December 20, 2017
The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (Statistični urad RS, SURS) has released its tourism0related figures for November, with the numbers showing a 10% increase in arrivals compared to November 2016, and 8% more overnight stays, at more than 240,000 and around 579,000, respectively. Foreign tourists accounted for about 152,000 arrivals, a rise of 15% compared to last year, and about 63% of the total. Such visitors also made around 336,000 overnight stays in November, up 16% compared to the same period in 2016, and around 58% of the total.
Looking closer, visitors from Austria had the most overnight stays in the country, accounting for 19% of the total, followed by Italy (18%), Germany (8%), Croatia (7%), Serbia (6%) and the Russian Federation (4%), with other countries making up the remaining 37.5%.
The figures also reveal that while Ljubljana remains the focus of much activity in Slovenia, it’s not the main tourist centre, as in November the most overnight stays were recorded in spa resorts, at 233,000, or 40% of the total, followed by coastal resorts (16%), Ljubljana (14%) and mountain resorts (12%).
Tourist arrivals and overnight stays by month. Figure: SURS
Overall, data for 2017 until the end of November show 4.4 million tourist arrivals and 11.3 million overnight stays, up by 14% and 11% on the first 11 months of 2016. Digging deeper into these figures, foreign visitors accounted for 7.7 million overnight stays from Jan–Nov, 68% of the total and up by 17% on 2016.
As noted at a press conference earlier this month by Zdravko Pocivalsek, the Minister of Economic Development and Technology, and Maja Pak, director of the Slovenian Tourist Organisation (STO), these increases were in part attributed to the higher tourist numbers in general throughout Europe, the government’s strategy of promoting the country as a safe, green and active destination, and, given the significant rise in visitors from the US, a certain Melania effect.
More data, in incredible detail, can be found at the Statistical Office’s website.
