Slovenia attracted 2.5 million tourists last year, a 4% increase year-on-year, which means that the Tourism Board (STO) can be pleased with its activities, STO chairman Dimitrij Piciga told the press in Ljubljana on Friday.
STO will get just under EUR 8.3m from the budget in 2007 and add some EUR 900,000 of its own money to the pot. The organisation plans to spend nearly EUR 6.5m for the central tourist information website and for research and development, Piciga revealed.
Marjan Hribar, the head of the Tourism Directorate at the Economy Ministry, meanwhile said that the country would get very close to the planned foreign currency influx of EUR 1.6bn in 2006.
All was not rosy, however, as the planned increase in accommodation in major tourist centres was not achieved, while the number of overnight stays remained "far below the plan", Hribar said.
According to Piciga, the number of overnight stays increased by 2% in 2006, compared to 2005. The number of overnights stood at 7.5m in 2005, while the projection was 9 million.
Tourism companies were successful in drawing European funds, as they managed to get 99.5% of all available money for investment, Hribar said.
This also gave the companies EUR 160m in grants in the 2007-2013 EU budget. This, Hribar believes, will result in investments totaling EUR 500m.
The industry is expected to employ 20% more people and record 2 million overnight stays more by the end of the EU financial period, Hribar said.
More articles from this issue:
Archive
|