 |
||||
The vastly forested Slovenia, can be easily reached by air, road and rail. The flight time from the major European hubs mostly doesn’t exceed two hours. The main international airport is set 25 km from Ljubljana, and is currently served by around 250 direct scheduled flights per week, with a high share among them that are operated by Adria Airways, the national airline of Slovenia.
|
||||
| Diversity of locations & venues | ||||
 The locations are really diverse, offering a client the choice according to her or his preferences. This can be the enchanting capital, Ljubljana, or another historic town, like Maribor; to the west, a more recent town, Nova Gorica, which is the gambling and entertainment Mecca of Slovenia ; coastal resorts, the leading one being Portoroz; striking Alpine settings like Bled, the number one resort in the area, and Kranjska Gora, then come the spas with excellent wellness products, most of them set in lush rural surroundings (Rogaska, Catez, Radenci, Olimia, etc.). And let’s not forget localities with specific characteristics like the Lipica Stud Farm or the Postojna Caves. Over the last years, special attention has been paid to the constant upgrading of hotels and the quality of service, destination management and new tourist products, topped by investments into infrastructure – including several convention facilities. To ensure unified criteria for the individual categories of suppliers, the Slovenian Convention Bureau has in 2008 started implementing the meetings industry standardisation. |
||||
| Slovenia for meetings… | ||||
 Slovenia can definitely also be recommended as a fantastic destination for the great outdoors. Team-building and special activities encompass a wide array of available programmes, such as canyoning, hydrospeed, kayaking and rafting on white waters, sailing, snowshoeing, sledding, ice-climbing, or even underground caves’ discoveries, etc… For Slovenia it can be really said that the sky is the limit…..
A very good overview of ideas has been collected and published last autumn in a brochure named “Ljubljana Tips for Incentives” – a joint project of the Kongres Magazine and the Ljubljana Tourist Board / Convention Bureau. Go to www.visitljubljana.si to download the brochure. |
||||
One of the attractions of this tiny city for event organisers is the ease of organising, for instance, a dine-around at a selection of the many excellent restaurants in the city centre.
A host of delightful special event venues – mainly museums and galleries, are available, and probably the highest demand is for the Ljubljana Castle, which is of medieval origin. The castle dominates the city’s skyline and offers flexible function areas both inside and out, plus a viewing tower.
The Slovenian Karst, boasting mind-boggling caves, is thought by many to be the most beautiful underground world on the planet. This region is also home to the famous Lipizzaner horses.
Not far away, Kranjska Gora – a popular ski and all-year-round resort, has developed in several hotels modern meeting facilities with a view to mountain peaks, ski fields and great outdoors.
Slovenia’s spas are not yet well known throughout Europe, but it can only be a matter of time before word gets out about the extraordinary natural assets on offer here. There are 15 natural health resorts to choose between and they are all of a high standard. Several of them offer very good meeting facilities for medium-sized events. |
||||
| Useful contacts | ||||
When planning to hold an event in Slovenia, whether a congress, a corporate meeting or an incentive, clients can rely on the expertise and
professional support of local PCO, DMC and event agencies, and there are 2. The Ljubljana Tourist Board’s Convention Bureau is the specialist contact (www.visitljubljana.si) for those primarily interested to hold meetings in the capital city. Both bureaus work in good synergy, which is the only way to maximise the efforts to raise the profile of Slovenia on the European meetings map. |
||||
NEW MICE INITIATIVE
For more information on next years’ edition, go to www.conventa.info |
||||
 |
To position and describe Slovenia one could also say it lies midway between Venice and Vienna: the colourful Mediterranean world blends with the majestic quiet of the Alps. This also corresponds with the character of its people: they are very proud of their boutique country, which can be depicted as a chocolate box with a big assortment of delights placed inside. 
In 2004 Slovenia joined the European Union; the Euro was introduced as its national currency in 2007. It is regarded as a safe, hospitable and friendly country offering a host of possibilities for holding conferences, meetings, or staging attractive incentives. Most of its meeting infrastructure is new or recently renovated, and available venues can cater for events of all sizes and it offers excellent value for money. 
Ljubljana is a small, but stylish city of music, history and gastronomy, offering a blend of old charm and new cool. Slovenia’s capital city, with a population of about 276,000, is delightfully compact, which makes it a logistical pleasure to run programmes there, as almost everything is within walking distance. In their free time, delegates like exploring the narrow streets and the pretty bridges that criss-cross the Ljubljanica river, which snakes through the city and is lined with restaurants and funky bars. The city boasts a large student population, a relaxing cafe-society atmosphere and lots of interesting shopping from antiques to art galleries and designer clothes.
The conference facilities are well-structured, including the two largest venues in Slovenia, Cankarjev dom Cultural and Congress Centre (max 2,000 seats, auditorium style) and the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre (max. 2,200 seats theatre-style). Several well-run convention and meeting hotels in the 5 to 3 stars range, complement the two bigger players. Among them, the largest one, Grand Hotel Union, has function space offering a maximum plenary seating capacity for 800 delegates, theatre-style. Excellent facilities for up to 400 delegates can be found at the Mons, Lev, Austria Trend Ljubljana and Slon Best Western Premier hotels, while a few others are equipped to host smaller events. 
Portoroz is the leading coastal resort that boasts a mild climate, lush vegetation and more than 100 years of tradition in the hospitality industry, which is reflected in its high-quality hotel infrastructure. This includes several 5- and 4-star properties with excellent meeting facilities. The largest convention hotel venue in Portoroz and Slovenia (St. Bernardin Hotels) can welcome up to 1,100 delegates theatre-style in the largest auditorium. The Lifeclass hotels are notorious for their fantastic thermal and wellness products. And this resort also boasts the currently most luxurious hotel in Slovenia, the Kempinski Palace Portoroz. 
Lake Bled, the pearl of the Julian Alps, is one of the most famous attractions in Slovenia and it is truly spectacular. It can be reached in less than an hour from the capital. An ancient castle sits up high on a cliff boasting breathtaking views over the lake and mountains and can be used for events. 
eeting planners who might consider Slovenia as a new destination are welcome to contact two convention bureaus:
1. The Slovenian Convention Bureau (
The Conventa Show was developed as the 1st Meetings & Incentive Travel show for South East Europe and attracted this year some 82 exhibitors from the region and 150 hosted buyers.
Miha Kovacic (Mr)