The competitiveness of long haul destination: Case study of Slovenia and its capital city Ljubljana

Slovenia is the youngest country in Central Europe, established in 1991 by the proclamation of independency and by breaking the connections with former Yugoslavia, to which it was attached as a constituent republic (1). It is a small country, half the size of Switzerland with three times lower number of inhabitants. (see picture 1: Slovenian Identity Card.) In the past it is used to be a tourism transit country for European tourist stream towards the Adriatic. According to the relative index value of foreign tourist nights per inhabitant 1.8, Slovenian tourism in 1990 stayed behind European standards (2). Slowenia's income from international tourism in the same year was only $ 420 per inhabitant (in Switzerland $1,033 and in Austria $1,550 per inhabitant) (3).