Tourism is not a priority in the municipality, as only EUR 3,000 is allocated in the budget to support social tourism, in addition to funds for financing the public institution Bogenšperk, which deals primarily with Bogenšperk Castle. According to director Joži Vovk, the program renovation of the castle has been completed and it is a good time to connect other tourist attractions and develop integral tourist products. The institute is counting on personnel reinforcement with public works, so it proposed an additional work program, such as coordinating the municipal calendar of events and taking care of announcements and joint promotion.
In particular, the associations stated the following needs to be more efficient in the field of tourism:
– Knowing the new directions of the mayor and the municipal council,
– professional assistance from the municipal administration or./in public institution,
– Joint performance in obtaining financial (European) funds,
– support in keeping and developing the association,
– connecting, because ‘one alone in tourism can do anything’,
– a greater role of a public institution, which was also established as a TIC,
– The positive attitude of the municipal administration or willing to apply for tenders,
– to establish the necessary structure for tourism, which remained in Litija with the secession of the municipality
– to allocate more funds in the budget for tourism and promotion in the coming years
– Coordinating in planning social activities and regularly meeting to transfer information and find common ground,
– Some associations do not have room to operate
– Develop an information system – a common portal for informing societies with each other
– Coordination and support in organizing events
They also made some concrete proposals and initiatives:
– The municipality should join the portal ‘My Municipality’ so that the associations can enter their events and attractions
– Places for banners and billboards for postering should be determined in Šmartne and along the new ring road
– To prepare a tourism strategy, a working group should be formed and other stakeholders should also be involved
– The municipal council and the committee covering tourism should be informed about the efforts of societies for the development of tourism
– the joint appearance of several societies at the Tourism and Leisure Fair, which will take place from January 28-31, 2015 at the Economic Exhibition Center in Ljubljana.
The meeting was also partly attended by the mayor. He gave his thoughts on the need for the recognition of the municipality with a holistic image, after the renovation of the municipal website, which should represent a municipality with tourist attractions.
The meeting ended with agreements:
– JZ collects data from societies about events and prepares a 2015 calendar
– JZ is forming a working group for the preparation of a tourism strategy strategy
– In January, the first workshops are held to prepare a tourism development strategy
Given that all participants welcomed the convening of the meeting, it is to be believed that the first step was taken to connect and more coordinated action of societies, as well as to place tourism among the municipal priorities.