YOUTH PARLIAMENT 2023 HAS BEGUN!

Vocational College of Hospitality and Tourism Maribor is in between April 16th and April 21st 2023 organising international Youth Parliament. It is an event with more than 50 representatives from 15 different countries in Europe. VCHT Maribor is a member of European associaton of hotel and tourism schools (AEHT) that is uniting educatonal institutions from the field of hospitality and tourism in 40 European countries.

With this international event we want to address the goal population of pupils and students, future experts in the field of hospitality and tourism, and encourage their engagement and participation regarding current challenges in the sector. They are also encouraged to find suggestions, improvements and solutions on the topics of market challenges, digitalization and sustainability which are also the debate topics on the event. We would also like to present to the participants the wide selection of possible touristic experiences in our town and in Slovenia in general.

In the first day of the event participants were listening to the introductory speeches from dr. Tanja Angleitner Sagadin, directress of VCHT Maribor, Irena Joveva, member of the EU Parliament, mag. Livia Konstantinovič, PR manager of the Slovene Tourist Board, dr. Marko Jagodič, principal of II. gimnazija Maribor (School Ambassador of the EU Parliament), Remco Koerts, vice-president of AEHT and Žan Mubi, AEHT student president.

There followed the plenary sessions on the debate topics of staff shortage, digital tourism and digital marketing, upcycling, digitalization of hotel operations and zero-waste and circular economy. They were held, respectively, by Damir Battisti, regional director of Adecco Employment agency, mag. Dušan Vrban, director of marketing agency Kainoto, Tijan Wenzel, representative of the company ŠtokWenzel, Luka Berger, director of Flexkeeping and Igor Kos, project manager of Regional Development Agency – Podravje. Method and techniques of debating and a case of good practice were presented by Dora Lenart and mag. Barbara Bedenik from II. gimnazija Maribor.

After the first round of debates that were held in three groups of students the first day of the event finished with a guided tour of Maribor.

In the next days, the programme, beside debating, includes a visit to the House of the Old Vine in Maribor, workshops and programme at ecological and sustainable tourist farms near Maribor, visit of Ljubljana and the European Commission house and a gala ceremony.

We are looking forward to all the new ideas, experiences and new connections which there will certainly be plenty of in the following week!

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