STO acting director Maja Pak has told a recent event organised by journalists focusing on tourism that for the first time ever the number of overnights would exceed 10 million this year.

"The [forecast] 12% increase in foreign tourists is significantly above the figures recorded elsewhere in Europe," Pak added.

The most recent data from the Statistics Office show an 11% annual increase in the number of tourists in the first ten months of the year, while the number of overnights in the same period went up by 7.5%.

The number of foreign tourists increased by 11.8% in the first ten months year-on-year, while the number of overnights by foreigners was 8.1% higher, the STO said, quoting the Statistics Office.

The number of Slovenian tourists has also increased. It was up by 9.2% year-on-year, while the number of overnights they generated was up by 6.5%.

A similar positive trend has also been recorded in Ljubljana, the country's number one destination. The capital expects to see 1.2 million overnights this year, a new record. EUR 10m are to be generated by tourists in Ljubljana in December alone.

Tourism generates more than 12% of Slovenia's GDP and accounted for 8% of the country's exports in general and for some 40% of services exported, according to the STO.