There are many events taking place on the World Tourism Day every year. The main event of UN World Tourism Organization took place in Budapest. We were invited to join a panel and share how to take the lead in the development of tourism 4.0 at best with Slovenia as its 'Living Lab'. Meanwhile, in Slovenia representatives of our research team were speaking at the conference in Vitanje, which ended with a public signing of the Tourism 4.0 Partnership by all stakeholders of the tourist destination Rogla-Pohorje.
The global leaders of tourism were discussing digitalisation and its impact in Budapest this year. Zurab Pololikashvili, the UNWTO Secretary-General was talking about the influence of digital revolution in tourism in his opening speech. We are very proud that also the biggest research project in tourism in the history of Slovenia was presented there. The research and development project is worth 2.3 million Euro, from which 1.6 million Euro is funded by the Republic of Slovenia and the European Regional Development Fund.
Tomi Ilijaš, the CEO of Arctur, was sharing the Slovene views of the future of tourism on the role of technology in sustainable tourism. The ideas of Tourism 4.0 were presented on the panel alongside the views of the giants in the industry, such as Mark Bolan, TripAdvisor, Adrian Kauffmann, Booking.com, Laszlo Könnyid, Hotel Európa Fit/Hungarian Association of Hotels and Restaurants, Diana Robino, Mastercard and Iis P. Tussyadiah, International Federation for Information Technology and Travel/Tourism.
Here on the picture Tomi Ilijaš and Urška Starc Peceny during the discussion with Madeleine Alingue, Minister of Tourism Development in Chad, Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Marcelo Risi, Chief of Communications of UNWTO.
“When we suggest a collaborative platform as an alternative to all digital platforms, people are intrigued and want to hear more. Today we presented our concept of 'Living Lab Slovenia', in which the ecosystem of tourism 4.0 will be simulated to be tested by real users from pupils, millennials to retired people,” said Tomi Ilijaš. The project lead of the research project Tourism 4.0, dr. Urška Starc-Peceny added: “We have talked to the representative of the Ministry of Tourism from India, who will be organizing the main event in India, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili and many others. We received countless invitations to present our concept of collaborative ecosystem across the globe. We are pleased to see that our Tourism 4.0 Partnership will be growing fast.”
The Tourism 4.0 Partnership is also getting its recognition in Slovenia. For this reason, Simon Mokorel, Arctur and dr. Tanja Lešnik Štuhec, Faculty of Tourism from the University of Maribor were invited to speak at the conference titled Digital Green Experience and elaborate on the idea of enriched tourist experience in a collaborative ecosystem. After the lecture, the Declaration of support Tourism 4.0 Partnership was signed by municipalities of Zreče, Vitanje, Oplotnica in Slovenske Konjice together with the LTO Zreče-Rogla that initiated the ceremony and is managing the destination Rogla-Pohorje. Read more here (in Slovene).
Furthermore, other members of our research team are spreading the ideas of Tourism 4.0. Dr. Dejan Križaj, Faculty of Tourism Studies - Turistica, University of Primorska was a keynote speaker at the ATLAS Annual Conference in Copenhagen, where he also held a special track on tourism innovation at "Destinations dynamics". And this week dr. Boštjan Brumen, Faculty of Tourism from the University of Maribor will be attending the European Tourism Forum in Vienna and contribute to designing tourism for the quality of life. We have many other appearances planned in order to share the message of creating collaborative ecosystems instead of digital platforms. If you share your vision you are welcomed to sign our declaration or share your idea of the tourism of the future.
