About Sloveniaguide

About Sloveniaguide

The basic idea of the project

The basic idea of the Slovenia Guide project is to offer tourists information about all possible experiences in Slovenia in one place and to change their perception of Slovenia’s tourist offer. The catalogue will be published in print and digital formats. The main objectives are:

  • to make it easier for tourists to access information of interest to them; and
  • improve the tourism experience in Slovenia.

The Slovenia Guide will go beyond local fragmentation and present Slovenia to tourists as a single, beautiful destination. In this way, we will stimulate further investment in experiences and additional facilities, which will further enrich the tourist experience and their perception of our beautiful country.

Objective of the Slovenia Guide project

The common goal of tourism operators in Slovenia should be to make visitors perceive Slovenia as a beautiful destination with an excellent offer of cuisine, culture and experiences. Tukaj mislimo Slovenijo od morja do Lendave. We are not talking about municipalities or our statistical regions, but about Slovenia as a whole. For example, it takes just 2 hours by car from Lendava to Logarska dolina and 3 hours to reach the sea.

This way, we can easily take a tourist from any place in Slovenia on a trip to Goričko, the Ptuj Wine Cellar, Pohorje, Celjski grad, Logarska dolina, Gorenjska or the Bizeljske hills. Here, everything is so close that we have to present ourselves as a single destination in the eyes of the tourist. The tourist does not understand that our municipalities are very small and that we are burdened by our smallness. He has come on holiday and wants to see something – and it is our job to make it possible for him to do so. This will achieve:

  • better guest experiences – so they leave satisfied,
  • increasing its consumption – by offering excursions and presenting a full range of additional offers,
  • an increase in the average number of overnight stays,
  • Encouraging a tourist to return to Slovenia,
  • encourage your guest to take the catalogue home with them and show it to their friends.

Description of the situation

Slovenia is a wonderful destination, with a remarkable number of sights and experiences in such a small space. We are the ideal destination, offering the sea, mountains, Pannonian plains, primeval forests and green hills, along with excellent cuisine, wines and a huge variety of experiences.

However, we are lagging far behind Austria, for example, and face the following problems:

  • Average bed occupancy in 2019 was < 23%.
  • Additional tourist spending is mainly limited to more well-known destinations such as Postojna Cave, Bled, Portorož, etc.
  • Local TICs, Tourist Boards and Development Agencies compete with each other. At each TIC, we will mostly find out about what their municipality has to offer, but rarely will we be directed to a neighbouring municipality or region.
  • As a result, the tourist receives little information about experiences outside the place where he or she is staying. Even though the neighbouring municipality is only a few kilometres away. To reach a neighbouring region, it takes maybe half an hour or a maximum of 1 hour.
  • This is to tell the tourist that we do not have such a wide range of activities. We are showing a more modest offer than we actually have.

The result of fragmentation

Put yourself in the guest’s shoes: if we haven’t told them what they can experience here – they feel that this country has little to offer them. And as a result, we have too few nights in hotels. The guest stays for a day or two, looks at what’s on offer in the place where he or she is staying, and then moves on. He has no wish to return to us. And that’s only because we didn’t know how to show him everything we have.

  • The result is that tourists stay only a day or two. The exceptions are spas and seaside destinations.
  • Guests return less often than they could.

Problem Solution

Fortunately, things are moving for the better, as some municipalities have already started to work together on some joint projects. That’s great. And the Slovenia Guide goes a long way.
With the SloveniaGuide catalogue, we will change the tourist’s perception of Slovenia. The first complete catalogue of additional tourist offers and experiences for the whole of eastern and western Slovenia is being produced.
The Slovenia Guide has one main purpose: to improve the tourist experience in Slovenia. The Slovenia Guide will be significantly different from anything you’ve seen before:

  • It will be available online and in print.
  • in printed form, it will be published twice a year in two editions: eastern and western,
  • size: > 500 pages
  • print run: > 200.000 copies
  • it will be in the hands of most tourists staying in Slovenia …

Expected impacts

The Slovenia Guide catalogue will have a multifaceted impact on the development of tourism in Slovenia.

Immediate effects

The immediate effects of the Slovenia Guide will be:

  • encouraging additional spending by tourists,
  • running day trips and further increasing guest spending,
  • Increase the average number of overnight stays of transit guests,
  • Encouraging guests to take the catalogue home with them.

Secondary effects

Secondary effects can also be expected, which will further increase additional consumption and the average number of overnight stays in the coming years:

  • Motivating tourists to return to Slovenia, not necessarily to the same place, but to a different location.
  • Increase in average number of nights: new bookings by the same people can be expected to stay longer than on the previous visit.

mag. Božidar Dokl

';