WORKSHOP DEDICATED TO „DIGITAL MARKETING OF CULTURAL HERITAGE“ (MERLINCV)

On Wednesday, 11 November 2021, the Municipality of Pivka organised a workshop titled „Digital marketing of cultural heritage“. The event was part of the cross-border strategic project MerlinCV, under the Interreg V-A Italy Slovenia programme. Due to yet another intensification of restrictive measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemics, the number of participants in the workshop had to be limited and all safety instructions were put in place.

The workshop was led by Igor Novel, former general manager of the Tourist Board Portorož and lecturer at the Faculty of Tourism Studies and Petra Rebec, digital marketing manager at Tourist Board Portorož. In the first part, the lecturers presented target market segmentation, i.e., differentiation of tourist services and products according to segments of target groups. They also explained the criteria for segmentation and described some typical personas in tourism. The four stages of travel (visit) planning have also been presented and how the provider can influence the visitor’s choice in those four stages (dreaming stage, planning stage, booking stage, experiencing stage). In the second part, the lecturers presented actual marketing or advertising of tourism products through different channels and the management of those channels. Petra Rebec, M.Sc., introduced some new technologies (VT, AR, gamification, etc.) and their benefits for the successful marketing of various tourism products (thematic trails, cultural heritage, tourist guidance, etc.). Finally, she pointed out some actual examples of marketing actions that the Municipality of Pivka has prepared (or plans to do so) for tourism products related to manors Ravne and Šilentabor. The workshop was very well received among the audience who were mostly from the tourism branch. They participated, shared their experiences and asked for opinions. Contacts have been exchanged and arrangements have been met for future cooperation.