In the middle of Bled, one of the most wonderful places of the world, on June 19th 2018, experts of most various profiles, from the world of research, business as well as public sector, have been starring on a special panel dedicated to Tourism 4.0. As part of the 31st Bled eConference organised by the University of Maribor, the event has been hosted by Arctur, the initiator and power engine of the Tourism 4.0 initiative. Here are some highlights from the event.
The goals of this gathering were:
- to bring different stakeholders together and present the idea,
- to understand the problems and challenges in the field,
- to discuss and find the possibilities on how to take the lead in the development of Tourism 4.0.
The whole program was moderated and powered by Urška Starc-Peceny welcoming on the stage Tomi Ilijaš and Simon Mokorel, both from Arctur, Saša Kek from Slovene National Association Of Towns and Municipalities, Tomaž Curk from the Faculty of computer and information science, University of Ljubljana and Dejan Križaj from the Faculty of Tourism Studies Turistica, University of Primorska.
Tomi Ilijaš showing the 3D printing of a Chruch in Slovenia. Why wouldn't Slovenia be the first country in the world to scan the whole immovable cultural heritage?
Sketches of presented solutions: 3D Stock and Smukapp.
Already in the first part guests from the public have contributed with their opinion. Janko Humar from the Soca Valley, a lighthouse in development of collaboration in tourism, expressed his hope to get support from technologies to face the problem of 'overtourism'.
Jana Apih, the initiator of the Green Scheme, would need support to understand data that municipalities are gathering and make a useful knowledge out of them.
What else is needed to take the lead in the development of Tourism 4.0?
The second part was dedicated to a vivid discussion.
The first inspiration came from Eva Štravs-Podlogar, State Secretary at Ministry of Economic Development and Technology and Jurij Krpan from Kapelica Gallery. The second inspiration flew in from around the globe: starting with Mark Parsons, Director of EPCC and Associate Dean for e-Research, University of Edinburgh in Scotland and all the way to Mexico with Alejandra Patino and Mauricio Magdaleno from Cluster de Turismo Monterrey. But this was just the beginning.
The interdisciplinary energy, visions and ideas filled the conference room during the so called Round table 4.0 with Peter Wostner from the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, Tomi Ilijaš, Janez Mekinc from the Faculty of Tourism Studies Turistica, University of Primorska, Tomaž Curk, Saša Kek and all interventions from the public.
Is it really all about technology? No, not at all.
- Collaboration, cooperation and co-creation ... of all stakeholders.
- Not starting from scratch, but embracing the existing initiatives and building from there.
- Rising readiness level with the development of the right skills.
- Privacy and data security.
- Innovative ideas.
- Have we mentioned collaboration?
Innovative ideas, such as a new crypto currency, so called green token, suggested by Tomi Ilijaš has found a big interest among the participants and was discussed from different perspectives. On the picture Nena Dokuzov, Blockchain technologies coordinator at Ministry of Economic Development and Technology and Mirjana Kljajić Borštnar, professor at Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Maribor.
Next step is the creation of the Partnership for Tourism 4.0 with the vision to identify and discover innovation potential in the tourism sector and to create enriched tourist experiences with the help of new technologies, aiming to take lead in the development of tourism 4.0. All interested to join the partnership, please contact us at info@tourism4-0.org. Link to more pictures and presentations: https://goo.gl/dWJZoj Echo in the media about the event:
http://4d.rtvslo.si/arhiv/prvi-dnevnik/174547134
https://radioprvi.rtvslo.si/2018/06/turizem-4-0/
https://izvozniki.finance.si/8935732/Izziv-za-Slovenijo-kako-prevzeti-vodilno-vlogo-v-turizmu-40
https://tourism4-0.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Primorske-Novice.pdf
