Based on a data gathered last August, the number of tourist arrivals coming to Slovenia and those having overnight stays has been decreasing.

Slovenia’s tourist arrivals diminished by 4% year-on-year in August as shown by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia last Monday. Meanwhile, there was a decreased in 4% for the number of overnight stays in tourist accommodations.

As reported by the statistical office, in August, around 458,000 tourist arrivals and over 1,488,000 overnight stays were registered in tourist accommodations. There was a decreased in 14% for the number of arrivals by domestic tourists and an increased of 2% for foreign tourist arrivals.

Slovenia has begun its ski advertising campaign wherein the said country does its best to promote skiing holidays especially for beginners.

This country is a small state located on the Balkan Peninsula that borders between Italy as well as Austria. Sometimes, it is confused with another skiing area Slovakia, which is located in Central Europe. The newest marketing firm within Slovenia aims to attract beginning skiers as well as stop the confusion between Slovenia and Slovakia.

Approximately 40% of the Slovenian area is composed of mountains which is why alpine skiing is amongst the Slovenia’s national sport. At present, Slovenia is composed of approximately 12 ski resorts. Some of the most famous resorts are Kranjska Gora and Maribor where the World Cup competition for alpine skiing is held every year.

Slovenia is also considered among the cheapest countries to have ski holidays wherein an average cost of ski pass will be around 147 Euros. This is certainly 10 to 15% lower than other countries like Italy and Austria. That’s why Slovenes claim that they do ski holidays with western standards but with eastern European charges.

February 2010 was the peak month for the ski season wherein approximately 153,000 people came to visit Slovenia. The number of visitors was 8% higher than the visitors from February of last year. This truly means that Slovenia is becoming one of the most famous skiing havens.

Just last September 23, 2010, the PokerStars.com Italian Poker Tour stops over in Nova Gorica, Slovenia for five days.

During the 5^th stop of the tour, they will be featuring a €2,000 + €200 buy-in main event as well as a cap of 500 with two day ones beginning that day. The event took place at the Perla Casino and Hotel.

Just last season, the PokerStars.com organized 2 events in Nova Gorica which lured around 362 players. Virgilio Giuseppe Di Cicco got the season one Italian Poker Tour at Nova Gorica for a prize worth €200,000.

Dedicated to Guiseppe Tartini, the Tartini Festival is an international music festival for the Piran-born maestro.  Jasna Nadles and Milan Vrsjakov are the program directors as well as the founders of the festival who have been striving their best to bring world famous performer to Piran as well as Slovene Istria.

The “Tartini Festival 2010 – Piran and the Slovene Istria” invited the fanatics of vintage and classical music to witness the breathtaking performances of famous and distinguished musicians. The Tartini junior program is full with young musicians who performed at the atrium of the Praetorian palace in Koper every Thursday at 20:30.

The Slovenian Writers’ Association together with the Vilenica Cultural Society just recently held the 25th Vilenica International Literary Festival last September 1 to 5, 2010. The said festival played host to around 30 authors coming from 20 nations. There were as well events help in Ljubljana, Gorizia (Italy), Maribor, Koper, Celje, Sežana and Bilje and accompanying program in in Lipica, Štanjel, Sežana, Lokev, Hruševje and Vilenica Cave. Furthermore, there will be visitors such as of academics, editors, publishers and cultural mediators coming from Central European countries as well as other nations.

Maribor Festival 2010 will bring 17 main and other related events which are under the artistic leadership of Richard Tognetti. Symphonic literature fans will really be pleased when they see the performances of Dvořák, Beethoven, and Rachmaninov. On the other hand, vocal music fans will be enjoying in the performance of Mozart’s Requiem plus the Slovenian premiere performance of The Choir of London. This said event will also be presenting several important pieces of chamber music together with various Slovenian new pieces and world premieres exclusively written for the Maribor Festival 2010. You can visit www.festivalmaribor.si for more information regarding the said festival.

Just recently, the Norkring officially launched Multiplex B (MUX-B), considered the second digital terrestrial TV (DTT) distribution network within Slovenia. MUX-B has 18 transmitting sites which covers approximately 85% of the Slovenian population. IT was fully established within four months. Since last July of this year, the majority terrestrial broadcasting sites were already in test operation. About 8 remaining sites in MUX B are projected to be accomplished around this September. This will probably be after RTV Slovenia Oddajniki in mreze completes the installation of the infrastructure required for Norkring to accomplish the work on the remaining sites. By the end of this month, MUX B is projected to cover 87 to 88% of the coverage within Slovenia.

For this year, Slovenia’s percentage of visitors increased up to 5% based on the registered tourist accommodations. But the quantity of overnight stays remained with last year’s level. This was based from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia as shown last Wednesday.

There were about 367,203 arrivals within the month that registered in tourist accommodations. There was an increase of 10% for the annual number of foreign tourists’ arrivals but sadly, there was a decline of 4% for the foreign tourist’s arrivals.

For the month of July, approximately 1.23 million overnight of tourists were recorded same with July last year. However, there was a decrease in the quantity of overnight stays of domestic tourists while an increased of 7% for the foreign tourists.

Hop on the Happy Johnny (Veseli Janez) ride to get a chance to tour and explore Ljubljana in your own comfortable way. It is an open-topped double-decker bus with a three-hour guided tour around the most beautiful sights and attractions within Ljubljana, Slovenia

The tour guide within the bus will mention related stories of the sights you will be visiting or passing by. The said bus will take you to places such as the Roman Wall, Ljubljana’s diplomatic quarter, Jože Plečnik’s grand Žale Cemetery, the newly opened Stožice Stadium, Jože Plečnik’s well-known St. Michael’s Church in the village of Črna vas at Ljubljana Marshes. After which, you will then proceed to the Ljubljana Castle, the suburb of Trnovo, Tivoli Park, then to the Ljubljana Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery which will then end at the city’s center.

Just today, it was declared that the Canada-Slovenia Youth Mobility Agreement will happen this month according to the Minister of International Trade, Honorable Peter Van Loan.

This said agreement between Canada and Slovenia makes the process simpler for those citizens of both countries aged 18 to 35 years old to travel and work for a year in each other’s country. Honorable Peter Van Loan shared this news during his visit in Slovenia in behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honorable Lawrence Cannon.

The minister is happy to declare that Canadians as well as Slovenian youths will now have easier access to travel as well as seek for job opportunities on both countries. They believe that such will help in the enhancement of knowledge of both citizens regarding their culture, society, language and so much more. Furthermore, this will strengthen the bond between both countries involved.

The Canada-Slovenia Youth Mobility Agreement is regarded as the 23^rd arrangement put into practice under the Government of Canada’s International Experience Canada initiative. During the year 2009, approximately 73,000 young individuals from Canada and those coming from different parts of the world joined in this said initiative. This will help the Canadian people and other countries involve to get to know more each other through sharing of experiences and through professional and personal development.