One of the most prevalent features of Slovenia, that attracts guests, is its clean, unspoiled environment. With around 60 % of its surface covered in forest, Slovenia is one of the most forested countryies in Europe. Just 60 kilometres from the capital city Ljubljana one can even find virgin forest. Slovenia is also among the most biologically diverse countries in the world. And can indeed be portrayed as a European biotic park. Visitors therefore perceive Slovenia as an environmentally attractive destination.

This green character of Slovenia is primarily based on natural endowments (forests, water, biodiversity). The question is how sustainable are meeting industry products? The Slovenian meeting and incentive providers do increasingly focus on the implementation of sustainable practices and the development of innovative sustainable products and services. However the incorporation and implementation of sustainable management in the meeting industry of Slovenia does not match the level of other destinations and providers high on a “green wave”.

A common vision of preserving the meeting destination of Slovenia so that future generations will be able to hold their meetings and events in an honestly green destination. Looking for a positive story to raise awaress about Slovenia and straightforwardly present its green character.

The answer was the Bee Story. From 2010 to 2012 the Slovenian meeting industry community focused on two environmentally friendly and socially responsible campaigns that revolved around bees.

Bees indicate the level of environmental protection and symbolise the Slovenian vision of preserving nature. Bees furthermore relate to the our uniqueness, seeing that Slovenia is the only European country that has protected its indigenous species, the Carniolan bee.

Bees can therefore vividly communicate the positioning of Slovenia as a green meeting and incentive travel destination, primarily based on our natural endowments.

The Bee Story focused on protecting bees that symbolise the diversity of natural resources in Slovenia.

In 2010 we first launched the BeBee campaign. The Slovenian meeting industry community became an annual patron of the Beekeeping Association of Slovenia and its Carniolian Bees Conservation Trust. The Conservation Trust aims to protect the Carniolian bees and promote the tradition of beekeeping. Together with the Beekeeping Association we enabled one beekeepers' club in a Slovenian primary school to set up a learning beehouse to breed and keep the bee colonies.

We invited meeting professionals to join this campaign. We asked them to support the work of the beekeeper’s club and sign the BeBee petition. In this manner we wanted to activate meeting professionals to join our cause, learn more about the importance of bees and in turn also about Slovenia.

The BeBee campaign so became an integral part of five workshops held in Slovenia in 2011. The hosted meeting planners listened to a short lecture about beekeeping in Slovenia and the importance of bees for the environment, economy and tourism.

The workshops introduced a number of environmentally friendly measures to minimise their environmental impact.

During the campaign we designed several tools to encurage meeting industry companies in Slovenia to implement sustainable business practices.

Among others was the Road to Green Meetings in Slovenia manual with guidelines for sustainable event management and some best practice examples from Slovenia. There was also the online Event Carbon Calculator enabling meeting planners to calculate the carbon footprint of their event.

The BeBee campaigns also became part of our promotional activities. The campaign was based on the idea of telling and evolving the story about bees to our targeted audiences. This was done directly through monthly e-newsletters, by attending global trade shows as well as indirectly through generating media attention.

From December 2010 to July 2012 the Bee Story ensured publication of more than 50 articles in the leading meeting industry media. The Bee Story therefore created a strong buzz about Slovenia.

The Bee Story also helped us create new ambassadors of Slovenia. The campaigns touched the emotions of meeting professionals and related to them on other areas, not only business related.

The BeBee campaign attracted support of 821 international meeting industry professionals. During the campaign 46 meeting planners visited Slovenia and got to know more about our green character and Slovenia in general. Later on several of the meeting planners held their meetings and incentives in Slovenia.

We also asked them wheater they noticed any sustainable measures during their visit and which ones. These results got us thinking. Namely the participants only noted some of the measures. And when we explored this point a bit deeper we learned the meeting professionals only notice the most striking sustainable measures and take a lot of measures for granted. The research was then upgraded on the case of the Conventa trade show, which last year won the EIBTM Sustainability Stand Award.

A number of measures were then noted, but taken for granted. The participants did not talk about these measures, they did not influence the particiapnts’ image of the trade show or destination. Among those were recycling badges, lanyards from recycled material, brochures, catalogues printed on recycled paper. Another example were technological solutions such as mobile pages, multidata boards, digital signage etc. These measures were regarded more as a must then as an add-on.

Something we were and still are not talking about is accessibility to Slovenia. We depend on flights to bring meeting professionals and then delegates to Slovenia. Even though this presents a greate share of our footprint,

our clients do not hold this against us.