After a record-breaking year for Slovenian tourism, visitor numbers and nights were slightly lower in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest official statistics.

Visitor numbers fell by 1.3% year-on-year to almost 897,400 and the number of nights spent at tourism accommodation facilities was down by 2.9% to 2.35 million, figures from the Statistical Office show.

Foreign tourists, mainly coming from Italy, Austria and Croatia, accounted for 60% of the nights. They spent 1.41 million nights here or 3.5% fewer than in the same period a year ago.

Nights spent by Slovenian tourists dropped slightly less, by 2% to over 939,100.

Data for March alone show a more pronounced decline, which may also be attributed to the fact that Easter holidays fell in April rather than March this year.

Arrivals were down by 9.5% year-on-year and there were also 8.7% fewer nights this March than a year ago. The number of nights spent by foreign visitors dropped by as much as 14%.

The capital Ljubljana, the seaside municipality of Piran and the lakeside municipality of Bled are the most popular with foreign tourists.

Piran saw the number of nights by foreign visitors drop by 27%, Bled reported 24% fewer and Ljubljana 7% fewer.

Italians were the largest group of visitors in March, followed by Austrians and Croatians.