Melania's birth country Slovenia hopes to boost tourism revenues

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia, the country where US First Lady Melania Trump was born, hopes to strongly increase tourism revenues in the coming years, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the draft of the government's tourism strategy, revenues from foreign tourists should rise to at least 3.7 billion euros (S$5.7 billion) by 2021 from some 2.4 billion euros last year, pushed up by investment in the sector.

"The vision of Slovenian tourism is that Slovenia is an active, green and healthy destination," the government said in a statement.

Slovenia is an Alpine state with a number of spa and seaside resorts. More than half of the country is covered by forest.

Last year the number of foreign tourists in Slovenia rose by 12 per cent to 3 million, as tourists turned to European countries due to terrorist fears elsewhere. The US First Lady's fame also raised Slovenia's profile.

The number of foreign tourists soared by 43 per cent year-on-year in April, the latest data available, with the number of American visitors up by 31 per cent over the same period.