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The government is expected to release more details later today of the third stimulus package to help businesses and households recover from the coronavirus crisis and lockdown. Among the measures, which were discussed late into the night on Tuesday, are tourism vouchers that would be given to all citizens, including children. Under the proposal, each adult would receive a €200 voucher to spend on domestic tourism, while children would receive €50. As yet, however, it remains unclear whether the scheme will also include foreign residents.

A tweet from the Prime Minister announcing the proposal yesterday suggested that the vouchers will be approved today.

Pomoč in vzpodbuda ljudem, industriji, turizmu in razvoju. #PKP3 pod streho. Turistični boni 200€ za vse polnoletne, za mlajše 50€. Po predstavitvi poslancem #K4 v potrditev na @vladaRS in v #DržavniZbor Odpravljanje in blaženje posledic epidemije #koronavirus. pic.twitter.com/ejuUeRylVY

— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) May 19, 2020

STA, 18 May 2020 - Tourism companies can largely resume doing business from today, and travel seems to be in demand again, although agritourism providers, campsites and beaches are still relatively empty. A path to recovery is expected to be long after a two-month lockdown, so the hospitality chamber has urged the government to extend state aid measures.

The Slovenian Hospitality Chamber (TGZS) called on the government on Monday to extend until the end of the year the measures designed to help tourism cope with the coronavirus epidemic.

It said there had been indications the subsidies for idled workers would be extended only by a month, or by the end of June, which would push the industry into a dire situation.

"Under this scenario, the companies will not be able to survive, so massive layoffs will follow in tourism on 1 July," the chamber said in a release.

If the measures applying to idled tourism workers are not prolonged until the end of 2020, some 20,000 workers will lose jobs, according to the chamber's estimate.

The TGZS meanwhile welcomed the planned EUR 200 vouchers for adult Slovenian citizens to be spent on a vacation in Slovenia, which it believes would help the industry start what is expected to be a years-long recovery.

Operators of campsites and beaches on the Slovenian coast are meanwhile largely ready to accept guests although the swimming season has not yet started.

The main beach in Portorož is to open on 15 June, or as early as 1 June if the weather is fine, Okolje Piran direktor Gašpar Gašpar Mišič told the STA.

The Strunjan Camping Site does not yet have any guests, and cannot predict how the situation develops in the coming weeks, although potential guests are already making enquires.

The situation is similar in agritourism, which can also start welcoming tourists as of today, but the majority of farms offering such activities will relaunch their business in June.

The Češnjice Tourist Farm in Cerklje na Gorenjskem, NW, told the STA they had no guests nor queries, while the first tourists will arrive at the Urška Tourist Farm near Zreče,E, on Thursday.

"We get lots of queries by e-mail and mobile phone, Germans are also interested in when we're opening," said the farm owner Urška Topolšek.

The pandemic has also hit hard tourist guides, most of whom are self-employed and largely depend on tourists from abroad.

Just like the rest of the tourism industry, they are now trying to attract Slovenian tourists, the Argos Regional Association of Tourist Guides said in a release.

Argos has thus joined the My Slovenia campaign launched by the Slovenian Tourism Board (STO) to encourage Slovenians to spend their holidays in Slovenia.

"The borders are slowly opening, but we share the view that this season, domestic guests will be in the focus. Which is right," said its president Mateja Kregar Gliha.

Skiing was relaunched at Kanin, Slovenia's only high-altitude ski slopes, where Slovenian professional skier Ilka Štuhec relaunched her training today.

"It's great to ski in Slovenia in May," said Štuhec, whom the pandemic has deprived of several weeks of training for the new ski season.

Slovenian travel agencies have however not yet opened their doors, but are providing information to potential clients online or over the phone.

There are still many uncertainties about the border crossing regime, protocols about bus and air travel, and about the reopening of hotels in Slovenia and abroad, Jože Režonja, Relax Turizem director, told the STA.

"We expect everything will be clear by 31 May at the latest, in which case we will open our offices on 1 June."

If things clear up earlier, the offices will open sooner. "We're ready," he said, adding that some 80% of their employees are on furlough.

Similarly, travel company Palma provides information to its potential clients over the phone and plans to open its offices on 1 June, said sales director Leni Petek Rovšnik.

She said people were eager to start travelling again, so she is quite optimistic that business could soon be revived.

