Elan Group celebrates another magnificent moment for Slovenia

The Republic of Slovenia won the Best-of-the-Alps^® Award in the ceremony happening yesterday during the biggest tourism fair ITB Berlin, Germany, received by the President of the Slovenian Tourist Board, Mrs. Maja Pak Olaj, and Slovenian Minister for Economy, Tourism and Sport, Mr. Matjaž Han. The award was handed over by Mr. Nicolas Durochat, President of Best-of-the-Alps^® and Director of Chamonix Mt. Blanc Tourismus.

 

Thirty years ago, several world-renowned tourism destinations in the European Alps joined forces to form a service community that is now recognized as the market leader in the Alpine excellence tourism segment. These destinations are well-known to skiers: Chamonix Mont-Blanc, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Courmayeur, Crans Montana, Davos, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Kitzbühel, Lech Zürs am Arlberg, Megève and St. Anton am Arlberg. The Board of this organization created the Best-of-the-Alps^® Award in 2012, as an award that honors personalities, companies and institutions for outstanding achievements and services to cultural, social, political, and economic life in the Alpine region.

The Best-of-the-Alps^® Award for 2024 goes to the Slovenian Tourist Board recognizing Slovenia as the most successful country in the development of tourism in the European Alps, since the mid 1990’s. It is a country that stands for quality of life, nature and environmental protection, economic growth, and future mobility in tourism, hospitality, health, and sport. Slovenia is a synonym for high value for money in the economic section of European Alpine tourism. The country is the home to high performance technical sports equipment manufacturers including Elan.

Leon Korošec, Director of the Winter Sports Division and Vice President of the Elan Group commented:

»I am very proud that the Republic of Slovenia is the recipient of the Best-of-the-Alps^® Award. The award symbolizes our commitment to alpine values of excellence, genuine care for our environment, and acknowledges the contributions and achievements of Slovenian tourism, sports, and economy. The Elan brand was born in the heart of the Slovenian Alps and remains closely connected to the values of Alpine region. Being able to showcase our top-of-the-line Primetime ski series, which are 100 % Handcrafted in the Slovenian Alps is a great honour for us. We are very grateful to participate in the event and thankful to the Slovenian Tourism Organization for inviting us.”

Finally, the event was sparkled by the energizing performance of Sašo Avsenik Band, proudly continuing the 70 years of legacy, set by his grandfather, a world-famous musician Slavko Avsenik. And yes, both Elan and Avsenik come from the same village Begunje, nested in the heart of Slovenian Alps.

 

Elan Skis. The Slovenian brand behind modern skiing.

Sport and nature play a big part in the Slovene national psyche and in many Slovenians' way of life, and the Elan brand is a source of national pride. Elan has a rich history of innovations that have shaped the development of skiing and people’s enjoyment of the mountains, and the creation of ever better skis is a never-ending process for the Elan team. 

Elan skis are a unique combination of almost 80 years of tradition, cutting-edge technology, and innovation, starting with the founding father of Elan, Slovenian Rudi Finžgar. Undoubtedly the reason why every modern ski has a little bit of the Elan spirit is the advent of the Elan SCX ski in 1994, which is still seen as the most important innovation in skiing, and it started a new way of skiing, now known as carving. The carving revolution had begun and the carving ski has subsequently been upgraded with Elan technological solutions such as WaveFlex, Fusion, Amphibio, Amphibio 4D, TNT and U-Flex technology. Elan has also created the world’s first all mountain folding ski, Voyager, a revolutionary design created for the growing breed of urban ski enthusiasts. The latest Primetime skis continue the carving revolution Elan started in the mid-1990s taking the fun of carving on groomed slopes to the next level.

Throughout time innovation, technological sophistication, and visual appeal have also been recognized by the juries of globally renowned institutions that award prizes to the best products. The list of awards and accolades that Elan products have received is long and the tradition continues year after year.

These achievements make Elan more than just a brand name or a factory. Elan is an important co-creator of skiing’s past, present and future and the Elan factory in Begunje na Gorenjskem, Slovenia, is one of the most hallowed places in skiing, spoken of in revered terms by skiers all over the world.

Elan Skis. 100% Handcrafted in the Slovenian Alps.

The tourist culture, its history and tradition have shaped the Alps and are an important part of Europe's development in modern times. In a similar way the Alps have shaped the Elan story from the beginning. Whilst many ski brands are made using multisite mass production, Elan does things differently, it is the only international ski manufacturer that designs, engineers, manufactures and tests its products in one place, handcrafting skis and working in a smart way with advanced automation and more sustainable practices. 

Begunje na Gorenjskem, in the foothills of the Julian Alps, in Slovenia, is the home of Elan and the place where the story began, in 1945. It has been the center of ski innovation, ever since. That’s nearly 80 years of experience in building great skis for friends and family who live the skiing lifestyle and enjoying good times in the mountains. Handcrafting is a proud Elan tradition and the preferred way of working, with tasks performed by hand where they enhance the quality of the product. This requires an experienced, skilled, and passionate workforce and the company is a people-friendly employer with a culture of social and environmental responsibility, employing 900 people.

Elan is a community-oriented company that supports local mountain communities to help to preserve the delicate balance of nature and help ensure future generations are inspired by the mountains, to ski with friends and family as we do today.