Tourist origin and spiritual motives

Spirituality is becoming an important motive for travel. More and more people see tourist travel as an effective means to find their true self. As a result, demand for the satisfaction of spiritual and mental renewal tourism services increased. Nowadays, everybody that travels has a need to improve his or her health and identity. It simplified, the natural environment, where modern tourists find themselves through interaction with others, enhances their personal growth, deepens their experience and accelerates their spiritual healing. This paper, using quantitative analysis of tourist attitude, attempts to show how domestic and foreign tourists who visited Portorož on the Slovene Adriatic coast experience spirituality of the tourist destination. Our research shows that the experience of spirituality is closely related to the experiences with the destination and with the quality of tourism services on the destination

Experiencing Infertility – Social Work Dilemmas in Child Adoption Procedures

The research deals with experiencing infertility and its consequences in the adoption of a child and focuses on infertile couples that have wished to adopt a child and joined a program preparing them to be foster parents. The results show that most of the infertile couples experience infertility very much as being different from couples with children as well as having to cope with the feelings of deep emotional loss resulting from the inability to reproduce biologically. There is therefore the question whether these facts should be taken into account by the profession (i.e. social workers) when dealing with child adoption as, according to most of the respondents of our survey, the process of coming to terms with infertility and its consequences is an important factor in establishing healthy family relationships and the child’s identity within the adoptive family. We concluded from the results of the research that the infertile couples preparation program for adopting a child carried out by the Society of Adoptive Families »Deteljica«, is a comprehensive autopoietic social workers’ answer to the needs of participants for a successful adoption of a child, as it makes it possible to supply these future adoptive parents with the requisite information and experience and provides support to the entire family upon accepting a child in its midst, while its fundamental attribute is offering help to couples in overcoming the traumas resulting from their infertility

SENIORS AND FREE TIME

Kao očekivano se životni vijek stanovništva u razvijenim zemljama produžava. Time se produžava i vrijeme od mirovine do smrti. Što znači da smo više godina u mirovini. Možemo pretpostaviti da stariji imaju više vremena nego druge generacije. Uživanje u slobodnom vremenu donosi smisao života i kvalitetnu starost. Nakon odlaska u mirovinu mnoge starije osobe žele zadržati svoj identitet i ostati kreativni. Drugi podlegnu stereotipima o starosti i predaju se. Neki su prisiljeni da rade, drugi traže posao da si poboljšaju svoj standard. Slobodno vrijeme ovih može biti puno drugačije od onih, koji žive sami ili u braku, koji imaju više vremena za svoje interese. Percepcija slobodnog vremena se mijenja uz starost. Netko može uzeti u obzir slobodno vrijeme za opuštanje, a netko ga može razumjeti kao izvor samoće. Iz intervjua u ovom istraživanju pokazalo se 5 karakteristika, pod kojim stariji razumijevaju slobodno vrijeme: definicija, količina, odnos prema zdravlju, značenja i aktivnosti starijih osoba u Sloveniji.Life expectancy is getting longer. Consequently, years in retirement are getting longer. Therefore, we can expect that elderly have more time than other generations. Pleasure in free time brings sense to life and a quality aging. After retirement many elderly wish to keep their identity and to stay creative. Others see the old age as stereotype of an old age and surrender. Some are forced to work; others look for a job to improve their standard. Leisure of those can be much different from those living alone or with the spouse, having more time for their interests. Perception of leisure is changing by aging. One may consider leisure for relaxation; other can understand it as a source of loneliness. In-depth interviews in this study revealed 5 characteristics of elderly understanding of leisure: definition, quantity, correlation with health, meaning and activities of Slovenian leisure

Integracije kot orodje managementa turističnih destinacij

It is well known that the organizational structure of the Slovenian tourism industry is changing. Tourist companies are merging, but unfortunately only a few companies empowered their capital structure and market position, so in a way we can talk about an oligopoly. The situation does not favor rural and rural fringe areas, where an underdeveloped tourism economy cannot represent a solid source of income for many tourist farms and other tourist companies. Integration is a scientifically and professionally proven method for empowering businesses. Integrative destination management, which provides the tool for tourist destinations development, aims at sustainable tourism where the community collectively develops and runs the tourism economy. This paper examines the possibilities for the development of business integration as a basis for the successful implementation of destination management in the Mislinja Valley. A survey has been conducted, where two thirds of the tourist companies in the area were investigated in relation to the destination management and tourism opportunities in the area. Analysis shows that the business environment accepts the idea of integration as a tool for empowering the regional tourism industry, however only interest integration appeares to be acceptable at this time.Opažamo, da se organizacijska struktura slovenskega turističnega gospodarstva počasi spreminja. Gospodarski subjekti se povezujejo, a na način, ki krepi le nekaj korporacij in tako se na nek način ustvarja oligopol. To prepočasi rešuje problematiko nerazvitih in tudi že ogroženih podeželskih in obrobnih okolij, v katerih pa ravno turizem lahko predstavlja najprimernejšo dopolnilno gospodarsko panogo. Integracije predstavljajo preverjeno in učinkovito metodo krepitve poslovnih in organizacijskih odnosov med posameznimi gospodarskimi subjekti, ki lahko nastajajo kapitalsko ali interesno. Koncepti integrativnega destinacijskega managementa, ki predstavlja orodje razvoja turističnih destinacij, težijo k trajnostno naravnanemu turističnemu gospodarstvu, kjer povezani turistični subjekti skupaj razvijajo in vodijo turizem. V članku preučujemo možnosti integriranja turističnega gospodarstva kot osnove za uspešno delovanje destinacijskega managementa v Mislinjski dolini. Z raziskavo med 52 poslovnimi turističnimi subjekti na območju Mislinjske doline, smo iskali možnosti za razvoj integracij, kot vzpodbudne in v svetu priznane metode krepitve gospodarstva. Analiza je pokazala, da poslovno okolje sprejema idejo o integriranju, pri čemer se izpostavlja predvsem ideja o interesnem povezovanju

