The Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia, New Delhi in cooperation with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) along with IndoEuropean Travels (Slovenian DMC) and Indo Asia Holidays organized a trade networking event in New Delhi recently.
Jozef Drofenik, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia, New Delhi. Informed that Slovenia observed approximately 20,000 overnights from India in 2016, but India is still not a prominent inbound source market for the country. Thus, their marketing initiatives will be boosted once arrival numbers are substantial. However, Slovenia is open for joint promotions with neighbouring tourist destinations as it is a long-haul destination and travellers would like to cover few other destinations during one trip. The Ambassador quoted that there could be day trip visitors from India also coming in from nearby destinations, which are not taken into consideration. From Asia, Korea is gearing up the inbound business charts. Overall in 2016, Slovenia witnessed 8.5 million inbound arrivals.
“Slovenia is a stunning country with a population of two million. We cater to every segment of tourists and the country is a paradise for food and wine lovers too. Film production units from India can avail the tax refunds similar to tourists. The best time to visit is during spring in June and autumn in August”, he added.
On the connectivity front, the Ambassador outlined that Air India serves the best 8-hour 20-minute flight from Delhi to Vienna (VIE), Austria thrice a week and Adria Airways offers a 45-minute connection further to Ljubljana (LJU), Slovenia. In 2015, Air India code shared with Adria Airways for operations to Ljubljana.
The visa processing for Slovenia is handled through VFS Global and both tourist and business visa are conferred for 90 days by paying a fee of INR 4,375 plus facilitation charges and taxes. Slovenia is the Convention and Culture Partner at ITB Berlin 2017.
