The quest for excellence and a socially responsible approach in the planning process for sustainable tourism development: A case study of Slovenia

The article deals with the significance of the quest for excellence and a socially responsible approach in planning for sustainable tourism. Research and experience show that tourism organisations need to search for alternative sources and innovative elements in order to improve their competitiveness. This can be done by forming a social-relationship-network in the field of tourism, which is an important factor in creating added value and innovation. There has to be a continuous pursuit of excellence and a socially responsible approach, starting from the idea, via development, and right through to project implementation. One of the beneficial methodologies for developing and expanding a level of tourism which is sustainable and enhances the totality of local and regional environments is a multi-stakeholder approach. The second part of this paper presents a case-study of "Heritage trails through Dolenjska and Bela krajina in South East Slovenia", in which sustainable rural development1 was pursued by using an integrated approach in terms of start-up, implementation and development. This initiative was supported by and benefitted from the notion of having a core of multiple stakeholders

No one asks the children, right?

Modern tourism planning and development of a destination should include input from all levels of society, including different age groups and varying interest groups within a local community. However, it is very rare that, in the process of participatory planning, youths and school groups are invited to express their views on development plans or have the opportunity to take an active part in decision-making. In this study, a nonverbal semantic differential was used in order to learn about how children in Slovenian primary schools view tourists and tourism. A sample of students from three primary schools located in developed, semi developed and poorly developed tourist destinations completed an "activity book" containing questions and a methodology for drawing a picture of "tourists", "hosts", and "children\u27s parents\u27 perception of tourists". This study showed that children from regions where tourism is highly developed have significantly different attitudes toward tourists than children living in regions where tourism is not as developed. However, the study also takes a perspective of the importance of sustainability in the tourism offer and how this may affect the views of children & youth in general and in different regions in particular

No one asks the children, right?

Modern tourism planning and development of a destination should include input from all levels of society, including different age groups and varying interest groups within a local community. However, it is very rare that, in the process of participatory planning, youths and school groups are invited to express their views on development plans or have the opportunity to take an active part in decision-making. In this study, a nonverbal semantic differential was used in order to learn about how children in Slovenian primary schools view tourists and tourism. A sample of students from three primary schools located in developed, semi developed and poorly developed tourist destinations completed an "activity book" containing questions and a methodology for drawing a picture of "tourists", "hosts", and "children\u27s parents\u27 perception of tourists". This study showed that children from regions where tourism is highly developed have significantly different attitudes toward tourists than children living in regions where tourism is not as developed. However, the study also takes a perspective of the importance of sustainability in the tourism offer and how this may affect the views of children & youth in general and in different regions in particular

Opportunities of Slovenian Tourism in Creating an Innovative Co-existence Between Dishes and Wines

Research Question (RV): The opportunity of Slovenian tourism is, among other things, also in creating an innovative co-existence between dishes and wines. It is worth noting that key employees in the hospitality industry and tourism lack knowledge in one gastronomic area, namely the use of local, fresh and seasonal raw materials, dishes and wines in hotels and restaurants, and the advice and serving of food and wines. It would be necessary that each catering facility has a professionally qualified wine counselor sommelier. In the article, we explore the basic knowledge of typical wines, dishes and the harmony between dishes and wines among catering tourism workers in the Dolenjska and Bela krajina areas and the promotion and marketing of wines. Aim: The aim of the research was to determine the real level of eno-gastronomic knowledge of catering and tourism workers in the regions of Dolenjska and Bela krajina and to provide comparative analysis and opportunities based on the research conducted bythe Geisenheim High School for Winery in Germany (Tafel et al., 2018). Method: Based on the study of literature and expertise from the field of eno-gastronomy, anonymous field survey of catering and tourism workers was carried out with closed-type questionnaires, as we estimate that on-the-spot interviewing is a credible basis for obtaining data and presenting results. Frequency statistics (Table 1 and Table 2) and HI square test (Table 3) were used for data processing. Results: The results of the survey were surprising in the negative sense, as they indicate an insufficient knowledge of the area of coexistence of food and wines shown by key employees in the field of catering and tourism, and therefore call for action. Organization: We estimate that managers in catering tourism facilities want such research, primarily because of better quality of employee planning, creation of innovative offer, work processes and decision making. Company: More eno-gastronomic knowledge of key catering and tourist workers contributes to a greater awareness of the guests, and consequently to a healthier, local and seasonal offer of food and wine, which contributes to the well-being of people, the sustainable development of the profession and the opportunities for the development of Slovenian tourism. Originality: According to the analysis of the research in the field of the co existence of dishes and wines among catering tourism workers in the Dolenjska and Bela krajina areas, we believe that this research can serve as an example for studying this field of expertise in other Slovenian tourist areas. Limitations / further research: We estimate that more funds from the field of tourism promotion should be allocated to research in various categories of catering establishments, namely restaurants, hotels, tourist farms, vineyards and other catering facilities with dishes and wines, as the results can show what eno-gastronomic offer should be like, which Slovenia can promote and what needs to be invested in order to obtain quality knowledge of them

GOSTOLJUBLJE KAO VREDNOSNA ORIJENTACIJA U TURIZMU

Uporedo sa jačanjem neoliberalnih pogleda na svet, rastao je i brojautora, koji su turizam razumeli sa stanovišta pozitivističkih teorija i istraživali eksterneefekte savremenog razvoja turizma. Najveći broj radova se odnosio na istraživanjenegativnih posledica, koje turizam prouzrokuje na socijalnu i prirodnu okolinu. U ovomkorpusu pristupa najviše dominiraju teorije konflikata i sukoba. U ovom radu na nivouapstraktnog mišljenja koje proizilazi iz refleksije prakse, dokazujemo da turizamrazapet između različitih teorijskih pristupa, nedvosmisleno spada u red normativnog ipredstavlja vrednosnu orijentaciju ljudske zajednice u najširem smislu. Ovom prilikomanaliziramo ulogu gostoljublja kao nedvosmislene vrednosne činjenice u delovanju irazvoju turizma. Turizam je pre svega socijalna pojava, dakle splet odnosa međuljudima u procesu zadovoljenja potreba ljudi izvan mesta stalnog boravka. Naime,manifestacioni oblici gostoljublja u suštini predstavljaju idealan intermedijum uodnosima među ljudima u turističkom procesu. I ako je temeljni aksiom zadovoljstvaono što je dobro, onda je i turizam predmet i područje etičkog promišljanja. Jedinogostoljublje može da učini doživljenu realnost turista na destinaciji mnogo boljoj odočekivanog, a to je, u stvari, suština uspeha turizma