LJUBLJANA: The number of overnight stays by tourists in Slovenia jumped by about 8.5 times year-on-year in November 2021, the country’s statistics office said. The November figures also surpassed those from the same month in 2019, the last pre-Covid year, according to statistics.

Slovenia’s tourism industry has seen a strong recovery this year, although the type of tourists has changed, reports Xinhua news agency. Domestic tourists accounted for almost 70 per cent of all overnight stays this November, compared to only 37.4 per cent in November 2019. Meanwhile, the number of foreign tourists’ overnight stays has halved versus November 2019. However, compared to 2020, the situation this year was better, said the office.

“This November many more tourist arrivals and overnight stays of domestic and foreign tourists were recorded compared to November 2020 due to eased Covid-19 epidemic measures,” the office said. Slovenia reported its first cases of the Omicron variant on December 14 this year, but the government didn’t choose another general lockdown, trying to avoid damaging the country’s economy. Slovenian tourism was badly hit by the pandemic, which prompted the government to issue tourist vouchers for domestic citizens of up to 300 euros ($265). These can be used for visits within Slovenia until the end of June 2022. Before the outbreak of Covid-19, tourism represented about 10.6 per cent of the country’s GDP, but it fell to 6.5 per cent in 2020.