Dejan Cigale

Geography of Tourism in Slovenia

Slovenia is characterized by diverse landscapes on a relatively small geographic area. The natural diversity is enhanced by human modifications, in particular, rural land use and colonization. The heterogeneity of the landscape and diversity of the country provide an abundance of opportunities for recreational use and tourism. The beginnings of the modern tourism development can be traced back to the 1960s and 1970s, when Slovenia was a part of Yugoslavia. Following the announcement of independence in 1991 and general disintegration of the federal state of Yugoslavia, the number of foreign visitors was drastically reduced. In the beginning of the third millennium, Slovenia has experienced an above-average rate of tourism growth. Simultaneously, important differences between various tourism markets can be observed. Slovenia as a tourist destination is becoming less dependent on domestic tourists and neighboring countries as the share of tourists from more distant countries is increasing. Nonetheless, in most Slovenian municipalities, domestic tourists prevail. Tourists are attracted predominantly by country’s natural features. Because of its picturesque, heterogeneous landscape, relatively well-preserved environment and favorable location in relation to its main tourism markets, Slovenia will likely remain a popular tourist destination. Nonetheless, the country is, in the European context, only a moderately developed destination and tourism in Slovenia is already facing many challenges.

Alexander Georg Supan – v Sloveniji spregledan geograf slovenskega rodu

Paper presents life and work of Alexander Supan, geographer of Slovenian origin, and his influence on global and Slovenian geography. He was one of the more important geographers of the second half of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century. His scientific work took place, in contrast to geographers who were then working in present-day Slovenian territory, in accordance with contemporary geographic approaches. He built his career abroad, but he started it in Ljubljana. Because of that and because of his origin, we can consider him one of the more important links in the history of modern geography in Slovenian territory.

Influence of tourism on the characteristics of road traffic in Koprsko primorje

Koprsko primorje (Koper Littoral) is the most visited tourist area in Slovenia. Huge number of tourist visits influences also the characteristics of traffic in the area. Analysis of data on daily number of vehicles for road traffic count points in this area has shown that changes in traffic volume are, to a large extent, related to the availability of free time and the weather. Despite this, there are considerable differences within the region in regard to intensity of these influences, what is the result of a combination of the influences of tourism, other economic activities and local population.

Tourist visits of high mountains in Kamniška Bistrica area

The paper discusses characteristics of tourist/leisure visits of mountain summits in high mountain area of Kamniska Bistrica and various factors that influence them. For the analysis of visits, data from summit books were used. Summits differ in number of visitors, their regional origin and their choice of starting points as well as in the extent to which the visitors are climbing more than one summit during the visit.