Charter flights to 57 destinations will be available from Ljubljana airport this summer season, with the first one taking tourists to the Greek island of Santorini on 24 May.

Apart from the flight to Santorini, the list of charter flights available this summer includes Crete and a dozen other destinations in Greece as well as in France, Spain, Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, Portugal, Malta, the Netherlands, Finland, Iceland, Cape Verde, the Azores and Italy.

Operated by Trade Air, Aegean Airlines, Corendon Airlines, Fly Egypt, Nile Air, Nouvelair and White Airways, the flights have been organised by travel agencies Palma, Kompas, Relax, Intelekta, ETI and Oasis.

Ljubljana Airport has seen a 25% rise in the number of passengers between January and April compared to the same period last year. It served 370,000 passengers. By the end of the year, the number is expected to rise to some 1.4 million, according to Fraport Slovenija director Babett Stapel.

Greece is becoming an increasingly popular destination for Slovenians, travel agencies say. Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia and Spain are also popular. Increasingly many tourists fly to Montenegro as well as to Zanzibar, Thailand, Columbia and Mauritius, Jože Režonja from Relax Turizem told the Slovenian Press Agency.