THE ROLE OF UNESCO HERITAGE IN THE BOUTIQUE TOURISM OFFER IN SLOVENIA
THE ROLE OF UNESCO HERITAGE IN THE BOUTIQUE TOURISM OFFER IN SLOVENIA

Author(s): Jasna Potočnik Topler, Lea Kužnik
Subject(s): Tourism
Published by: Udruženje ekonomista i menadžera Balkana
Keywords: heritage; heritage tourism; UNESCO; tourism offer; Slovenia.
Summary/Abstract: Cultural heritage is a significant co-creator of the tourist offer, especially if it carries the prestigious title of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO’s heritage strengthens national identity and is universally recognisable. The particularity of Slovenia is the fact that only the Škocjan Caves are among the main tourist attractions of the destination as an example of a UNESCO (natural) Heritage Site. All other UNESCO Heritage Sites in Slovenia are less known, but they represent the foundation for the development of boutique and exclusive tourist offers and boutique tourism in contrast to mass tourism, which is challenging at many destinations which brand themselves as UNESCO Heritage Sites since they are very often facing overtourism. Slovenia is ranked on the UNESCO World Heritage List with the following Heritage Sites: The mercury heritage (mercury mine in Idrija), prehistoric catches at the Ljubljana Marshes, and natural heritage - the Škocjan Caves, the ancient and primaeval beech forests in the Krokar jungle, and the Snežnik Ždrolce reserve. On the UNESCO representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humankind, there are tours of the Kurent traditional masks, the drywall construction, lace knitting and Processio Locopolitana (the Škofja Loka Passion Play). The inclusion of heritage into a modern tourist offer requires reflection and a professional approach. What is good for protecting and preserving the heritage is not necessarily good for tourism, and what is good for tourism is rarely appropriate for heritage protection. Therefore, the integration of heritage in the tourism offer, the creation of heritage-based models, is a matter of strategic design and professional decisions. In the chapter it will be analysed how, or in what way, the UNESCO heritage in Slovenia is included in the modern tourist offer. This will be determined by employing field work, the technique of partially structured interviews with stakeholders who protect and explore the selected heritage, and tourist providers who interpret heritage in various ways and incorporate it into modern (boutique and exclusive) tourist offers. We will also obtain information through the analysis of websites and field visits to the UNESCO Heritage Sites. In doing so, we will highlight examples of good practices for each UNESCO heritage case. On this basis, it will be determined what are the possibilities and opportunities for integrating the UNESCO heritage into the modern boutique tourist offer of Slovenia.

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