Experiential tourism in the Park of Military History

The Park of Military History in Pivka is one of the largest military-historical complexes in this part of Europe. Its mission is to safeguard and showcase the military heritage by offering a unique insight into national and foreign military technology through museum exhibits and collections with rich national tank artillery and aircraft collection as the centrepiece. The former barracks which now house the museum and their surroundings were redeveloped and reconstructed with support from the European Regional Development Fund, which helped save this remarkable piece of architectural art from ruin, and transform it into a setting that takes its visitors on an unforgettable journey through a rich military history of the region. Recent additions and developed interesting new content have put the museum on equal footing with modern military museums abroad and made it one of the largest and most visited museums in Slovenia. This Pivka-based museum has also put the town of Pivka on the tourist map of Slovenia.

Tourism services and products that provide customers with strong emotional experience have been increasingly gaining popularity recently. Modern tourism industry is moving further away from the traditional model into a model highlighting education, entertainment and excitement. The barracks and the abandoned military polygon, the underground fort built by the Italians in the 1930 and its accompanying tunnels, the surrounding forests and meadows make for a unique tourism attraction and elements that provide additional emotions and satisfaction and intensify tourism experience. This new tourism programmes was developed under the Local Action Group Programme Med Snežnikom in Nanosom (community-led local development carried out on the basis of a bottom-up approach).

Regular museum offer was upgraded with involving and interactive experiential packages that build on outdoor adventure which invites the visitors to explore the rich military heritage of the region as actors enjoying the destination in an innovative and active way and not only as spectators. A new form of experiential tourism and two military-themed programmes were developed in this context - teambuilding for smaller groups building on a gamification concept and based as a military-spy game and organised birthday parties for children. Not only have the surroundings of the former barracks now been repurposed and reused, but the new experiential programmes of the Park of Military History takes the destination tourism offer to a whole new level.

 Photo: Park of Military History