Article by Matthew O'Conner for Slovenia Times

I love budget airlines. A lot of people hate them. They say things like there is not enough leg room, or the luggage allowance is so small you have to pack two weeks of clothing into a wash bag. For me though, they’re great. They give me a chance to fly to loads of cities I didn’t even know existed like Olbia, Wroclaw, Erfurt or Glasgow, all for about the same price as a Mars Bar. Nothing wrong with that, I say, regardless of not having any clothes to wear when I get there and having to walk around with stiff legs for three days.
The cheapo airlines are probably responsible for Slovenia’s massive surge in the number of tourists over the past year. There was a gigantic 48 percent increase in British tourists this year coming to Slovenia, mainly due to easyjet’s route from Stansted and the excellent reviews the country now gets in tourist television shows and magazines around Europe. The Dutch and Germans (serviced by easyjet as well) are also coming in record numbers, as are the Americans, although on rather more expensive airlines, I presume.
The fact that Slovenia is relatively unspoilt is attracting thousands of tourists who want to go somewhere different from the typical concrete blocks that constitute many Mediterranean coastlines and making it one of the world’s fastest growing tourist markets, according to the clever people at the World Tourism Organisation. The many thermal spas in Slovenia are one of the main attractions, but there are also countless tourists coming for walking holidays or the chance to partake in extreme sports such as white water rafting or canyoning.
With so much to offer in such a small country, tourists are now finding out that Slovenia is one of the best places in Europe for a short break or just to get away from it all for a couple of weeks of serenity in the mountains.
Slovenia’s profile among British tourists is also likely to rise in the New Year when the BBC will screen a TV series about Zrece. The programmes will detail what happened when workers from Zrece traded places with workers from their twin town of Sedburgh in England, but will also show some of the beautiful countryside around Slovenia. A similar style programme about Mallorca called Passport to the Sun, boosted British tourism massively on the Spanish Island, so expect the same to happen in Slovenia.
But increasing and improving tourism comes at a price, and unfortunately, quite often the people involved in or around the industry get too greedy. The reason many people are coming to Slovenia is because it is different; it is green and clean. The air feels fresh and there is no overabundance of hotels or concrete blocks. But it is all too easy to fall into the trap of continually trying to attract more people to a country, by building bigger hotels or a better infrastructure. All this would do though is turn Slovenia into a tourist destination just like the many that tourists are now trying to steer clear of. More tourists mean a bigger strain on things such as water supply, road networks and medical services, while pollution increases and pretty soon the idyllic green and clean country turns into a not so green and clean country.
Slovenia is a great place to visit or spend a holiday, but would that be the case if it were exactly the same as any other built-up holiday resort? No, of course not.
This is an important time for Slovenia and its tourism industry. It looks great on paper that there are far more tourists than ever before. However, it is not figures on a budget sheet that make Slovenia so attractive. Getting the balance between quality tourism and keeping the country unspoilt is one of the most difficult challenges to any country’s tourist industry. As soon as people get greedy and the hotels and roads start being built there is no going back and although it takes a while to happen, it surely will. It is down to the people of Slovenia to make sure that their beautiful country does not go the way of so many other tourist destinations around Europe and to keep in mind that increasing the number of tourists beyond recognition may make them much richer, it will probably not make them much happier.