The last summer weeks before the beginning of the school year were quite busy at the Slovenian seaside, mostly thanks to domestic guests. Tourist workers have prepared for them a number of events, and the nice weather attracted crowds to the beach.
Hildegard from Vienna likes Slovenia very much, also because of its slogan including the word 'love': "The sea is not far, thanks to the good highway; people are nice, everything is perfect, and the weather is always good." "It is very nice here, I like Izola. We have been here several times, as we have friends here," said a guest from Serbia.
The Municipality of Piran is the most satisfied with this year's season. In spite of the rainy summer they had more than 450,000 overnight stays in their hotels, the same number as last year. The season was saved for Izola by guests from abroad, while Koper with its surroundings is lately becoming a popular tourist destination also for those who like hiking, cycling and other outdoor sport activities.
From the beginning of June to the end of August the Slovenian coast had 50 rainy days. The season was quite similar, explained Danilo Markočič, Manager of the Izola Tourist society: "I could say it was just as hot and cold as the weather: in good weather, normal for this season of the year, there were more guests than usually, but as soon as the weather changed people started cancelling their reservations, especially guests from Slovenia."
In the last years guests have started taking shorter holidays, in average from two to four days. And the largest number of both overnight stays and daily guests was counted during weekends, when also larger events bring guests to the seaside. Koper was this year visited also by more than 36,000 tourists from 30 cruise ships. Most of the guests came from Great Britain, Canada and Australia.
Lea Širok, Radio Koper
Translated by G. K.