While the summer flights are a continuation of annually organised trips from Japan to Slovenia, the charter flights will be for the first time carried out by All Nippon Airways (ANA), the biggest Japanese airliner.

The STO said that this was an important step forward in marketing Slovenia as a tourist destination on the 126-million Japanese market.

The six flights will bring around 1,250 tourists from Tokyo, Sendai, Nagoya and Osaka.

Japanese Ambassador to Slovenia Keiji Fukuda said that this was an important achievement, which will facilitate the development of tourism and cooperation between Slovenia and Japan.

"Slovenia is a small, but charming country, which boasts both Mediaeval tradition in urban areas and rich natural diversity," he was quoted by the STO as saying.

The ambassador added that while the security situation in Europe was currently worrying, "Slovenia is one of the safest European countries".

The STO puts Japan among Slovenia's key overseas markets, with the organisation of charter flights between the two countries being one of its key goals for Japan this year, Livija Kovač Kostantinovič of the STO explained to the STA.

In 2015, Japanese tourists accounted for more than 55,000 overnight stays in Slovenia, down 8% over 2014. They stayed here a day and a half on average. The majority visited Ljubljana (52%), followed by mountainous areas (37%), she said.