Integracije kot orodje managementa turističnih destinacij: primer podeželskih in obrobnih območij

It is well known that the organizational structure of the Slovenian tourism industry is changing. Tourist companies are merging, but unfortunately only a few companies empowered their capital structure and market position, so in a way we can talk about an oligopoly. The situation does not favor rural and rural fringe areas, where an underdeveloped tourism economy cannot represent a solid source of income for many tourist farms and other tourist companies. Integration is a scientifically and professionally proven method for empowering businesses. Integrative destination management, which provides the tool for tourist destinations development, aims at sustainable tourism where the community collectively develops and runs the tourism economy. This paper examines the possibilities for the development of business integration as a basis for the successful implementation of destination management in the Mislinja Valley. A survey has been conducted, where two thirds of the tourist companies in the area were investigated in relation to the destination management and tourism opportunities in the area. Analysis shows that the business environment accepts the idea of integration as a tool for empowering the regional tourism industry, however only interest integration appeares to be acceptable at this time.Opažamo, da se organizacijska struktura slovenskega turističnega gospodarstva počasi spreminja. Gospodarski subjekti se povezujejo, a na način, ki krepi le nekaj korporacij in tako se na nek način ustvarja oligopol. To prepočasi rešuje problematiko nerazvitih in tudi že ogroženih podeželskih in obrobnih okolij, v katerih pa ravno turizem lahko predstavlja najprimernejšo dopolnilno gospodarsko panogo. Integracije predstavljajo preverjeno in učinkovito metodo krepitve poslovnih in organizacijskih odnosov med posameznimi gospodarskimi subjekti, ki lahko nastajajo kapitalsko ali interesno. Koncepti integrativnega destinacijskega managementa, ki predstavlja orodje razvoja turističnih destinacij, težijo k trajnostno naravnanemu turističnemu gospodarstvu, kjer povezani turistični subjekti skupaj razvijajo in vodijo turizem. V članku preučujemo možnosti integriranja turističnega gospodarstva kot osnove za uspešno delovanje destinacijskega managementa v Mislinjski dolini. Z raziskavo med 52 poslovnimi turističnimi subjekti na območju Mislinjske doline, smo iskali možnosti za razvoj integracij, kot vzpodbudne in v svetu priznane metode krepitve gospodarstva. Analiza je pokazala, da poslovno okolje sprejema idejo o integriranju, pri čemer se izpostavlja predvsem ideja o interesnem povezovanju

SENIORS AND FREE TIME

Kao očekivano se životni vijek stanovništva u razvijenim zemljama produžava. Time se produžava i vrijeme od mirovine do smrti. Što znači da smo više godina u mirovini. Možemo pretpostaviti da stariji imaju više vremena nego druge generacije. Uživanje u slobodnom vremenu donosi smisao života i kvalitetnu starost. Nakon odlaska u mirovinu mnoge starije osobe žele zadržati svoj identitet i ostati kreativni. Drugi podlegnu stereotipima o starosti i predaju se. Neki su prisiljeni da rade, drugi traže posao da si poboljšaju svoj standard. Slobodno vrijeme ovih može biti puno drugačije od onih, koji žive sami ili u braku, koji imaju više vremena za svoje interese. Percepcija slobodnog vremena se mijenja uz starost. Netko može uzeti u obzir slobodno vrijeme za opuštanje, a netko ga može razumjeti kao izvor samoće. Iz intervjua u ovom istraživanju pokazalo se 5 karakteristika, pod kojim stariji razumijevaju slobodno vrijeme: definicija, količina, odnos prema zdravlju, značenja i aktivnosti starijih osoba u Sloveniji.Life expectancy is getting longer. Consequently, years in retirement are getting longer. Therefore, we can expect that elderly have more time than other generations. Pleasure in free time brings sense to life and a quality aging. After retirement many elderly wish to keep their identity and to stay creative. Others see the old age as stereotype of an old age and surrender. Some are forced to work; others look for a job to improve their standard. Leisure of those can be much different from those living alone or with the spouse, having more time for their interests. Perception of leisure is changing by aging. One may consider leisure for relaxation; other can understand it as a source of loneliness. In-depth interviews in this study revealed 5 characteristics of elderly understanding of leisure: definition, quantity, correlation with health, meaning and activities of Slovenian leisure