The current election campaign in the United States had some influence on Slovenia. Why? Because the current wife of the Republican candidate Donald Trump is a Slovene. Since higher public attention has been drawn to her husband, Melania Trump herself has become a prominent public figure.
Many Americans wondered in what country Trump’s spouse had been born, and a considerable part of them decided to see that place with their own eyes. Melania has become one of the reasons for increasing the number of foreign tourists in Slovenia.
Thanks to Melania, a growing number of tourists is coming to Slovenia from the United States
The ‘Melania Trump effect’ caused an increase in the number of arrivals of American tourists: it has grown by 23% since April 2015 (we are talking about the annual figures). Traditionally, the performance of foreign tourists’ visits varies from month to month: in summer, this figure is usually higher, and during the Christmas holidays, it declines.
Obviously, the growing interest of Americans since spring of 2015 has resulted in an increased number of the United States tourists’ arrivals. It is known thanks to the use of Canadian travellers as a control group. The Canadians have a very similar dynamics of visits to Slovenia. There is only one “but”—they do not have the “Melania Trump effect”. This fact allows us to demonstrate this effect in numbers (according to the method by Prof. Andrew Harvey, the University of Cambridge; see Table).
Source: siol.net
