Bohinj International Wildflower Festival (SI)

Good Practice Innovation Sheet - Bohinj International Wild Flower Festival

Items

Description

1. WHO

Key people and organisations (initiator, leader, partners)

organizer: Bohinj Tourist Board

co-organizer: Triglav National Park

partners: Municipality of Bohinj, Bohinj Tourist Association, local hotels and businesses, government agencies, international advisors, Slovene Tourism Board

Key Figures (Municipality of Bohinj)

Surface

Inhabitants

Tourism arrivals

Tourism nights

333,7 km²

5,277

138.724

398.053

2. WHY

Reason for taking the good practice action

Bohinj is a tourist resort faced with a problem of seasonality - short but busy summer season is followed by a winter season. This form of tourism has been found to be economically, socially and environmental unsustainable, with pressure to build and run large capacity hotels with seasonal staffing and much of the income generated being taken out of Bohinj.

With current trends in global warming, even the winter tourism (ski) season is unreliable and varies in length. This has put pressure on increasing the summer capacity, but the Bohinj community has learned from past mistakes and has decided to develop a sustainable tourism strategy - to reduce seasonality by extending the visitor season into the quieter spring and autumn months and focus on a higher quality and lower volume tourism product linked to the outstanding environmental assets (nature, landscapes and culture) of the area.

Issues and challenge

- to reduce seasonality
- to promote local culture and heritage
- to raise awareness about Bohinj's unique nature and habitats, as well as cultural assets
- to build a sustainable future for people and nature
- to show how wild flowers and important habitats (Natura 2000) depend on traditional land management
- to develop new, sustainable tourism products
-  to create economic gain for businesses
- to encourage potential investment from the outside
- to join various heritage-related events under one unique festival
- to raise the area's tourism profile (eco-destination)
- to encourage the maintenance of traditional skills and crafts
- to provide legacy for the future
- to build bridges with other organizations nationally and internationally

3. HOW

Methods /steps / tools used (to develop the good practice)

1. Scottish experience with similar forms of tourism. An idea is born
2. Presentation to the local community
3. Consultation with the experts (national park, etc)
4. Idea is accepted
5. Community cohesion (village consultation with local, village meetings to explain proposal and ask them to collaborate)
6. Nature guides training (organising a training course for the guides)
7. Create organising framework, prepare marketing materials
8. Organising first festival

4. RESULT

Specific/measurable results, benefits

Wild flowers continue to this day to play an important part in the local culture and there is a very strong desire amongst Bohinj people to promote and raise awareness of the unique natural and cultural heritage.  It is mostly through their efforts that the first “Bohinj International Wild Flower Festival" took place in 2007.

This nowadays annual two week event that takes place at the end of May and beginning of June celebrates the culture, nature and landscapes of Bohinj, an economically, socially and environmentally fragile area of Slovenia. The festival provides a range of events and activities for both local people and visitors who get to know the richness of the alpine wild flowers and the variety of habitats in Bohinj (e.g. meadows, hills, mountains, lakes and rivers).

Programme encompasses a variety of events that include local craft market, photo-exhibitions, guided botanical tours (also on horseback), workshops with Slovene chefs, hay-cutting by hand, children's festival, environmental education workshops, illustrated lectures, concerts, traditional Slovene folk dances, best practices, workshops, photography tours...

 - 7 festivals organized, 8th starts on 24 May 2014
- more than 23.000 visitors in all 7 years
-  100 guided tours in all 7 years
- more than 50 other events (concerts, exhibitions, workshops etc)
- clear increase in number of guests and overnight stays in May in June  (specific numbers are not available due to statistical restrains) in the last 4 years
- 4 professionally trained specialist botanical guides
- 2 new businesses

Recognitions (e.g. awards)

Finalist Sejalec 2011 - award for most innovative tourism achievements in Slovenia

Wild Flower Europe - an international project that grew out of our festival. Nowadays annual wildflower festivals also take place in Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Scotland.

5. REFLECTION

Lessons learned

 /

Challenges met

Visitor and local community requirements are not the same and it has been difficult organising events which fit in with the wide range of different behaviour patterns. For example, a lot of tourists arrive by public transport or through package groups and are dispersed throughout the area. This makes it difficult for some guests to get to local village events.  The timing of events can also be crucial - early evening times which appeal to local people may well not be suitable for visitors because of the clash with the timings that hotels are serving  dinner etc.

The solution to both these issues has been relatively simple in that more events are held in more locations at different times to appeal to a wider range of people. Hotels are chosen as the venue for some events and activities to benefit from captive audiences.  Local tourism organisations and some accommodation providers are also now offering to organise transport for their guests to events outside their immediate area. 

Critical success factors

 It was mostly through active community efforts that the Festival Organisers became confident enough to promote their heritage more widely and hold the first ever “Bohinj International Wild Flower Festival” in 2007.

However, the Festival would not work without local partnerships. It is the close involvement of local associations which adds colour and vitality to the wide range of activities held under the festival banner. Turizem Bohinj (as main organisers of the Festival) makes every effort to make sure no local group is excluded and the range of partnerships extends from local bee-keepers to arts and theatre groups, village women’s groups, children’s activity groups and local tourism business associations.

Another remarkable feature of the Festival is the range of external partners involved, from the President of Slovenia (as Honorary Patron of the event) through Slovene Government agencies, The Triglav National Park, tourism businesses, to the main funders and supporters of the Festival, Bohinj Municipality and, of course, local village communities, farmers and local residents.

6. MORE 

web-references, documents

http://www.bohinj.si/alpskocvetje/eng/index.php

 http://wildflowereurope.org/