Natalija Konta and Matea Horvat, third-year students of VERN’s tourism program (ZSM), won first place at the international competition Marianne Mueller Award 2010. More than 150 tourism faculties from 39 countries participated in the competition.
The Marianne Mueller Award is a competition in solving business cases that requires students to present innovative and creative approaches and solutions based on a European dimension. The competition was organized by the international association EURHODIP The Leading Hotels School of Europe, and the students presented their work on the topic Innovative Strategies for Targeting International Tourists via the Internet, as stated in the announcement from Verna. Aware that reaching foreign guests is easiest through the internet, Natalija and Matea, under the mentorship of Professor Dubravko Kraus, transferred their work into a 3D virtual environment and based it on three ‘pillars’. What won over the expert jury and surpassed the competition was actually a virtual walk through the Dubrovnik hotel in Zagreb, through which interested tourists receive all information about the hotel, cultural events, and other attractions. For example, if in that virtual environment the gaze is directed at an artistic painting on the wall of the room, the user receives all information about exhibitions in the city of Zagreb. If the gaze is directed at a piece of furniture, the user learns all information about that piece (history, manufacturer, etc.). After the virtual walk through the hotel, there is a prize game that every ‘virtual visitor’ can play to win a free arrangement at the Dubrovnik hotel in Zagreb. In addition, Natalija and Matea also reflected on online booking in their work. Since tourists often complain about the lack of direct contact in that segment, the students managed the entire online booking system and communication with users via Skype. They presented this truly innovative project to numerous experts in hospitality and tourism from Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Greece.
