WFTGA Guidelines Internation@l Volume 21 | Page 9

Guidelines Internetion@l WFTGA Newsletter March/April 2017 [email protected] www.wftga.org SLOVENIA ITGD 2017 From Mateja Kregar Gliha On 21st February, more than 800 participants in 25 cities and towns across Slovenia joined tourist guides to celebrate International Tourist Guide Day and to take part in 56 different events, from guided walking tours to introductory educational workshops. The celebrations proved to be an extremely successful event. The event organisers were associations, museums, galleries, institutions and individual tourist guides whose primary purpose was to present the importance of qualified, well-educated and dynamic tourist guides and their work to a local community. The content of the events was extremely diverse. Some organisers opted for shorter, classic guided tours, others focused on special sights so often overlooked due to the lack of time during usual tours, while yet others decided to present new tourism products… As for the reactions of visitors to these events, they were excellent and also inspiring. All of the visitors acknowledged that they are living in a beautiful place, rich in cultural heritage. Unveiled stories brought to life many a building past which people often hurry without even noticing it. We are particularly pleased to see that applicants for international protection, both from the centres in Ljubljana and Logatec, also took part in guided tours, which were translated into Farsi. We trust that their stay in a temporary hometown will be much more enjoyable! The celebrations received outstanding media coverage, both before and during the events. It is definitely national and numerous local media that made the event even more popular with the public. At the end of the day, new ideas and possibilities sprang up, and they will certainly enrich the celebrations of International Tourist Guide Day in 2018. 9