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This paper focuses on the Kras/Carso Food Tour to present the challenges of developing a luxury tourism product. The tour's design followed the current strategy of the Slovenian Tourist Board, which defines specific criteria for a luxury experience. Contextualized by the experiential trends in tourism, the paper juxtaposes the bottom-up and top-down perspectives on luxury experiences. The authors argue that mediation by experts familiar with academic discourses and local culture is beneficial for the development of a successful tourism product. The study contributes to the debates on luxury tourism, which have neglected bottom-up perceptions in tourist discourse and overlooked the dilemmas people face when »luxurifying« their traditions and heritage practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on five culinary events on Slovenia's Karst Plateau (Kras). It presents visitors' motives for attending these events, their satisfaction with them, and their views on sustainability. These traditional culinary events, which take place in the same gastronomic region, differ in their scale, theme, character, and history. A survey was conducted among 244 visitors, approximately 50% of whom had a university degree. The most important motives for their visit include local cuisine; experiencing something new, different, or special; and exploring natural heritage and especially cultural heritage. Visitor satisfaction is the greatest at boutique culinary events, where the main theme is highlighted more strongly than at large-scale culinary events. The main challenge in terms of the sustainability of culinary events is public transport access to the venues. Significant progress would be made by reducing the amount of disposable packaging made from non-sustainable materials. The key to successful culinary events is high-quality services and ingredients, where the word local is key. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Dinarides are the largest continuous karst region in Europe. With regard to a geotectonic view, they are divided into the Outer, Central and Inner Dinarides occupying the territories of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro. Numerous occurrences of thermomineral water have been recorded in the Inner Dinarides area. The majority of them are genetically related to carbonate sediments of Mesozoic age. This paper deals with occurrences of thermomineral waters of the Inner Dinarides karst, their quantitative and qualitative characteristics, basic genetic types, the age of karst thermomineral waters of the Inner Dinarides, the available quantities of hydrogeothermalmineral energy, balneological potential and the possibility of rational multi-purpose utilisation. Hydrochemical and isotope methods have been used for the analysis of basic genetic types and age of karst thermomineral waters, while a geothermometer method has been used for the calculation of primary temperatures in water-bearing horizons(geothermal reservoirs) themselves. The carried out research has pointed out that karst thermomineral waters formed in carbonate sediments of Mesozoic age are characterized by temperatures ranging from 15.5oC (Knežina Ilidža) to 75oC (Bogatić), being most frequently of a HCO3-Ca, Mg type with neutral to poor alkaline reaction and mineralization below 1 g/l. Karst thermomineral waters of the Inner Dinarides are most frequently related to geothermal systems formed in carbonate sediments covered by rocks of poor water permeability. In case of some thermomineral water occurrences, the mixing of the karst thermomineral waters with those formed in sedimentary basins occurs due to their hydraulic relation, thus it is not possible to determine only one geothermal system in which they are formed. The overall geothermal potential of the thermomineral waters of the Inner Dinarides karst is about 160 MW. In addition to the geothermal aspect, these waters have been widely utilised in balneology, wellness programmes, as well as for the needs of bottling. The level of research activity and with that the way of the utilisation of these waters are various. With regard to the number of occurrences known so far and their potential, it can be claimed with certainty, that the utilisation of thermomineral water occurring in the karst of the Inner Dinarides will increase significantly in future. An example of the multi-purpose utilisation of the Pribojska Banja Spa thermomineral waters illustrates a possible way of doing it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, by the example of Canin Massif, it is demonstrated, how GIS-techniques can be used for the study of high mountain karst terrains. In case of Canin, elevation and slope histograms show characteristic differences in plateau levels and landforming processes between the northern, western and southern sectors of the mountains. Ridge and valley map (derived from the digital elevation model) and thalweg analysis are used to recognize drainage reorganizations north of the Italian Canin plateau. Potential snow accumulation locations and nunataks are determined based mainly on the slope map. Geomorphological sketch maps and statistical analysis of closed depressions are also carried out in this study supporting the relatively young age of superficial karstification and the strong structural impact. Finally, it is concluded, that quantitative and visual capabilities of GIS are useful in discriminating the effects of glacial, fluvial, structural and karst processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]