Launch of the Cave Adventures Center

CHALLENGES OF THE LAG LOCAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

We address the following challenges:

• Promoting entrepreneurial activity: a favorable geographical location, operation in the general public interest, a desire to bring together amateur, professional, and vocational activities, and a well-developed support environment are factors that influenced the decision to form an association. We want the association to become financially self-sufficient in carrying out its tasks as soon as possible and not only to maintain the existing job position, but also to increase the number of jobs through the growth and expansion of its programs.
• Promoting innovative networking of local stakeholders for a joint market presence: in our work, we will continue to cooperate extensively with partners in this project – also in terms of joint promotion and market presentation. In the future, we aim to connect with providers of local accommodation capacities, where we will present our offer and thus try to encourage visitors to stay in the region longer. We will also connect with other tourism stakeholders in the area, particularly within package deals. A concrete example: a school visiting our educational trail could also visit a nearby museum and see traditional crafts. Independent visitors will also be able to visit a culinary provider willing to cooperate. We are already planning cooperation and the joint organization of a local event with the Institute for Culture, Tourism and Sport.
• Ensuring infrastructure conditions for achieving a higher quality of life: the most visible contribution on our part will be the renovation of a building that will serve as the operation base for the Cave Adventures Centre. At the same time, we also aim to revitalise recreational and tourist infrastructure, primarily by linking existing and reviving abandoned walking paths into a new circular thematic educational trail. In doing so, we will enable a higher quality of life for local residents and visitors to the area and encourage them to spend their leisure time actively in nature.
• Development of new programs for achieving a higher quality of life: within the framework of the Cave Adventures Centre, we are developing cultural and educational programs in the field of karst phenomena. In doing so, we are introducing a new form of tourism: speleotourism, which represents part of the increasingly popular eco- or green tourism and is at the same time aligned with the trend of active holidays. We aim to present the rich natural heritage of the Vransko area to visitors in an interesting, attractive, yet respectful way
• Preservation and improvement of the state of nature and the environment: part of the Dobrovlje Plateau is protected under the Natura 2000 framework as a cave area. Although the area of our planned activities lies outside Natura 2000, and precisely because of this, we will place particular emphasis on the protection of nature and the environment in this area. The karst caves, of which there are more than 120 in the Lower Savinja Valley, represent a special group of natural assets and a sensitive ecosystem. First and foremost, through regular monitoring we will attempt to limit the illegal capture of endangered and legally protected cave beetles. In this regard, we will cooperate with the Cave Protection Service of the Speleological Association of Slovenia, the Institute for Nature Conservation, and the Biotechnical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana. Furthermore, our aim is to act in an educational manner and raise public awareness of the importance of protecting and preserving clean caves and watercourses, and to promote a responsible attitude towards nature. We will also demonstrate this through our own example, by ensuring as sustainable a renovation approach as possible and by providing environmentally self-sufficient facilities.
• Promoting social cohesion and inclusion: with the establishment of the Cave Adventures Centre, it will be necessary to employ at least one person who will, from the outset, organise and implement activities for setting up the Centre, and subsequently carry out programs and ensure day-to-day operations. Given the nature of the work, it is essential that the person has knowledge and experience in speleology. We aim to include individuals from vulnerable groups, under the age of 30. Considering that there is a shortage of highly qualified jobs in the Local Action Group (LAS SSD) area, we are making an additional contribution to addressing this challenge. For the professional and implementation aspects, it is desirable that the person has tertiary education (level VI or VII) in a natural sciences field, such as geography or environmental protection. In this way, we will retain young graduates from the Savinja region in their local area, prevent brain drain, and enable them to obtain regular employment aligned with their education. Through the planned programs, we also aim to activate the local population and visitors to the region and provide access to our educational, cultural, and recreational services.