The beauty of Slovenia's natural landscape is more than matched by the country's rich and diverse cultural landscape. Virtually every municipality owns at least one cultural institution - most smaller towns have a library, a museum/gallery and a municipal cultural centre, whilst the major towns also have theatre houses. Local youth cultural centres are widespread throughout the country and present vibrant cultural programmes including a range of significant international festivals. Cultural events are listed in all of the daily newspapers, with comprehensive coverage of all regions in Deloskop, the cultural section of Delo newspaper, or in Ljubljana Urban Municipality's monthly magazine Kam? ('Where?') which is available at all Ljubljana Tourist Information Centres. Although some information sources are in Slovene only, visitors will find that scanning the listings always turns up a familiar name from the world of music, theatre, visual arts or film. The majority of publicity materials are bilingual (Slovene-English), films are always screened in the original language and never dubbed, whilst at bookstores there are many English-language books about Slovene artists or individual fields of Slovene art, media and heritage.

The architecture of the cities themselves is interesting, especially the capital Ljubljana which is the cultural and educational centre of Slovenia; its rich ancient, medieval and Baroque heritage and interesting mixture of Mediterranean and Central European (Austro-Hungarian) influences is an important tourist attraction. Ptuj, Slovenia's oldest town, is located in the east of the country and hosts collections ranging from Roman heritage to contemporary carnival artefacts.

Several smaller towns - including Kamnik in Central Slovenia, Kranj, Radovljica and Škofja Loka in the Gorenjska region, Idrija in the Goriška region, and Piran in the Karst-Coast region - boast a rich medieval cultural heritage. The revival of historical city centres is a pressing issue for the Slovene Association of Historic Towns. In 2004 a seminar dealing with this theme was organised by the British Council Slovenia in co-operation with Ljubljana Urban Municipality.

The list of national cultural institutions financed by the state includes natural monuments, museums and galleries (constituting the most important tourist attractions in Slovenia) and the Slovene built heritage, represented by approximately 300 castles and manor houses, many of them also incorporating museums and galleries themselves. High on the list of attractions include the Škocjan Caves World Heritage Site, ancient buildings such as Bled Castle, Predjama Castle, Ljubljana Castle, Snežnik Castle and Celje Castle, museums such as the War Museum, Logatec at Kobarid (which won the 1993 European Museum of the Year Award), the National Museum of Slovenia, the Museum of Modern Art Ljubljana, the Idrija Mine Museum and the Technical Museum of Slovenia.

Slovenia’s churches and monasteries also preserve important heritage from the Middle Ages onwards. The cathedrals in the major cities are mostly Baroque monuments, while many of the smaller churches preserve Gothic and even Romanesque architectural features. Among the most visited churches in Slovenia are the Gothic jewel at Ptujska gora and the pilgrimage churches at Brezje and at Sveta gora above Nova Gorica. Kostanjevica Monastery in south eastern Slovenia houses the Božidar Jakac Gallery, Kostanjevica na Krki, which is internationally known for its Forma Viva Open Air Wood Sculpture Collection, set in the monastery park.

Last but not least, Slovenia is quite a popular destination for important conferences and congresses. Several facilities are at the disposal of event managers, including the Cankarjev dom Culture and Congress Centre which, with its 10 halls, is capable of holding up to 4,500 people.

In 2006 there were 1,616,650 foreign arrivals and 4,488,829 overnight stays by foreign visitors. The highest number of foreign guests, calculated by overnight stays, were Italians, followed by Austrians, Germans and Britons, all of which increased in number (source: Slovenia Tourism in Numbers (Slovenia Tourist Board, 2007).

In 2005 tourism accounted for: over € 1.7 billion turnover; € 1.3 billion of foreign currency inflow; € 655 of foreign currency inflow per capita; 10 per cent of Slovene export of goods and services; and a share of the economy in total value added of over 5.5 per cent. The sector also employed 54,000 people (6.4 per cent of all jobs in Slovenia) and made up 3.7 per cent of the country's GDP (source: Government Communication Office Newsletter, October 2006).

In recent years the STB has focused primarily on Slovenia's three most important markets, Italy, Austria and Germany. The advertising budget for Germany was increased by 130 per cent, and funds for the promotion of Slovene tourism in the other two markets were increased by 100 per cent. Special attention has also been paid to Great Britain, Scandinavia and France. Slovene tourism has risen markedly in relation to the French market, and the STB opened an information office in Paris in 2005. Low-cost air travel by Easyjet from London to Ljubljana has also been an important encouragement for UK tourists.

In 2005 a total of 3,500 new people were employed in the tourism sector and the country was able to apply for a range of EU funds for tourism development projects. In the same year STB appeared at 48 trade and tourism fairs, including 13 at which Slovenia was making its first appearance.

Tourism is the fastest-growing business sector in the world and Slovenia faces both challenges and development opportunities in the field. In October 2006 a seminar entitled 'Tourism Enriches', organised in Maribor by the Slovene Tourist Board and the Ministry of the Economy to mark World Tourism Day, informed tourism representatives from around the country that tourism in Slovenia should be growing at 2.5 times the rate of the growth of the economy and should bring a high influx of foreign currency. The government has drafted a plan of development for future years which involves increasing the visibility of Slovenia as a tourist destination, uniting the organisations working in tourism, increasing spending on human resources and intensifying investment in quality tourism infrastructure. And since good transport infrastructure is important for making Slovenia more tourist-friendly, it is recognised that further progress needs to be made in constructing motorways and bicycle paths. The potential for cultural tourism is also currently being explored and developed in collaboration with international organisations and colleagues.

Slovenia is a member of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) and the European Tourism Commission, it is active in the Alpe-Adria Working Community, Slovenia and the Central European Initiative on Tourism. The Slovene Tourist Board has representative offices in Austria (Vienna), Croatia (Zagreb), Germany (Munich), Great Britain (Herts), Hungary (Budapest), Italy (Milan), Switzerland (Zurich), the Netherlands (Rotterdam) and the USA (Fort Lauderdale).