This area is now connected in "the Walk of Peace", stretching from the Alps to the Adriatic. The brochure is an important evidence of successful cross-border integration of tourism players.
Nea Culpa is a tourism marketing agency. This boutique agency, offering integrated services, has been connecting tourism enthusiasts, as well as young communication and marketing professionals, who enrich tourism with their creativity and new ideas, since 2010. It develops and designs tourism brands, upgrades tourism products to stories, advertises tourism providers and destinations, and is involved in direct marketing in tourism.
Creative director of the Nea Culpa agency, Neja Petek, presented the process of creating a story, which leads us along the Walk of Peace from the Alps to the Adriatic hundred years after the Soča front and World War I.
How did you start cooperating in the T-lab project with the SPIRIT Slovenia agency?
Since the very beginning we wanted to cooperate in creating Slovenian and transnational tourism stories. Developing communication in the area of tourism at the national and European level is an exciting and rewarding challenge. I Feel Slovenia is a brand, in which we believe. We were excited to cooperate with the SPIRIT Slovenia public agency, which is lead partner in the T-lab project. It connects regions and people, promotes innovation in tourism in the cross-border Slovenian and Italian region, and strengthens the visibility of its tourism. We are also marketing consultants to the Walk of Peace in the Soča Region Foundation. During our visit to its visitor centre and to the foundation and during the preparation of the marketing plan on the basis of the analysis, we gained good insight into tourism in the region, which was helpful in designing the brochure "Soča, do tell". In September 2013, we became involved in editorial work and started writing and photographing tourism programmes in the framework of SPIRIT Slovenia, which were developed on the T-lab initiative to start connecting.
First challenges were workshops to develop and promote tourism products related to World War I, were they not?
That is right. T-lab established a large network for developing and marketing of common tourism products. It connected the Soča Region, the Gorica Hills, the Brda Hills, the Slovenian and Italian Karst, the Idrija and Cerkno Hills, the Province of Trieste, the Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the Nadiža Valley etc. At these workshops, SPIRIT Slovenia and partners made a good breakthrough in promoting providers and destinations and helping them create common tourism programmes. In the forefront are World War I and the 100th anniversary of battles on the Soča front. The first total war, as some historians call it, is very important, since it shaped the map of Europe and Slovenia. The Walk of Peace from the Alps to the Adriatic stretches along the Soča River and follows the stories it tells. People in this region have always been very connected. The region connects three worlds and cultures: the Slavic, Germanic and Romance. Today, tourism providers and the representatives of public institutions, who are in charge of the World War I heritage, are proud of their roots. Many still remember how their grandfathers used to speak all three languages: Slovenian, Italian and German.
The brochure "Soča, do tell" is a result of your work as well as your successful cooperation with other tourism players. What were the guidelines for its design?
We focused our work around five innovative tourism programmes, which were developed during T-lab workshops and were the force behind our editorial work. They do not only present war heritage, but offer many experiences in the region with cultural, natural and gastronomic treasures. In this spectacular nature, visitors can participate in world-renowned sports activities on (and along) the Soča River and experience culinary delights that they will not soon forget. In terms of editorial work, the brochure was divided in two parts after several meetings and brainstorming sessions with the T-lab project manager at SPIRIT Slovenia Petra Goneli. The first part is entitled Boundless Weekends. It is a modern tour guide book for individual guests or groups, which can plan their own two or three day programme in accordance with their motivation, wishes and nature. They can look for help in the Visitors Centre of the Walk of Peace as well as in other tourist information centres or specialised travel agencies. The second part focuses on organised multi-day trips: With Gusto along the Walk of Peace and Along the Walk of Peace on a Bicycle. The "Soča, do tell" brochure targets both a narrow and primary target group of visitors, who are interested in World War I heritage, and visitors, who are seeking relaxation, contact with nature and hospitable locals.
A century ago this region was devastated by war, however there is no dark war tourism felt in the programme. Visitors can experience boundlessness, freedom and peace.
Co-creators of the destination – the Local Tourism Organisation Sotočje, the Kobarid museum and the Walk of Peace in the Soča Region Foundation – decided not to pursue dark tourism but to emphasise the notion of peace. In line with the theory of dark tourism we could talk about the former conflict zone, but today, in practice, there is no need for this in the area of the former Soča front. After all, visitors seek reconciliation with the past and the present. Today, it is possible to enjoy peace along the Soča River. During our detailed study of events and letters from the past, we were impressed by the love and attachment of locals to their home environment and villages, which were completely destroyed during the war. All they wanted was to return home, live in peace and rebuild their environment. For this reason, it makes sense to reject the identity and products of dark tourism. This is also connects the overall offer. The message of peace is a focal point of all experiences. Generations, which live in the region today, have respect for war heritage and their ancestors, but they wish to offer visitors freedom and peace. And yes, boundlessness can be noticed in every glance and view. The Soča River changes visitors, as many charismatic farmers in the Soča Region say. They all have special attitude towards nature and their animals, they name each animal and recognize them, even if the herds are large.
