STA, 5 March 2019 - Maribor, Slovenia's second largest city, was visited by almost 202,300 tourists last year, up 13% from 2017, and the number of nights they spent there reached a record 451,610, a rise of as much as 36%.

The majority of nights was spent in Maribor by tourists from Germany, Croatia, Poland, Italy, Serbia and Austria, whereas only 13% of domestic tourists decided to stay more than one day.

The average period a tourist spent in the city thus increased from 1.86 days to 2.23 days.

"We've surpassed all set goals," Doris Urbančič Windisch, the director of the Maribor-Pohorje Tourist Board, told the press on Tuesday.

She attributed the upbeat figures to intensified promotional campaigns and a number of events taking place in Maribor.

Last year, the board promoted Maribor and the broader destination around the Pohorje hills at 22 fairs, ten workshops and four exchanges.

It moreover worked hand in hand with organisers of 65 local events.

Maribor and Pohorje play host to a number of interesting events, not least World Cup skiing races, the Lent summer festival and the Maribor Theatre Festival.

An event attracting a number of visitors is also the pruning of the Old Vine, which is more than 450 years old and is believed to be the oldest in the world.

"The Old Vine is one of our strongest trade marks which can take the good name of the city to the world and tell people that we appreciate our past and can build new stories on its basis," Mayor Saša Arsenovič, the new Old Vine master, said.

The pruning is an opportunity for the city to give Old Vine grafts to towns around the world to strengthen cooperation with partners from Slovenia and abroad.

The Žametovka or Modra Kavčina vine has won a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest cultivated vine in the world still bearing grapes.

The vine was planted towards the end of the Middle Ages, when Maribor was facing Ottoman invasion, and grows in the old city centre in front of the Old Vine House.

All our stories about Maribor can be found here, while those about tourism are here

While there seem to be few explicit appeals to the LGBT community in the official promotional efforts of the Slovenian Tourist Board, the country ranks fairly high on this year’s Spartacus Gay Travel Index, at #28. In terms of ex-Yugoslavia this compares to Bosnia-Herzegovina at 47, Croatia at 48, Serbia and Montenegro both at 68, and Macedonia at 83.

In contrast, when it comes to Slovenia’s other neighbours Austria ranks much higher, in 4^th place, while Italy is at 41 and Hungary 57.

The ranking, which the German-based organisation carries out each year, is based on 14 criteria in three categories, from civil rights to discrimination and threats, based on information from Human Rights Watch, the UN Free & Equal campaign, and reports of human rights abuses against members of the LGBT community collected over the previous 12 months.

As the related webpage states:

The first category consists of civil rights. Among other things, it assesses whether gays and lesbians are allowed to marry, whether anti-discrimination laws exist or whether the age of consent is the same for heterosexual and homosexual couples. Discrimination is included in the second category. These include, for example, travel restrictions for HIV-positive persons and the prohibition of Pride parades and other demonstrations. The third category includes threats to the person through persecution, imprisonment or death penalty.

Slovenia’s 28^th position is shared with Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Guadeloupe, Martinique and South Africa. The top countries on this list, sharing first place, are Canada, Portugal and Sweden, while the bottom four are Iran and Saudi Arabia (194), Somalia (196) and Chechnya (197). The United Kingdom is 4^th, Germany 23^rd, and the United States 47^th 

Gay rights in Slovenia in more detail…

Nations gain points if they have anti-discrimination legislation, same-sex marriage or civil partnerships, adoption and transgender rights and an equal age of consent. In contrast, they lose points if religion influence legislation, if there are HIV travel restrictions or anti-gay laws, if homosexuality is illegal, if Gay Pride is banned, if the locals are hostile to the gay population, or if there are prosecutions, murders, or death sentences for members of the LGBT community.

On this basis Slovenia got a total of 6 points, with the breakdown as follows

Anti-discrimination legislation: 3 

Marriage/civil partnership: 2

Adoption allowed: 1

Transgender rights: 0

Equal age of consent: 1

Religious influence: -1 

HIV travel restrictions: 0

Anti-gay Laws: 0

Homosexuality illegal: 0

Pride banned: 0

Locals hostile: 0

Prosecution: 0

Murders: 0 

Death sentences: 0

You can read more about the report here, while you can read all our stories about the LGBT community and Slovenia here

STA, 28 February 2019 - Slovenia had another record year in tourism in 2018, with the number of tourists up by 8% to 5.9 million and the number of nights they generated up by 10% to 15.7 million, the Statistics Office said Thursday. While the number of foreign guests went up, the number of Slovenian guests was about the same as in 2017.

Tourists from abroad generated 4.4 million arrivals (up 11% from 2017) and 11.2 million nights (up 15% from 2017).

