ECONOMY BOOST: Melania Trump’s popularity sends Slovenia's tourism industry into overdrive
THE First Lady of the United States has boosted her birth country’s tourism industry, as people are flocking to the former Yugoslavian state to unravel details about her upbringing, according to a tourist board spokeswoman.
Slovenia’s Statistics Office reveals, the number of American tourists staying overnight in Slovenia soared by 15.4 per cent in December, a month after Donald Trump’s election victory was announced.
The figures also showed 2016 – the year of Trump's controversial campaign – was a great year for Slovenian tourism, as 11.1 million foreign tourists stayed overnight in Melania's country of birth.
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Rebeka Kumer Bizjak, from the Slovenia Tourist Board said, although the number of American tourists in Slovenia has been on the rise since 2006, public interest in Melania Trump has boosted tourism.
Ms Bizjak added: “ Slovenia’s recognition in the world has been growing stronger since last year, when Donald Trump announced his candidacy.
“Besides the media, an increased number of American citizens are now also expected to become interested in the homeland of the first lady.”
Melania Trump, originally known as Melanija Knavs, was born in Novo Mesto, south-eastern Slovenia which was a part of Yugoslavia. After moving to the US to pursue her modelling career, she became a citizen in 2006, 11 years before she would become America’s second foreign-born First Lady.
Although the First Lady has indirectly boosted her home country’s tourism, she has not been keen to be directly associated with the Slovenian state.
Weeks after Trump became President-elect, Melania hired lawyers from the Slovenian law firm, Pirc Muser & Partnerji in an attempt to stop the public using her name for commercial purposes without her consent.
After Slovenian businesses were found to be producing goods using her face and her name, including a “Melania Cake” and a brand of honey called, “Melania’s Home Garden”, her lawyers released a warning.
In response to the warnings, Bruno Vidmar, owner of the local shop Pizzeria Rondo in Sevnica said:
“We wanted to honour Melania and celebrate her success… the best way to mark the occasion was by making the cake.”