SLOVENIA – the only country in the world with love in its name

When Texas feels Slovenia on a basketball court...

Texas will have its very first opportunity to feel Slovenia at a basketball game on 11 March 2020. This will be a true ‘I Feel Slovenia’ evening with some exciting Slovenian surprises before and during the game.

Not only will this be the official name of the game, but Slovenia will also be represented on Dallas’ home court by two players; Luka Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks, whose performances and charisma first caught the attention of the NBA, and Vlatko Čančar who plays for the Denver Nuggets. Every aspiring basketball player dreams of an NBA career, and a nation of just 2 million people will have two players representing them at the game!

Slovenian athletes have always been the best ambassadors for the destination. Sport’s emotional charge and unifying effects means that its impact often spills out into other areas.

It seems almost inconceivable that a nation of just 2 million could achieve such great results in sports. Slovenian athletes are ranked among the best in the world according to the medals won at the Olympic Games per capita of population, and athletes from many different fields of sports achieve outstanding results almost daily.

... and when Texas feels Slovenia as a business opportunity

The ‘Texas Feels Slovenia’ business conference takes place 12 March 2020 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas. It will be a unique chance to familiarise the business community from Dallas, and indeed across Texas, with investment, business and tourism opportunities within Slovenia. Furthermore, Slovenian companies will be able to establish contacts with potential business partners in Texas.

The aim of the partnership with the Dallas Mavericks is also to present Slovenia as a green boutique tourist destination for visitors seeking diverse and active five-star experiences. Representatives from more than 20 tourist providers including Slovenian Tour Operators, Tourist Destinations and Hotels will present their offer at the Slovenian Tourist Workshop, which will be organised in the framework of the Business Conference. In past years, the STB has intensified activities in the US market, the most important incoming overseas market for Slovenian Tourism. Over the past ten years, the number of tourists from the US market has risen by 300 %.

The Slovenian government’s strategy defines the US as a priority market for an increase in the volume of trade, export market for Slovenian products and services, and a source of potential investors with sufficient capital and from the relevant industries.

Under the auspices of the Slovenian company Sport Media Focus, Slovenia’s partnership with the Dallas Mavericks brought together the Government Communication Office, the Slovenian Tourist Board, SPIRIT Slovenia and Ljubljana Tourism. The business conference is organised in cooperation with Slovenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and AmCham Slovenia.

The Partnership is a unique opportunity for all national institutions. We aim to make a connection between achievements in sport and the economy. Texas offers numerous possibilities, and it is the 10^th largest economy in the world in terms of GDP. This is an excellent opportunity for Slovenian companies that would like to enter this market.

A few interesting facts about Slovenia

Green is the colour of the Slovenian DNA – in many ways. Often referred to as the land of forests, Slovenia has almost 60 % of its territory wooded, making it the third-most-forested country in Europe, and one of the greenest in the world.

Capital city Ljubljana is a proud holder of the title 2016 European Green Capital and has just been recognised as a Tree City of the World. It is also the first European capital to commit to going zero-waste.

Slovenians like to say that they are as busy as bees, which genuinely holds true: Slovenia is the most passionate beekeeping country in the EU (it has almost five beekeepers per 1,000 people). On Slovenia’s initiative, the United Nations proclaimed 20 May as World Bee Day, a day for raising awareness of the extraordinary role bees play in the survival of humankind.

Slovenia is also one of the most environmentally-friendly countries in the world. According to the Good Country Index, it ranks fourth among 153 countries in terms of its positive contribution to the planet and the climate. Great efforts have also been made in terms of sustainability. This is why, in the field of tourism, Slovenia ranks among the world’s top sustainable countries to visit. For the past decade, Slovenia has actively developed sustainable forms of tourism and established the Green Scheme of Slovenian Tourism - the central mechanism in developing and promoting sustainable tourism in Slovenia – which has become a role model for the rest of the world.

Slovenia is also a country with above-average biodiversity and an absolute champion in terms of the number of animal and plant species per square kilometre: it is home to 1 % of all known species and more than 2 % of all terrestrial species.

Furthermore, Slovenia is home to as many as 3,119 native plant species and 18 registered native animal species. Among them are a native honeybee species, the Carniolan honeybee, and Lipizzaner horses, originating from the Lipica stud farm, which was established in 1580 in the Karst region in the south-western part of Slovenia. Not to forget the world-famous Postojna Cave, the largest and most attractive show cave in Europe, which is home to the olm, a rare animal species often refered to as the ‘baby dragon’.

In 2021, Slovenia will become the European Region of Gastronomy and promises to satisfy the tastebuds of even the most demanding seekers of authentic flavours. With 24 gastronomic regions, and 365 varieties of food and drink specific to a certain region or town, visitors can taste a different delicacy every day of the year. With world-leading chefs, the World’s Best Female Chef 2017 Ana Roš, three wine regions and 52 wine grape varieties (including the oldest grapevine in the world growing in Maribor), you can see why Slovenia is welcome on the culinary map of world-class gastronomy destinations.

The fact is that it is perfectly located at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, the Alps, the Karst and the Pannonian Plain. Slovenia can be traversed in just a day (though we recommend you to take time and travel slowly!), and it takes even less to travel from Ljubljana to the neighbouring countries: 45 minutes to Austria, 1 hour to Italy, 1.5 hours to Croatia and less than 2 hours to Hungary.

It is no cliché but pure truth that there are few countries in the world, if any, where one can hit the ski slopes of the Alps in the morning and then drive off to take a dip in the sea in the afternoon.

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