The only tourism facilities that could not yet open today are accommodation facilities with over 30 rooms, accommodation for spa guests, wellness and fitness centres, pools and water parks.

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STA, 17 May 2020 - While subsidies for part-time work worth up to EUR 1 billion are seen as a key feature of the emerging third coronavirus stimulus package, draft documents obtained by the STA also include measures such as vouchers for tourism, aid to ski lift operators, extended permits for foreign labour, as well as a solution for packaging waste issues.

The part-time work subsidies are expected to be provided for employers unable to secure at least a 90% workload for at least 10% of their employees. Subsidises for work conducted 20 to 36 hours a week would range between 459 and 112 euros. The support, co-funded with EU funds, would be available from 1 June onwards and until 30 November at most.

Another major segment of the third package is aid to tourism, one proposed measure being tourism vouchers in the value of 200 euros to be provide to everybody in regular employment as well as the self-employed.

The vouchers would be valid until 31 December this year or possibly 28 February 2021 and are expected to reduce a projected 60% to 70% contraction of the tourism sector to 40%. They are meant to cost the state up to EUR 200 million and are not conceived as a replacement for the holiday allowance.

Unlike other sectors, tourism and hospitality companies can moreover expect an extension of the support scheme that has had the state fully covering the 80% unemployment allowance for temporarily redundant workers.

Monthly basic income support could meanwhile be prolonged for farmers, while issues with securing foreign labour for seasonal work would be addressed with a prolongation of the labour permit validity from 90 to 150 days.

Also being proposed is a national mechanism for the monitoring of foreign direct investment, through which Slovenia would protect itself against takeovers of strategic industry.

Potential additional aid to companies includes extra efforts to secure favourable credit lines and possibly rent payments deferrals until July 2021 for business premises that could not be utilised during the lockdown.

A special injection is envisaged by the Infrastructure Ministry for ski lift operators, which could get between 1,000 and 12,000 euros.

Meanwhile, another measure found in the draft seeks to address continuing issues with packaging waste management through what seems to be the restoring of the temporary solution that had the state paying for the removal and processing of unattended to waste. The measure is expected to cost EUR 15 million this year.

STA, 13 May 2020 - Slovenia will see a major easing of quarantine restrictions on Monday. Tourism will reopen starting with smaller operations. All shops will be allowed to open, while bars and restaurants will be able to serve patrons indoors again, the government decided on Wednesday.

The entire tourism sector, hit particularly hard by the Covid-19 epidemic, will in effect be allowed to gradually reopen on Monday except for major providers.

Under the new government decree, the only facilities that must remain closed are accommodation facilities with over 30 rooms, accommodation for spa guests, wellness and fitness centres, pools and water parks.

The entire tourism industry has been shut down for two months in a bid to contain the epidemic and the decision made today is the first easing of restrictions in this sector.

All provider will have to abide by public health rules mandating a safe distance between guests and other safety precautions.

The decision to allow all stores to reopen will come as a relief in particular for large retailers, as smaller shops with up to 400 m2 of shopping area reopened last week.

Bars and restaurants were allowed to reopen last week as well, but they could only serve patrons outside. And while most operations will now be allowed to fully reopen, the ban remains in place for night clubs.

The government has also decided to get rid of the requirements that common areas in apartment buildings must be disinfected twice per day, a measure that has proved highly unpopular. Disinfecting is no longer required as of tomorrow.

https://english.sta.si/2763316/govt-confirms-re-opening-of-kindergartens-schools-on-monday

STA, 7 May 2020 - Details are emerging of a package of state aid the Slovenian tourism sector will get to survive what is expected to be a deep slump. Aside from an extension of existing measures that all companies are eligible for, tourism companies will get an extra loan facility and a short-time work scheme.

 A short-term work scheme, best known by its German name Kurzarbeit (Wikipedia), will be put in place as part of the third stimulus package, Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek told the press on Thursday.

Existing schemes such as state financing of temporary layoffs, which expire at the end of May, will be extended for tourism companies by between four and eight months to facilitate a gradual reopening of the sector.

A lending facility providing liquidity loans of EUR 5,000-40,000 for small and medium-sized companies will be put in place and grants of EUR 16 million total will be available to cover the running costs of restaurants and accommodation services.

"The state will help tourism because it is an industry hit by coronavirus in the most drastic way," said Počivalšek, adding that the industry needed "measures that will facilitate not just survival but also restructuring and the development of new products."