"This means that every day in 2018, 4,084 more nights than in 2017 were generated by foreign tourists on average," the Statistics Office said.

Note that the previous year = 100 for the index

The number of Slovenian guests was level at 1.5 million and they generated some 4.5 million nights, which is almost the same as in 2017.

The share of foreign tourist-generated nights has been on the rise since 2010. While tourists from abroad generated 56% of all tourist nights nine years ago, the share rose to 64% in 2015, 68% in 2017 and 71% in 2018.

They mostly came from Germany and Italy (both 12%), Austria (9%) and the Netherlands and Croatia (5% each).

The number of nights generated by guests from the Netherlands was up the most (by 22%), followed by Germany and Croatia (+17% and +16%, respectively).

Outside Europe, the most visitors came from the US, generating 3% of all nights (a 24% increase from 2017), followed by Asia and Israel.

Hospitality services in the Alps generated EUR 1.77m in revenue, which is 11.4% more than the year before, recording 4.49 million nights, up 14% year-on-year. Nearly a third of the guests came from abroad.

Hotels, B&Bs and other hospitality establishments in and around spa resorts generated EUR 1.01m in revenue (up 1%), recording 3.49 million nights, which is level with 2017. Nearly 40% of the guests were Slovenian.

At the seaside, tourism generated slightly over EUR 929,000 in revenue (6% up year-on-year) with 3.01 million overnight stays (6.9% more than in 2017).

Hotels and other facilities in Ljubljana generated EUR 1.02m in revenue (9.1% more than the year before) and recorded 2.18 million of overnights (22.3% more than in 2017).

The highest number of tourist nights were recorded in the municipalities of Ljubljana, Piran, Bled, Kranjska Gora, Brežice, Bohinj and Moravske Toplice.

Hotels accounted for 53% of overnights, with guests staying for an average of 2.6 nights, which was also average duration of all stays last year. Guests in spa resorts tended to stay the longest, 3.5 nights on average.

The Slovenian Tourism Board (STO) welcomed the latest statistics, saying 2018 had been the fifth consecutive record-breaking year for Slovenian tourism.

"The guests are staying longer on average and we're particularly happy that the value of travel exports is rising and that it reached EUR 2.7bn last year," the STO said.

More data can be found here, while all our stories on tourism on Slovenia are here

STA, 15 February 2019 - Revenue from foreign tourists visiting Slovenia reached EUR 2.71bn in 2018, up almost 12% from 2017, data from the central bank show.

 The figure is around a billion euro short of the target set for 2021, the Slovenian Tourist Board said on Friday as it commented on Banka Slovenije's figure.

Data also shows that in December alone, revenue from tourism increased by a good 10%.

With more than 5.6 million tourist arrivals and almost 15.3 million nights, 2018 was the fifth consecutive record year for Slovenian tourism, early Statistics Office data shows.

The key goal of the country's 2017-2021 strategy on sustainable development of tourism is raising revenue from foreign tourists to EUR 3.7-4bn.

The goal for tourist arrivals is five to 5.5 million, with nights projected to rise to 16-18 million.

As a professional watcher of all things Slovene, engaged in the task of shining a light on this part of the world and keeping an eye on how it’s seen from outside, I approach foreign documentaries about the country with some trepidation. In general these turn out to be travel shows and shallow looks at Slovenia – Ljubljana and Bled, the human fish and kremšnita, hard to pronounce place names and references to “hidden gems” – with last year’s Travel Man being a particularly poor example of a team helicoptering in, making a mess, and hoping no one will notice (as seen here).

Still, content is content, and this website serves a broad audience, with broader tastes than my own. So I loaded up First Ladyland, a documentary directed by David Freid in late 2016. Mr Freid was in Croatia when Trump was elected, and took the chance to come to Slovenia and film various people looking ahead to what might be possible, in terms of greater visibility and tourist appeal, with Sevnica’s own Melanija Knavs in the White House.

Lightly satirical and beautifully shot and put together overall, the film presents a view of Slovenia not shown in the travel shows and tourist promos, but just adjacent to it. The people we meet talk in their professional guises, as a mayor, castle manager, souvenir store operator, tour guide, prankster, balloon artist, Slovenologist, slipper designer, curator and lawyer, intercut with footage from US news shows drawn from the start of Melania’s career as Mrs Trump, scenes of the inauguration and related protests, as well of life in Sevnica, the small town that was previously best known for its castle and annual salami festival (Sevniška salamiada). Take a look below and see what, and who, you recognise.

First Ladyland from MEL Films on Vimeo.