The brochure kindly addresses readers, invites them to experience the Soča River and mountains, meet the locals, hear their stories and become a part of the Walk of Peace from the Alps to the Adriatic.
Modern tourists are not interested in data and do not want to tick-box museums and attractions. They need to connect with the environment and its stories and they need intensive, convincing and authentic experiences, which mark and impress them. Museum exhibitions on heritage or any other exhibitions (there are many open-air museums along the Walk of Peace from the Alps to the Adriatic) are not popular any more, if they do not address modern visitors. This is why the Kobarid museum holds an exhibition on World War I and at the same time disseminates a popular message of peace with respect and compassion towards present war zones. Along the Walk of Peace from the Alps to the Adriatic, tourist guides take visitors to defence caverns and networks of trenches. In addition, they show them local cuisine and medicinal plants. Members of societies that present daily routine of soldiers also talk about their feelings towards their grandfathers. As you enter the tourist farm "Lukčeva domačija" you become aware that Miss Jožica is not only a curator, but actually lives there as well. In addition to visiting the network of underground passages on the Sabotin Hill, visitors must try home-made Istrian stew ("jota"). It is important that visitors truly experience the destination through locals. Modern tourists are not passive observers, but active participants, who expect constant contact and communication. These days, stories are the most important aspect of tourism. Stories have been part of humanity since the discovery of fire. They challenge, and if they are good, attract attention and trigger a response. Today, every visitor is a partner in conversation, who wishes to enter a story.
While designing the "Soča, do tell" brochure and photographing stories, it was extremely important to our Nea Culpa team to be in constant contact with people that help to promote tourism in the cross-border Slovenian and Italian region. We wanted to build from the roots, to really get to know people and places and to truly listen to them. We could not write this story from the centre of Ljubljana (she smiles). SPIRIT Slovenia was aware of this when it gathered promoters of tourism in one place with T-lab workshops. If we want to create a good story, related to tourism, which is real and honest, it needs the right basis.
The cover of the brochure features a photo of a man in an army suit, who is smiling and is calmly standing in the Soča River. Can you tell us more about the cover?
The man on the cover is Miloš Domevšček, who is a collector of World War I memorabilia. Private collectors are very important and worth visiting along the Walk of Peace from the Alps to the Adriatic. Miloš is one of those who want to keep their grandfathers in beautiful memory. He spends days in the hills and seeks various object, related to World War I. His collection boasts more than 115 original World War I beer bottles. He likes to tell how it feels to reach underground in expectation of finding a bottle in the loam soil. And about how it is to touch them, when some of them are still full... His eyes light up, when he is explaining about objects, he found (she smiles). He also starred in some films wearing the army suit from the cover. The image and gestures of Miloš Domevšček reflect the past in the present. The Soča River is this reflection and mirror. It is different for everyone, it is different every time. Even if we enter it twice in the same place, it is not the same. The decision to focus the story on the Soča River and emphasise it on the cover was of course made, because the Walk of Peace from the Alps to the Adriatic stretches from the Soča River spring in the Alps to its mouth in the Adriatic in the Gulf of Trieste. The brochure was entitled "Soča, do tell", since in reality the Soča River makes us stop and reflect. It is a storyteller. In tells stories to everyone in different ways.
A bird symbol guides us through the brochure.
A stylized bird with intertwined hands is a symbol of the Walk of Peace. For this reason, it was included in various sizes and colours as the main motive of the story, told by photographs. Along the Soča River, in valleys and mountains it is possible to enjoy freedom, gain new momentum and wings. This is a Slovenian region with a view over both the Alps and the Adriatic. In this dramatic and free nature the fiercest battles were fought of any that ever took place in the high mountain range. Today, as the Walk of Peace from the Alps to the Adriatic is preserving the World War I heritage, we hope that visitors will feel this freedom. The brochure includes pictures and quotes of the Slavic, Romance and Germanic poets. Verses were chosen with regard to the theme of birds, freedom, peace and war, etc. Also life itself is war as well as peace, not only history.
What are further plans of the Nea Culpa agency with regard to the project?
When the brochure was published, our cooperation on the project ended. However, we hope that we will cooperate with the tourist destination the Walk of Peace from the Alps to the Adriatic again in the future, since its villages, heritage and message to the world have crawled under our skins.
Danila Golob, SINFO