"We want to preserve jobs in tourism, retain high-quality staff and help smaller providers survive," he said. The situation is expected to improve next year, but Počivalšek stressed that some estimate tourism may need up to five years to recover.

While outdoor areas of bars reopened this week and restaurants have been serving take-away food for several weeks now, the bulk of the hospitality sector remains shut down as hotels, spas, campsites and tour operators await the government's decision to reopen.

A document circulated on social media in recent days suggested accommodation providers with up to 30 beds could reopen on 12 May along with restaurants, bars and campsites, followed by tour operators, larger hotels, wellness centres and pools on 1 June.

Počivalšek said these dates were merely indicative. "They still need to be examined. Some are more likely, others less so."

Another major unknown are instructions for precautionary measures that providers will have to follow. Počivalšek said they were being finalised and would be presented shortly.

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STA, 4 May 2020 - With the tourism industry projected to remain shut down longer due to coronavirus than most other sectors, the Slovenian government is considering extending temporary emergency aid for tourism companies by a few months or even until the end of the year, Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek said on Monday.

"Tourism experienced the impact of the coronavirus crisis first and, partially due to the reliance on foreign guests, it will not be able to restart its operations until later," Počivalšek said before a newly established council for tourism, a government advisory body, convened to discuss the need for additional aid and health standards.

Specifically, the state financing of temporary layoffs, which expires at the end of May, could be extended by four months or even until the end of the year for the tourism business. Počivalšek said he would formally propose that to the government.

It would also make sense to set up a fund that would extend grants and favourable loans for the financing of current operations and investments since the industry needs to adjust to new standards.

While the current epidemiological situation is favourable and represents "an optimistic basis," Počivalšek noted that revenue in tourism was expected to contract anywhere between 25% and over 70% this year depending on the pace of the easing of measures.

Bar terraces opened today and restaurants have been allowed to serve food for take away and delivery for several weeks now. Počivalšek said "more significant steps" might follow in the second half of May or in June, for example the opening of small accommodation facilities.

Slovenia has also been in talks with Croatia on reopening the border for tourism. Počivalšek said the heads of both public health institutes would discuss protocols for border crossing this week.

The minister however warned that tourism would change permanently as a greater emphasis is placed on health. "I am confident that the tourism business and we as the competent ministry know which direction the measures should take so that we remain at the vanguard in this field."

Počivalšek noted that Slovenian tourism had already built its business model on niche experiences and active holidays, which he said would remain its foundation in the future.

The director of the National Institute of Public Health, Milan Krek, said after the session that an expert group would meet this week "to make sure that once the green light for opening is given, innkeepers, hotel owners and other workers in tourism are ready."

Gregor Jamnik, the head of the Slovenian Association of Hotels, said liquidity was essential now for hotel operators since the industry would take longer to recover and since the likely ongoing presence of the virus would require "an unprecedented change of conduct in hotels, bars and restaurants".

Podčetrtek Mayor Peter Misja, the head of the Slovenian Tourism Association, added that the standards that will be put in place should be workable. "Slovenia should not be more papal than the pope."

STA, 14 April 2020 - Tourism is among the industries hit particularly hard by coronavirus. Slovenia is in a precarious position. Not only is it next door to one of the main coronavirus hotspots in Europe, it also relies on foreign guests for three-quarters of arrivals. The Slovenian Tourist Board expects the sector to experience a 60-70% contraction this year.

Previous economic crises have been brutal on tourism, but the sector has been able to recover fairly quickly. The coronavirus pandemic is different.

"The virus has spread to all continents, it is present in all countries in Europe. The impact of the crisis on life, the economy, jobs and in particular tourism is more intensive than in previous crises," Slovenian Tourist Board (STO) director Maja Pak told the STA.

While the situation remains uncertain and it is difficult to gauge the impact of the pandemic on tourism, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development estimated at the end of March that international travel would decline by 45% in the event strict lockdown measures last until June. If the recovery is pushed forward to autumn, the decline will be 70%.

The STO estimate is even more pessimistic: Pak expects a 60-70% contraction in demand if the relaxation of lockdown measures starts in June, if not, the figure is likely to be higher.

Maja Uran Maravić, an associate professor at the Faculty of Tourism Studies in Portorož, agrees with the estimate given the estimated 30% contraction in the first quarter compared to a year ago.