STA, 31 January 2019 - A major tourism, camping and caravanning fair for the Alpine-Adriatic region and further afield is getting under way at the Ljubljana fairgrounds on Wednesday, featuring 330 exhibitors until Saturday.

The 30th annual Alpe-Adria fair (website) will showcase tourism offerings from Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Italy, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Nepal.

The fair will see a versatile accompanying programme. Today, Economy Ministry State Secretary Eva Štravs Podlogar will discuss challenges of Slovenian tourism, and panel debates will focus on development of caravanning tourism in Slovenia and on the country's appeal as a gastronomic destination.

The fair will be accompanied by GASTexpo, a leading gastronomic fair in the region which caters mainly for business visitors looking out for drinks, coffee, confectionery, baking, ice cream, wine and hotel and restaurant equipment providers.

STASTA, 31 January 2019 - Slovenian tourism growth appears to have continued apace in 2018 after several consecutive record-breaking years, with preliminary figures showing that 5.6 million tourists visited Slovenia in 2018 spending a total of 15.3 million nights in the country.

This follows from Statistics Office figures released on Thursday that significantly exceed those recorded in 2017 - 4.95 million visitors and 12.6 million nights - but are not comparable year-on-year because in early 2018, a new system for registering guests was phased in.

The new system was expected to result in a significant jump since it requires that all providers report data on an ongoing basis; in the old system, only providers with more than 10 beds were required to do that, all others reported just once a year and the reporting rules were looser.

In December alone Slovenia recorded 314,000 tourists and 842,000 nights, with domestic guests representing less than a third of the arrivals and nights.

STA, 23 January 2019 - Conventa 2019, the 11th exhibition for convention tourism in SE Europe, got under way at Ljubljana's Gospodarsko Razstavišče fairgrounds on Wednesday. The two-day meeting features 125 exhibitors from 15 countries and 178 invited guests from 44 countries.

Miha Kovačič, one of the chief organisers, told the press that Conventa's focus was on countries in Eastern and SE Europe. These are considered as developing and exotic destinations and are in high demand among the organisers of business trips.

He said that the meeting had become a must for many operators in the region, while the idea is also to attract as many new clients as possible each year so that new ties can be forged. As many as 90% of the foreign organisers of business meetings are new to Conventa this year.

The biggest increase was recorded among exhibitors from the Western Balkans, which is a result of a stabilisation of the region, Conventa co-founder Gorazd Čad also noted.

Meanwhile, Karmen Novarlič of the Slovenian Tourist Board highlighted the major potential that congress tourism holds for Slovenia.

An average convention guest spends at least three-times as much as a holiday guests, with a 2018 survey for Ljubljana for instance putting the average daily expenditure of convention guests at EUR 511.

The other key advantage of convention tourism is that it is not tied to the main tourism season. Two thirds of such guests come to Slovenia in periods other than the summer season.

Novarlič expects the industry to continue growing in Europe, with Slovenia having worked in recent years on being discovered as a convention destination.

Presenting a challenge in Ljubljana for example are conference as well as hospitality capabilities, as well as the capabilities of the Ljubljana airport.

The capital can presently host events with around 2,000 participants, provided that venues and hotels operate in a coordinated fashion, Jan Oršič of the Ljubljana Congress Office illustrated.

23 January 2019 - The BBC’s Good Food project has announced its list of “top 10 destinations for foodies 2019”, with Ljubljana making an appearance at #3. Illustrated with a picture of the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation and Dragon Bridge, as taken from Fishmarket Footbridge (one of the best photo spots in town, as noted here), the attractions of the city are described as follows:

Small but perfectly formed, the so-called 'Europe in miniature' is so much more than that. Slovenia’s food culture is little bit Eastern European, a little bit Alpine, a little bit Med, but very much its own thing, too. The tiny capital, Ljubljana, has hipster coffee spots and killer burger joints but also cosy old country restaurants where rustic cuisine reigns supreme. Think: pršut (air-dried ham), zlikrofi (a ravioli-like pasta filled with herby pork), and indulgent gibanica cake (a blend of shortbread and fruity strudel) – dishes that are plentiful in beautiful lake and mountain towns like Bohinj and Bled. Chefs like Ana Roš are leading the charge for inventive Michelin-starred Slovenian cuisine, and there’s a little stretch of coast, too, where simple shellfish and fish carpaccio dishes are a fresh counterpoint to hearty inland eats.

