In Slovenia, 487,000 tourist arrivals and almost 1.2mn overnight stays were registered in June, 27% and 22% up y/y respectively, preliminary Slovenian Statistical Office data published on July 31 indicated.

The growth in June is stronger than the previous month as the summer season has started. Tourism is expected to grow further, mainly thanks to the fact that US first lady Melania Trump was born in Slovenia, bringing international media attention to the country.

In June, foreign tourists contributed significantly to the growth in numbers as they generated 32% more arrivals and 29% more overnight stays. Meanwhile, domestic tourists generated 14% more arrivals and 10% more overnight stays, data showed.

In June, foreign tourists accounted for almost 365,000 of the total tourist arrivals while domestic tourists totalled almost 122,000.

Foreign tourists generated more than 840,000 overnights while domestic tourists recorded over 359,000 overnight stays in June.

Key markets from which foreign tourists generated the most overnight stays in Slovenia in June were Germany (more than 139,000 or 17%), Austria (11%), Italy (10%), UK and Netherlands (5% each) and the Russia (4%).

In June, almost 682,000 or 57% of all tourist overnight stays were recorded in hotels, 18% in camp sites, 6% in private accommodations – rented rooms and dwellings, 5% in apartment settlements, 4% in company vacation facilities and vacation facilities for youth and 3% in youth hostels.

In the sixth month of the year, the highest number of tourist overnight stays (27% or almost 320,000) were recorded in mountain resorts followed by seaside resorts (24%), health (spa) resorts, (23%), and capital Ljubljana (12%).

The Statistical Office said on July 31 that from the start of 2017 to the end of June, 4,794,000 overnight stays were recorded at tourist accommodation in Slovenia, which is 12% more than last year.

An increase in overnight stays can be seen for foreign as well as domestic tourists. Foreign tourists generated 64% of all tourist overnight stays (or more than 3mn), which is 17% more than last year and more than 1.3mn arrivals (32% more). Domestic tourists generated 1.7mn overnight stays (5% more) and more than 610,000 arivals (14% more) than in the same period of last year.