"The decline will probably be around 70% assuming hotels start opening at least by 1 June," she said.

After the sharp decline, the recovery is expected to be long. Pak expects it will take several years, depending on how successfully the virus is contained, when borders reopen, and when tourism providers are allowed to operate again.

A lot will also hinge on how successfully the tourism industry adapts to the "altered consumer behaviour and the new situation post-crisis", according to Pak.

"Distance, which will be the new standard for a long time, will affect revenue and slow the recovery."

Slovenia recorded 6.2 million tourist arrivals and 15.8 million nights last year. According to Tanja Mihalič, a Ljubljana School of Business and Economics professor who specialises in tourism, it may take until 2023 or 2024 before Slovenia returns to these levels.

It may take even longer before revenue from foreign guests returns to the level recorded last year, according to Mihalič, who noted that the situation might even escalate into a price war.

On the upside, Slovenia is relatively well accessible by car from the countries from which the majority of foreign guests come, and its seaside might benefit from the misfortune of major seaside destinations such as Italy or Spain.

Regardless of the pace of recovery, tourism is likely to be different than it was before the crisis, requiring far-reaching adjustments by players in the industry.

As Mihalič noted, the trends included smaller groups, a focus on hygiene, and greater demand for tourism products that involve less interaction between people. "Companies with automated receptions and services and card access to facilities and services will have an advantage," she said.

Pak highlighted Slovenia's established position on the market for green tourism and niche products, which she said was a great asset going into the recovery phase.

The STO is also counting on domestic guests, who accounted for roughly a quarter of all guests last year, with Pak noting than after past crises Slovenians tended to value the safety of spending holidays in their country. Moreover, it will take a while before global travel returns to pre-corona crisis levels.

However, Maravić says that there are simply too few domestic guests to offset the decline in foreign visitors. "But if even domestic guests do not show up, our tourism will be ravaged if the borders stay shut."

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STA, 5 March 2020 - Several Slovenian travel agencies have seen a significant drop in business because of the new coronavirus. The agencies organising tourist trips in Slovenia are particularly affected, while those offering trips abroad are noticing a change of tourism flows.

The Ljubljana-based Atur Travel, which targets mainly tourists from Asia with its trips to south, eastern and central Europe, has recorded a major drop in the number of guests.

Almost all trips in March have been cancelled, as have 80% of those scheduled for April and May, CEO Anja Poženel Belec said, adding that most trips were being cancelled by their clients from Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and South Korea.

"At the moment, bookings are being pushed to September and October, so we are expecting a big increase in autumn if the situation calms down until then. But the shortfall in the first six months will nevertheless show at the annual level."

Gorazd Skrt of Lovely Trips, which helps companies promote Slovenian tourism in Italy, says that Italian travel agencies are seeing a significant drop in bookings.

Many people who do not have symptoms are cancelling their trips so as to avoid transmission, while in Slovenia, people fear guests from Italy will bring the virus, he said.

The impact of the epidemic on tourism is difficult to assess at the moment, according to him. "If the situation improves in the coming weeks, we'll be able to make up for a part of cancellations and only record a drop of a few percent. But if the situation continues for months, arrivals of Italian guests could be magnitudes worse."

Plans for the Easter and 1 May holidays are also being affected. "We are recording cancellations of existing reservations. Those who have not made reservations yet, are afraid to make them," he said.

The problem is that even if the epidemic is stopped by then, there will not be enough time to organise group trips, Skrt explained.

"Tourism is an industry that is quickly affected by crises but also recovers quickly. At this point, two scenarios are possible - under the less negative one we'll be trying to offset the negative effects until the end of the year, while in the worst case scenario the season will be ruined."

Big travel agencies offering trips to other countries are not particularly affected. Palma has not seen a drop in demand or any major cancellations.

Kompas said the situation was changing on a day-to-day basis. Its tours of Italy do not make stops in the towns that are quarantined at the moment, so there have been no cancellations.

Rather than a drop in demand, they are noticing that people are opting for slightly different destinations.

GoOpti, a company providing shared and private transfers to airports and between towns, is seeing a 30-40% drop in the number of passengers, especially in Italy.

In the face of the negative effects of the virus on business, several associations, including the trade union of employees in the hospitality sector from the ZSSS trade union confederation, the Employers' Association and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS), have called on the government to introduce measure to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus immediately.

They called for subsidies for shorter working time and financial aid for companies that have no financial reserves to fall back on.