While global travellers may be surprised to see the tiny capital of Slovenia ahead of such vast areas of culinary delights as the whole of Japan, placed at #8, the ranking is a welcome addition to the growing body of work drawing attention to the varied cuisine that’s available in this small but topographically, climatically and agriculturally diverse land. Indeed, Slovenia’s 24 gastronomic regions, for too long neglected by gourmets, gourmands, foodies and the culinary elite, seem to be preparing for some time in the spotlight. As part of the  2017–2021 Strategy for the Sustainable Growth of Slovenian Tourism (PDF), the tourist board has defined Slovenian gastronomy as one of the ten leading tourist products of the nation, one that can help in both leading visitors to some of the less trafficked parts of the country, as well as help promote tourism in all four seasons. The country is also preparing for its year as a European Region of Gastronomy in 2021, as reported last year.

The BBC’s top 10 destinations for foodies 2019 are as follows:

1. Matera in Italy
2. Amsterdam
3. Ljubljana
4. The South Aegean islands in Greece
5. Yorkshire in the UK
6. Corsica
7. Pittsburgh in the US
8. Japan
9. Peru
10. Ethiopia.

The full story, with all the details, can be read here, while our growing collection of road-tested Slovenian recipes can be found here

STA, 19 January 2019 - Maribor plans to join forces with nearby towns this year to expand what it has to offer to tourists and keep visitors in the region longer. Slovenia's second biggest city is betting on its assets in sports, culture, wine and cuisine, city tourism and conference tourism.

The Maribor - Pohorje Tourism Institute is working on a new four-year regional tourism strategy as the current one expires in 2020.

Maribor and 22 municipalities in the region will strive to attract guests with experiences they are offering in sports, culture, wine and cuisine, city tourism and conference tourism.

The Institute's head Doris Urbančič Windisch thinks the region should emphasise what distinguishes it from the rest of Slovenia. "We'll encourage our guests to stay at least two or three nights," she told the STA.

Urbančič Windisch sees great potential in Maribor's Old Vine, the world's oldest vine. The Old Vine can be a starting point for many gastronomic and cultural experiences, including in cooperation with nearby towns, she said.

Brochures presenting the region's sports infrastructure and facilities are also under way.

The data on nights and arrivals for 2018 are not in yet, but the institute expects the growth recorded in the first ten months to continue.

Between January and the end of October, 30% more nights were generated in Maribor (379,577) and 13% more arrivals (177,799). The Maribor - Pohorje destination recorded 29% more nights (486,792) and 12% more arrivals (218,876) compared to the same period in 2017.

The Tourism Institute presented its new visual identity last year and will launch a new website this year. It will also organise a number of workshops and activities for those working in culture and tourism to create interesting holiday packages for tourists.

Urbančič Windisch highlighted inappropriate working hours of museums and low entrance fees which she says do not reflect the quality of service.

Another problem for Maribor is the lack of a five-star hotel and other infrastructure for high-end guests.

All out posts tagged "travel and tourism" can be found here

STA, 17 January 2019 - Its waters sparkling in the sun, the Alpine Lake Bled is considered the epitome of picture-perfect and millions have photographed the vista with the island and the little church perched on top. But look below the glistening surface, and the picture is much murkier.

The lake ecology has been deteriorating, mostly due to the surge in swimming, fishing and boating, and rapid development of the lake shoreline. The lake water has long been designated as good or acceptable, but by 2021 it may fall afoul of the water quality standards prescribed by the EU, according to the Environment Agency.

Tourism is putting pressure on local infrastructure

For waters to improve, it is necessary to reduce the intensity of the use of the lake area. "A sustainable improvement and stabilisation of the situation in the lake can only be achieved by removing the causes of pollution and by taking measures to reduce the intensity of the use of the lake area," said Špela Remec Rekar a limnologist (inland water researcher) at the Environment Agency who has been monitoring Lake Bled water quality for several years.

She notes that the number of tourist nights in Bled had almost trebled between 1994 and 2016. Traffic on and around the lake has surged, and there are more and more swimmers and fishermen. Infrastructure, including sewage, has not been keeping up with the increase in visitors.

Remec Rekar said that aside from improving sewage, traffic around the lake should be scaled back and the bird population reduced. But the most important measure would be to ban the feeding of fowl and fish.

Fish feed a problem for the water

Fish feeding has been a major factor in the deterioration of water quality. The law stipulates that each fisherman may bring in five kilo of carp fodder per day, which for Lake Bled amounts to over ten tons of nutrients being introduced to the water each year. This drives up phosphorous levels and supports the development of dangerous cyanobacteria.

The municipality is aware of the problem and is already mulling limiting carp feeding, but it says this is a process. "We have to join forces with all stakeholders and determine what is possible, sensible and feasible," said Tomaž Rogelj, the director of the Bled Tourism Office.

Last year the municipality bought an electric boat for cleaning the lake surface, which removes organic waste such as leaves as well as man-made pollutants. But Remec Remškar says that given the size of the problem, this is a negligible improvement.