EDEN: THE BEST NATURAL PROTECTED AREA IN SLOVENIA
The Land of Living Water, centred around Tolmin and Kobarid, Kozjanski Park centred around Kozje, Bistrica ob Sotli and Krško, and Solčavsko – these are the three finalist destinations of this year’s European Destinations of Excellence competition in the running for the EDEN Slovenia title. The winner is expected to be announced in May, 2009.
The winning destination will be specially promoted and presented at the European Tourism Forum in Brussels in October. All three finalists will be presented on the website set up by the European Commission with the intention of passing on know-how, exchanging experiences and making connections between European destinations which pursue the targets and principles of social, cultural and environmental sustainability.
This year’s competition by the European Commission was based on the theme of Tourism and Protected Areas, and attention was focused on destinations that are located within a protected area and have developed successful tourist products which help preserve nature and at the same time satisfy the interests of the local population and visitors. The EDEN project selection process is taking place in 21 European countries this year.
In Slovenia, 9 destinations have entered the competition. On the basis of the competition criteria, an expert commission chose 3 finalists, which it will now visit before choosing the winning Slovenian destination on the basis of additional criteria. The winning destination will be called European Destination of Excellence 2009.
This is the second year that Slovenia is taking part in the project. Last year’s Slovenian winner of the EDEN competition was the Soča Valley, which besides having so much natural beauty is also marked by a wealth of intangible heritage, which was the theme of last year’s competition. It is possible to experience this heritage through the Soča River Stories; this is a two-day event which takes place at the Kluže fortress and revives memories of the Soča Front in a special way.
More on the European EDEN project: www.europeandestinationsofexcellence.com
More on the Slovenian part of the EDEN project – commercial sites: www.slovenia.info
More on the Soča Valley, Destination of Excellence in 2008: www.dolina-soce.com
April 10, 2009
Posted in: Slovenia
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