Delo says Slovenian tourism fine, but must not rest on laurels
Weeks ago, Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek said that our tourism infrastructure is "like in Cuba". We can add that it is worse than in Cuba, as cunning individuals want to get a hold of tourism assets cheaply before strategic owners do.
Many current owners are obviously not capable of managing large tourism systems, but they are skilfully milking them and transfer profits into their "havens". The only alternative to the pirate owners for now seems to be concentration (and consolidation) at the state level.
The lack of consolidated ownership of the largest tourism systems is what hurts Slovenian tourism the most, with the coastal resort of Portorož being the biggest victim.
It is surprising that not the top hotel chains are fighting for supremacy in the beautiful bay, but owners of capital surpluses and speculative capital, as well as tycoons, each of whom understand the opportunities in the industry differently.
Despite all the achievements, Slovenian tourism still has a lot of reserve. Like not everything in Ljubljana tourism is ideal, not everything is bad in Portorož. The praise, awards and good results in this year are an incentive, but we are far from being able to rest on laurels, concludes the commentary Can We Really Be Satisfied?