Luxury food tour: Perspectives and dilemmas on the "luxurification" of local culture in tourism product

This paper focuses on the Kras/Carso Food Tour to present the challenges of developing a luxury tourism product. The tour's design followed the current strategy of the Slovenian Tourist Board, which defines specific criteria for a luxury experience. Contextualized by the experiential trends in tourism, the paper juxtaposes the bottom-up and top-down perspectives on luxury experiences. The authors argue that mediation by experts familiar with academic discourses and local culture is beneficial for the development of a successful tourism product. The study contributes to the debates on luxury tourism, which have neglected bottom-up perceptions in tourist discourse and overlooked the dilemmas people face when "luxurifying" their traditions and heritage practices

Genetic variation of European grayling (Thymallus thymallus) populations in the Western Balkans

In order to elucidate genetic composition of European grayling (Thymallus thymallus) populations in the Western Balkans, the partial mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region was sequenced and 12 microsatellite loci genotyped in 14 populations originating from tributaries of the Adriatic and Danube drainages. Eleven mtDNA haplotypes were found, one confined to the Adriatic clade, one to the Alpine group and the rest to the "Balkan" grayling phylogenetic clade. Haplotypes from the Balkan clade were confined to the Danube drainage and constituted two groups:northern group with haplotypes found in the Slovenian part of the Danube drainage, and southern group, consisting from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro. Substantial genetic distance between northern and southern groups of haplotypes (0.75-1.8%) and well supported divisions within the northern group indicate very structured grayling population within the studied Danube basin that most probably did not evolve due to variance but rather as a consequence of multiple conolization waves that might have occured during the Pleistocene. Furtermore, genetic distance of - 4% between Adriatic and Danube populations\u27 haplotypes, suggest that their separation occured in mid-Pliocene. These findings implya complex colonization pattern of the Western Balkans drainages. Microsatellite data also confirm high genetic diversity in Western Balkans populations of grayling (on average 7.5 alleles per microsatellite locus and Hexp 0.58). Limited stocking activities were detected based on microsatellites and mtDNA data. Regarding current knowledge of grayling phylogeography appropriate management strategies were proposed to preserve unique, autchthonous grayling populations in Western Balkan

Contemporary economic and business issues

This research monograph consists of 17 papers under the framework of contemporary economic and business issues which we can structure into several main research fields. These fields relate to the regulation of economic and business activities, especially in the context of digitalization processes, fiscal and monetary issues, dealing with the impact of digitalization and COVID19 pandemics on traditional academic and business debates, as well as on innovation processes in both government and the corporate sector. We can borrow the phrase from one of our papers and confirm that the papers presented show that the innovative market and digital society, as the new global development and technology paradigm of the modern world, together with its capabilities and standards, has changed the character of entrepreneurship and the state/government in terms of their new interactions. Thus, the contributions from the research monograph are made more urgent by the main objective of introspection of the traditional economic and business sectors and activities under the prism of digital transformation. The researchers were particularly interested in the impact of the COVID19 pandemic on the economic and business sectors. Although the conference was held in the midst of the pandemics, researchers were able to present valuable studies showing the extent of the threat posed by COVID 19 to the public health and economic outcomes of EU citizens. Significant pressure was placed on member state spending, particularly in countries with lower fiscal capacity, resulting in a severe temporary deterioration in the fiscal deficit and public debt. It is also noted that the crisis COVID -19 will have an uneven impact on member states and could deepen their divergence. Therefore, new and creative fiscal policies to support investment in digital transformation, green transition and innovation are of utmost importance. This monograph provides some guidance