A total of 320.415 people visited thermal spas in the January-June period, generating almost 1.2 million overnight stays, the Slovenian Natural Spas Association (SSNZ) said in a press release.

The upbeat figures come after some years of decline in the number of guests, the SSNZ pointed out, adding that the improvement could be attributed mostly to Slovenian guests, who generated 5.7% more overnight stays year-on-year.

On the other hand, overnight stays by foreign guests saw a 2.8% cumulative drop, due to a significant decrease in the number of Russian guests, which cratered by 34%. They also generated over 40% less overnight stays.

Considering that these were guests with high purchasing power and longer than average stay, the overall slump does not come as a big surprise, the SSNZ said, attributing the sudden drop to the EU sanctions against Russia.

Foreign guests in Slovenian thermal spas are therefore mostly Austrians (28.4%), as their number went up by 9%. They also generated some 5% more overnight stays year-on-year.

A relatively big increase was also recorded with Croatian, Dutch and Czech tourists, whose numbers were up by 9%, 13% and 22%, respectively.

The SSNZ were also extremely happy to see a 99% leap in the number of Israeli guests, who upped their overnight stays by 71%.