Report from professional excursions
In the months of November and December of 2023, the students of the Regional Tourism and Management of Regional Tourism programmes participated in experiencing their learnt thematic units within interesting professional excursions.
On the 15th of November 2023, the first year students of the programme Regional Tourism completed a one-day excursion to Banská Štiavnica within the subject Geography of Tourism with RNDr. PaedDr. Jan Veselowski, PhD as their leader. The professional program of the excursion included a visit to the Open-air mining museum with a commented tour of the underground and above surface exposition, a tour of the New and Old Castle as dominant monuments of Banská Štiavnica and the historical center of the city. Students actively participated in the excursion with their contributions about the most interesting places of Banská Štiavnica and the surrounding area from the point of view of tourism, which they gradually reported during the excursion.
The second professional excursion took place on the 22nd of November 2023 with second year students of the Regional Tourism programme, within the subject Tourism Products. They were accompanied by Ing. Kristina Pančíková, PhD., PhDr. Viktória Biziková, PhD., MBA and RNDr. PaedDr. Ján Veselovski, PhD. The program consisted of visits to three selected establishments, which were able to present different types of tourism with their respective offers of products. The first facility, Lunter's Ranch (Lunterov ranč) in Kráľová focused on the products of equestrian tourism and rural tourism. The second facility was the Sliač Spa (Kúpele Sliač). As the last facility, the students visited the congress and city hotel Lux in Banská Bystrica. In all the facilities, the management staff prepared engaging lectures about their products, marketing and pricing policy, current trends in demand and supply, as well as the current position of the facilities in the tourism market. The visits also included tours of the interior, exterior and equipment of the facilities.
The third excursion took place on the 4th of December 2023. It was for the second year students of the Management of Regional Tourism within the subject Innovation in Tourism to Bratislava. They were accompanied by Ing. Kristina Pančíkova, Ph.D. and RNDr. PaedDr. Ján Veselovski, PhD. The professional program consisted of visits to two accommodation establishments and one hospitality establishment, during which the heads of the establishments presented their innovative concepts. The first facility was the Grand hotel River Park, a 5-star hotel owned by the Marriot company, in which students took a tour of the entrance, accommodation and convention spaces with the manager’s commentary. The second visited facility was the Irin restaurant, where the owner, Lukáš Hesko (awarded twice as Slovak Chef of the Year) introduced a concept focused on experiential gastronomy. The last facility visited was the Chors like a hotel hostel, the first art boutique hotel in Europe and the first NFT hostel in the world. In all facilities, students listened to useful lectures on technological innovations of products and processes, as well as non-technological equipment innovations in recent years.
Professional excursions provided the students with the opportunity to connect theoretical knowledge with practical experience of inspiring people from the area of tourism. They had the opportunity to collectively get to know the natural and cultural-historical monuments of Slovakia and to see the operations of various tourist facilities. Through the synergy of beneficial and pleasant experiences, they gained a lot of new interesting information, and with their activity and discipline they contributed to the successful fulfillment of the goals of the professional excursions.
Ing. Kristína Pančíková, PhD.
