The first of the two hotels planned at an emerging commercial complex next to Ljubljana's future passenger terminal is to open at the end of 2027 under the Australian brand Tribe.

Built by Mendota Invest, a company owned by the Hungarian bank OTP, Emonika will feature two hotels, a shopping centre, 187 flats, and offices.

Mendota Invest has signed a lease agreement for the first of the two hotels with Mogotel Hotel Group, which has a franchise agreement with global hotel group Accor to manage Tribe hotels.

Owned by the French hotel giant Accor, Tribe is an Australian brand of affordable four-star hotels.

Mendota Invest CEO Pal Forgacs believes the Tribe Hotel will be an important asset within the complex, which will help revitalise a long neglected area near the Ljubljana central train station.

Frank Reul, vice president for development at Accor for Eastern Europe, Balkans, Italy and Greece, believes that Slovenia, together with the rest of the Balkans, has a huge tourism potential.

"We are very pleased to expand our network to Slovenia with the Tribe Hotel - the first in Ljubljana and the wider region," he said in a press release on 22 April.

The Mogotel Hotel Group is an international hotel operator based in Riga, Latvia, which operates hotels under international franchise brands and own brands in several European countries.

The Tribe brand, conceived by Mark and Melissa Peters, was founded in Australia in 2017 in response to modern travellers' desire for affordable designer hotels.

There are currently 20 Tribe hotels around the world and another 40 are in the making. Tribe is part of Accor, which has over 5,600 properties in over 110 countries.