The GZS said today that problems were expected to mount, so the government should follow the recommendations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The OECD said on Monday flexible forms of work should be introduced to preserve jobs, while governments should adopt temporarily tax and budget measures to mitigate the effects of the virus in the most affected industries such as tourism, the automotive sector and electronics.

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STA, 4 March - Tourism officials in the regions bordering Italy are not yet reporting a decline in visitors due to the coronavirus outbreak in Italy, a major market for Slovenian tourism. The coastal community of Piran has even seen more visitors than in the same period a year ago.

The tourism association at the seaside of Portorož recorded a slight drop in the number of overnight stays at hotels, which they say was mainly due to the fact that two major hotels are closed for renovation.

Most other hotels in the Piran municipality, which also includes Portorož, saw visitor numbers in February trumping those recorded the same month a year ago. "We've seen growth mainly due to foreign visitors, who generated a good fifth more overnight stays in February than last year," they say.

The Portorož tourism association is closely monitoring the coronavirus situation, following the advice of the National Public Health Institute and the Slovenian Tourist Board, and notifying its visitors in turn.

Slovenian Tourist Board says hotels well-prepared for coronavirus

"Our hotels are well prepared too, keeping their guests up to date on the developments, making sure the premises are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, while the staff have attended training on preventive measures," the tourism association said.

Similarly, tourism officials in the port town of Koper have not noticed any particular effect of the coronavirus outbreak. February statistics are not yet in but the local tourism info point has not yet recorded a decline in footfall.

Nor has a fall been observed at the tourism centres in the Soča Valley, although the main tourism season there is yet to begin.

Restaurants along Slovenia's western border are not reporting a drop in turnout by Italian or other foreign customers either, but they are cautious about any projections and further developments.

Shaded countries had at least one confirmed case of coronoavirus as of 3 March 2020. WHO data, map US CDC - details

Gostilna pri Lojzetu, the award-winning establishment at Zemono Mansion, has had some cancellations from Italian and some other patrons who travelled through Venice airport, "but merely as a preventive measure because they wouldn't want to 'infect' any of our guests, even though they were not infected".

However, the restaurant does not expect any difficulties in the future. "We'll always have the restaurant full, it will definitely stay that way," they say.

The Chamber of Trade Crafts and Small Business (OZS) last week called for state aid arguing that the hospitality sector in the Nova Gorica area had been seeing a "drastic decline" in Italian customers.

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STA, 24 February 2020 - The novel coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak has so far had no profound effect on Slovenia's economy, but problems have arisen in certain areas. Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek said on Monday that the government was deliberating mitigation measures, such as subsidies to compensate for shorter working time.

The minister pointed out though that any measures to protect public health must not interrupt the flow of goods because the country's exports depended on that.

After meeting several CEOs whose companies have been feeling the consequences of the outbreak, Počivalšek said that the ministry had been keeping track of the situation and its effect on the economy since the start.

He said the situation in Slovenia had been under control so far, but since the country had no influence on future global developments, it needed to be ready to deal with potential challenges.

Despite no major effects being determined so far, the ministry has decided to act in prevention and consider a future strategy in cooperation with economy representatives. Počivalšek intends to present potential measures at the government session on Thursday.

Problems have so far been detected mainly in tourism and logistics while a drop in sales and orders has been recorded in manufacturing, which could lead to a slowdown in production. The government is considering introducing subsidies for those waiting for work to help the affected companies and avoid lay-offs.

Slovenia introduced this measure a decade ago during the economic crisis and Počivalšek said he hoped it would not need to be introduced again.

Closing the borders would be the country's last resort, he stressed.

Slovenia's tourism has been worst hit by the outbreak of the coronavirus - mostly due to travel cancellations of Asian tourists. The situation could be exacerbated by the virus spreading to neighbouring countries.

Last year, 160,00 Chinese tourists visited Slovenia, while Italy is a key market, with 600,000 guests visiting Slovenia a year.

The Slovenian Tourist Board will step up its promotion efforts in nearby countries and it is also hoping to get EU funds for this purpose.

Meanwhile, the Chinese-owned household appliances maker Gorenje said that the situation was under control, but there was some disruption in supplies in China.

Port operator Luka Koper expects to feel the effects of coronavirus in the next two weeks, with its transshipment from or to China accounting for 30% of its total transshipment.

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