Show presents the following Slovenian tourist destinations i.e. regions according to STB: Gorenjska, Osrednjeslovenska (Central Slovenian region), Goriška – the Emerald Route, Obalno-kraška (Coastal-Karst region), Notranjsko-kraška (Notranjska-Karst region), Jugovzhodna Slovenija (SE Slovenia), Spodnjeposavska, Zasavska, Savinjska, Podravska, Koroška and Pomurska region. Slovenian exhibitors will include all significant tourism protagonists, ranging from the Slovenian Tourist Board, Slovenian National Tourist Association and Tourism Ljubljana as partners of the Show, to various local associations, which will make sure that the programme of the Show will be lively, diverse, green, tasty and entertaining. Numerous providers of leisure and sports equipment, from golf, snowboarding to cycling and beyond, also present themselves at the Show.
Destinations Outside of the Alps-Adriatic Region
This year, the Show also presents other foreign destinations: Italy and Hungary on the national level, Tunisia, Morocco, Spain, Turkey, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Morocco, the most western Arab country and one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Africa, presents itself at the Show for the first time.
Tourist Offer Organised According to Tourist Products
The following important novelty of the Show is the organisation of the offer according to
tourist products. The exhibitors’ tourist offer at the Show is presented based on the four most recognisable categories of spending leisure time and holidays: holidays by destinations, active leisure, trips and travelling adventures. A marking system with special icons guides the visitors through the Show. The Association of Slovene Tourist Guides offers organised tours of the Show (and also Ljubljana) and expert consulting services.
This Year’s Novelty: Wine and Gastronomy
In cooperation with the Slovene Association of Chefs and Confectioners and other partners, Alpe-Adria: Tourism and Leisure Show will also host a real International cooking competition, the Global Chef Challenge, which will take place in front of a live audience of visitors. The challenge for the best chef will be extended also to junior chefs under 23 years of age, i.e. the Hans Bueschkens Junior Chef Challenge. You will be able to marvel at the preparation of three-course menus in the company of top master chefs; ten will be prepared each day. And you will also be able to taste them… the competitors will have three mandatory ingredients at their disposal: Kobe beef for entrees, white sole for the main course and strawberries for dessert. The three ingredients must be included in a three-course menu; what and how these are used and how they are treated and what additional ingredients they will include is up to the chefs. Within the framework of Vinska družba Slovenije,
wine tasting will be organised at the Show. More we know about wine as one of the goods of civilisation, the more it interests us and we are able to enjoy it more sensually. The wine tastings will also provide an opportunity for advice on the culture of drinking and responsible drinking and on the similarities and differences among wines.
The Jakob Prize
Let us recall that in June 2010 the main actors of Slovenian tourism established an Expert Committee of the Show, which includes 33 members and is presided over by Janez Bogataj, PhD. One of the incentives of the Board is the international
Jakob Prize, which the GR -Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre awarded for excellence and quality in tourism in the field of gastronomy for the first time last year. The first award recipient was the Project of Hotel Triglav Bled,
Chef Uroš Štefelin Culinary School.
This year’s subject of the Jakob prize is
Innovative Tourist Products in the Field of Alternative Forms of Vacation and Relaxation. The international expert jury, presided over by Prof. Janez Bogataj, PhD, and composed of Joško Sirk, Italy, Lojze Wieser, Austria, and Miloš Milovanović, Serbia, has decided this year, in accordance with the set criteria, to award two prizes of equal value to:
- The project of the
Ecological Village of Forest Fairies at Camping Bled, Sava Turizem d.d. - Camping Bled and
- project from Austrian Styria called the
Nature Park in Motion, Nature Park Zirbitzkogel-Grebenzen.
From the jury’s substantiation:
The project of the
Ecological Village of Forest Fairies at Camping Bled represents an innovation of the services currently offered by campgrounds. Its innovation is the fact that the houses originate from the local tourist heritage (culture, forestry) and that the tourist content (food, sanitary facilities, etc.) builds 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.
The project from Austrian Styria, the
Nature Park in Motion, is similarly an example of distinctive innovation, which is connected with the central aspiration of the global tourist development, i.e. of natural and sustainable development. The project is of extraordinary high quality, including its infrastructure, and is based on the reading of nature through the culture or reading. The jury believes that this could be a good model not only for Austria but also for the comprehensive European tourist endeavours. The jury also found that although this year the number of applied projects was relatively high, the applicants did not understand the purpose and goals of the competition and particularly its subject - the emphasis of which, as always, is on innovation.
Jakob is the allegory for the “first” tourist, tourist traveller: such a tourist that Europe desires in its efforts to develop this important industry and social movement – that has its origins in the second half of the18th century but has a much longer history – in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way. It is precisely this dimension of the tourist cultural heritage, characteristically symbolised by Jakob, which we would like to mark with the most visible, innovative, creative and other movements in the tourism of the Alps-Adriatic region.
The subject of the competition for the 2013 Jakob prize will be: Innovative and Original Ways of Including Immovable Cultural Heritage in Tourism.
Content Aimed at Tourism Industry Professionals
The content of the Show aimed at tourism industry professionals builds upon the programme from last year. This year, the 1st day of the Show will host the meetings of two professional organisations of the Alps-Adriatic region:
the Association of Slovene Tourist Guides and
FIJET travel journalists will meet with employees of the tourist industry, trademark administrators and press representatives to resolve the issue of the necessity of a trademark of the Alps-Adriatic region. The partners of the Show for the purpose of this project include Tourism Ljubljana and the Slovenian Tourist Board.
Press representatives are invited to join them on 26 January at 10:00 am in the Urška Hall. On the 2nd day of the Show, the
Travel Zoom Focus business conference will take place, which is organised by the Faculty of Tourist Studies Turistica in cooperation with the Go.mice company.
Show Programme
The
Press Centre will operate for the duration of the Show in the Foyer of the Marmorna Hall, where all up-to-date Show information will be available to journalists. Journalists can also get accreditation there, if they have not completed the procedure via the GR - Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre webpage. The Press Centre is open from 9:45 am to 6:30 pm, on the last day of the Show it closes at 4:30 pm. Advance sale of tickets is available until Wednesday, 25 January.
www.alpeadria-tourismshow.com
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