Students from the Dutch NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences were on a 5-day study tour in Slovenia. As part of the Marketing and Innovation course, they participated in a challenge that we prepared together with their professors. The challenge involved studying the gap between the expectations of foreign tourists based on Slovenia's sustainable tourism image. Since March, the students have been studying Slovenia's image as a sustainable destination and have formed expectations regarding the sustainable orientation of Slovenian tourism. During their stay in Slovenia, they have been examining how Slovenia's image as a sustainable destination is implemented in practice. They summarized the results of their fieldwork in 5-minute presentations, including suggestions for bridging the gap between expectations and the practice of sustainable tourism in the Municipality of Piran.
The students presented interesting examples where Slovenia "over-promises" sustainable tourism orientation, as well as cases where successful implementation of sustainable tourism principles is not communicated at all. The presentations also included some interesting proposals for "closing" the gap between the image (promise) and the service (realization) of tourist experiences. At the end, the committee selected the three best presentations and rewarded the groups with a gift package from the University of Primorska and the Portorož Tourism Association.
At the faculty, they were accepted by the dean, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Marijana Sikošek, and the lecturers, Assoc. Prof. Emil Juvan and Tadej Rogelja, MA in Tourism, as well as Aleksander Valentin, the director of the Portorož Tourism Board.
