BTC City Ljubljana is this year’s recipient of the highest award in Slovenian tourism – the Crystal Triglav 2019 Award, which is given by the Slovenian Travel Press society for outstanding contribution to the development of Slovenian tourism. At the awards ceremony held on Tuesday, 12^th November 2019, in the scope of the event Days of Slovenian Tourism, Jože Mermal, Chairman of the Board of Directors at the BTC Company, accepted the award.

The Slovenian Travel Press society has since 2011 been awarding the Crystal Triglav Award for outstanding contribution to the development of Slovenian tourism and prominent achievements in tourism. This year’s recipient of this prestigious award is BTC City Ljubljana – one of the largest business, shopping, recreational, entertainment and cultural centre in Europe. Every year, it is visited by 21 million visitors, among whom we can find not only the residents of Ljubljana and its surroundings, but also tourists from countries all over the world. They are living proof that BTC City Ljubljana is one of the most popular destinations in this part of Europe, offering a well-rounded tourist offer.

The reasons for BTC City Ljubljana receiving the Crystal Triglav Award lie in BTC City Ljubljana’s offer of numerous exceptional shopping opportunities, unforgettable experiences and unique indulgence for the visitor’s taste buds. At the heart of BTC City Ljubljana’s offer, there are over 450 shops where visitors can choose from 10,000 brands. In addition to shopping, they can also discover the flavours of over 70 culinary providers who are joined under the brand Food Bluz – Okusni Bluz. In addition to an excellent café and exceptional views from the Crystal Palace – the tallest building in Slovenia and one of Ljubljana’s most important tourist attractions – there is also the offer of congress services to business visitors.

At the same time, BTC City Ljubljana is a city of culture and art. Visitors can stroll through the BTC City Art Tour and admire the exhibited sculptures, attend events at the theatre SiTi Teater BTC, providing top theatre performances, concerts, stand-up comedy performances and other cultural events for the last ten years, or enjoy a movie at the multiplex cinema Kolosej. BTC City Ljubljana is also home to Marathon Franja BTC City, an international recreational and competitive event with the longest tradition in Slovenia. Other sports adventures are available to visitors at Atlantis Water Park and at ŠC Millenium. They round up their offer by realising sustainable projects that, under the aegis of the business unit Mission: Green, bring significant improvements in responsible water and waste management, energy efficiency, safety and traffic, promoting innovativeness and social responsibility. BTC City Ljubljana offers facilities for the ABC Accelerator and the ABC Hub, they created their own start-up company BTC Phoenix, and at the same time they offer their partners a real-life testing environment BTC Living Lab that enables the development of new, innovative business models.

At the award ceremony, Jože Mermal, Chairman of the Board of Directors at the BTC Company, pointed out: “At BTC, we are pleased and honoured that the Slovenian Travel Press society has recognised our contribution to Slovenian tourism and has rewarded our long-standing work in the field of tourist offer development in BTC City Ljubljana. In addition to the recognition that we are working in the right direction, the award also gives us motivation for further development. This way, we will continue to expand our innovative-solution-based offer of numerous experiences, which constantly inspire and satisfy all the wishes of both Slovenian and foreign visitors.”

Drago Bulc, President of the Slovenian Travel Press society, added: “One of the key missions of the Slovenian Travel Press society is to promote tourism development in Slovenia, which is also done by presenting the Crystal Triglav Award. This year, we recognised the important role of BTC City Ljubljana in expanding the tourist offer in the Slovenian capital. In addition to shopping tourism and a wide range of sports and cultural activities, this shopping centre is also distinguished by culinary tourism. More than 21 million local and foreign visitors can annually choose from a rich selection of Slovenian and international gastronomic specialties under the brand name Food Bluz. Thus, BTC City Ljubljana significantly contributes to the culinary offer as one of the most powerful promoters of tourism worldwide.”

The awards ceremony was held in the scope of the event Days of Slovenian Tourism, which took place in Ljubljana from 11^th to 13^th November 2019. This is the main professional event in tourism, organised in partnership with the Slovenian Tourist Board by all the major partner institutions in the field of tourism in Slovenia. In addition to the Slovenian Travel Press society awards, presented at the ceremony on Tuesday – the Crystal Triglav 2019 and the Crystal Triglav Personality of the Year 2019 Awards – other recognitions were also awarded, namely, the Recognition for outstanding contribution to the development of Slovenian tourism, the Recognition for lifetime’s work in the catering industry, the Recognition for outstanding contribution to the development of a tourist social organisation, the recognitions for innovativeness in tourism: the Snovalec Award and the Sejalec Award, and the title of the Slovenian Tourism Ambassador 2019.