Slovenia

Introduction

I am an Erasmus student from Portugal, studying Geography and Spatial Planning in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, NOVA University of Lisbon.

This work is part of Geography of Slovenia course, taught in the faculty of arts of the University of Ljubljana, under the guidance of Professor Dra. Irma Potočnik Slavic. I was asked to choose a topic to develop and work on during the semester.

Throughout this paper I will try to analyze, in general, tourism, and the impact this has on the Slovenian society. And in a further way, the mountain tourism, since it is one of the most important tourist types in Slovenia, much due to relief that this country has, which makes it suitable for tourists who seek this type tourism.

After one first meeting with Professor Irma, we established two locations for me to make a field work in order to get a closer and more realistic view of the different mountain tourism aspects in Slovenia. In order to do this, the professor recommended me to visit the town of Kamnik, and Lake Bohinj. Therefore, I prepared a number of questions related to mountain tourism to be asked in the Kamnik and Bohinj tourism centers. Once this phase of the work is over, I will compare the situation between these two sites, as well as the overall situation in Slovenia.

Finally, and after analyzing in more detail the mountain tourism in the two aforementioned places, I try to make some suggestions which might eventually be used to improve and increase tourism flows of this type, both in these regions, and on the country in general.

A glance at Slovenia

Capital: Ljubljana Area: 20 273 km2 Population: 2 062 874(2015)

Slovenia is a small country located in the heart of Europe. It has four land borders: At north with Austria, at east with Hungary, southeast and south with Croatia, and west with Italy. It also has a small maritime border - 46 km long – with the Adriatic Sea. The country is located at the meeting of four major European regions: the Alpine region, the Dinaric Alps, the Pannonian and Mediterranean Sea.

It is the 145th most populous country in the world. With 99 inhabitant per Km2, Slovenia ranks among the European countries with lower population density, which makes some sense, since about half the country is covered by forests.

Slovenia is part of the European Union, Schengen area, Eurozone, OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), and the United Nations. Slovenia has became independent in June of 1991, after split Yugoslavia.

We can find three major types of climate in Slovenia: The sub-Mediterranean climate, in the coastal region that borders with the Adriatic Sea, the alpine climate, present in the high mountain regions, and Continental climate, north-east lowlands and valleys. The average temperature is above 20°C in July, and around 0°C in January. The average rainfall is 1000 mm on the coast, 3,500 mm in the Alps, 800 mm in the southeast region and 1400 mm in central Slovenia. Snow is frequent is all the country, especially during the winter.

The republic of Slovenia is divided into five macroregions: The Alps, the Slovenian Prealps, the Mediterranean Basin, the Dinaric plateaus, and the Pannonian Basin in the east.

Slovenia has a wide variety of landscapes to offer. Each one of them offers its own natural, geographic, and cultural features. Slovenia has mountains, meadows, lakes, caves, and sea, making it an attractive destination for tourists. The tourist gravitational area is considerably large, but never the less, the tourist market is small, although it has been growing. Ljubljana is the top attraction in Slovenia, followed by places like Lake Bled, Lake Bohinj, Kranjska Gora, Soča Valley, and the Skocjan Caves, and Triglav National Park, the only national park in Slovenia, which holds the biggest mountain of the country, with 2864m high.

Another important factor for the tourism In Slovenia is gambling. The country has the highest percentage of casinos per 1000 inhabitats in the European Union. The biggest Casino in Slovenia in Perla, in Nova Gorica.

Tourism

Because of the relative youth of tourism as a socio-economic activity in general and its complex multidisciplinary (tourism encompasses a wide range of economic sectors and academic disciplines), there is a lack of clear conceptual definitions clarifying the tourist activity.

There is ample academic debate about what exactly is tourism, which elements comprise and who should be considered tourists, leading to multiple definitions, each emphasizing different aspects of the same activity. In this sense, it can be said that there is no correct or incorrect setting, since all contribute in some way to deepen the understanding of tourism.

According to UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organization): "Tourism comprises the activities that people perform during their travel and stay in different places of their usual environment for a consecutive period of less than one year, with recreational purpose, business or other." Slovenia is a member state of the UNWTO since 1993.

This activity has great importance in the world economy, once the arrival of tourists increases consumption, the production of goods and services and especially the need to create new jobs. The World Tourism Day is celebrated on 27 September.

Tourism in Slovenia

General overview

Slovenia offers a wide number of possibilities to visit. From the mountainous regions in the north, to the Adriatic coast. From the Karst relief to the Pannonian Basin, there are no lack of landscapes and unique adventures. Nevertheless, Slovenia still can not compete with its neighbors in the level of demand for tourism, as shown in the following table.

GEO/TIME 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

Croatia 5 007 940 5 921 998 6 772 646 7 620 847 8 163 542 8 673 601 7 919 729 11 543 653 12 882 822

Italy 72 313 561 80 031 637 82 030 312 85 956 568 93 044 399 95 546 086 98 813 845 103 733 157 106 552 352

Hungary 6 220 697 6 731 870 6 175 880 6 616 443 7 182 550 7 651 250 7 304 010 8 808 152 10 132 916

Austria 21 348 846 22 649 293 23 562 277 24 765 560 26 508 469 28 833 247 29 700 112 32 325 646 33 646 592