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Steve Fallon's Lonely Planet guide book was my inspiration to visit Slovenia in 1996; it remains a crucial guide for first timers and regular visitors. It has been a long trek, but Slovenia - and especially Ljubljana and Gorenjska where I live - are emerging on to the world stage ever faster as "the next destination." Let's look at the evidence.

In recent months in the UK there have been several national newspaper spreads about Slovenia - the Telegraph has published two of them - both by Steve Fallon who was back in Slovenia last summer. The Daily Mirror and The Guardian have also included supportive articles. Granted, if you search "Slovenia" on the Daily Mirror website, you will get a lot about football, and the England v Slovenia in June will also have done a great deal of good raising the country's profile.

As a "new" or "first time" destination, Slovenia is now firmly on the student summer Interrail map. Just go to Twitter and search #interrail. On the list of places people are talking about you will find Ljubljana, Bled and Slovenia mixed in with Budapest, Copenhagen, Berlin and Paris.

Perhaps the strongest indication that Slovenia is on the verge of becoming a fashionable destination was when Monocle magazine - the style bible of the globe-trotting culturalists - fixed its sagacious eye on Slovenia and was satisfied with what it saw.

I will temper my almost unbounded enthusiasm for my adopted home with concerns about the difficulty getting here. Depressingly, flight timetables make it is easier to leave Ljubljana Airport than to get to it. An important destination needs to have better access. I have stories - but they will keep for another time.

In 2014, Slovenia recorded 3,438,279 tourist arrivals (exceeding the 2013 figure by 3.6%) and 9,343,574 overnight stays Travellers beyond Italy and Austria are noticing, Slovenia - are you ready for more? Just pray they don't bring stag parties!

Davy Sims is a freelance journalist and former BBC producer. He lives in Slovenia for half the year [and the other half in Northern Ireland]. He is editor of www.lakeblednews.com

e-mail editor@lakeblednews.com