In 2010 SRC Bistra Ptuj began with the creation of human resources and with the preparation of basic contents for tourism development. We are engaged in the promotion of development and marketing of sustainable tourism products within the tourist destination, furthermore we are involved in the planning, creation and marketing of the entire tourist offer, and lastly our goals are oriented towards supporting the development of tourism infrastructure and the promotion of the tourist offer in general. In our aspirations to ensure tourism development over a wider area, we are connecting with the tourism industry and other local communities. 27 municipalities of the Spodnje Podravje region have authorized SRC Bistra Ptuj for the establishment of the Podravje – Ptuj – Ormož Regional Destination Organization (shortly RDO). Our aim is to involve agents from the tourism industry in the region and the civil sector (clubs, associations and active work groups…) into this organization as well.

The purpose of our activities is aimed at the development and implementation of 4 key aspects of the RDO:

• developmental,
• promotional,
• distributional and
• operational aspect in tourism development.

Municipalities and economic agents are working together within the RDO in order to profit from common promotional activities and because of their joint market appearance. At the same time, this represents an excellent opportunity for the development of one of the strongest economic branches – the tourist branch – through the marketing of 4 main tourist brands: the winegrowing area Jeruzalem Ormož is presented as a fairy-tale land of sun and wine; the Haloze hills fully represent the slogan »back to nature«; the Slovenske gorice hills are simply a beautiful piece of land; and Ptuj is known as being the »Treasure of a Thousand Years«.

The main goal of the tourism task group at the SRC Bistra Ptuj is the formation of a development and marketing model that will:

• provide for successful development in tourism, and promote the RDO Podravje – Ptuj – Ormož in a sustainable form (quality offer, balanced development with regards to the needs of tourists and residents);
• successfully use key characteristics and competitive advantages of the local area and the entire tourist destination;
• acknowledge current trends on international tourist markets;
• create market offers using active public-private-civil partnerships and
• ensure an appropriate placement of tourism in developmental priorities of the Municipality Ptuj and other involved municipalities within the region.