Radovljica Awarded a Silver Slovenia Green Label

The Green Scheme of Slovenian Tourism is a national programme that combines endeavours for the sustainable development of tourism in Slovenia. Through its certification scheme, the Green Scheme awards sustainability labels to destinations and providers and provides them with access to tools to assess and improve sustainable performance.

Destinations are evaluated according to the global criteria of the Green Destination standard, which comprise 84 criteria divided into six categories, with the final score being given on a scale from 1 to 10. In spring 2023, updated standards came into force, which impose even more requirements on destinations in the field of quantification of goals. This means a requirement for more detailed monitoring of the tracking of the achievement of goals in the areas of waste, energy use and emissions, as well as the promotion of the introduction of criteria in the private tourism sector.

The destination of Radol'ca became part of the scheme in 2019. Following endeavours and the thorough implementation of activities, the Municipality of Radovljica signed a green pledge in autumn 2019, and in early 2020, the municipality and the destination were awarded the golden label for destinations. Destinations that are part of the scheme must undergo a sustainability performance reassessment every three years.

This time, Radol'ca achieved a total score of 8.0, which is sufficient for the destination to be awarded the still excellent silver label. It also achieved the highest score this time in the category Culture and Tradition (10), as well as good marks in the areas of Social climate (8.3) and Nature and Landscape (8.1). The areas of Destination Management and Environment and Climate each received a score of 7.8, while Tourism Business Operations and Communication were rated the lowest at 5.8. According to the commission, the primary reason for this is the lack of training for the tourism sector on sustainable topics, such as the rational use of water and energy, measuring the carbon footprint and promoting fair employment.

Among the activities carried out by the destination, the commission highlighted some examples of good sustainable practice. These are the Taste Radol'ca project, the sustainable business policy of the public institution and the analysis of residents' satisfaction with tourism in such a way that residents who benefit economically from tourism are dealt with separately.