In 2019, 1,336,190 visitors came to the Ljubljana Castle, 590,128 took the funicular and as many as 610 different events were held on the castle premises.

In 2019, we recorded a positive trend in the number of visitors to the central tourist point in the country. Deseasonalisation is important – extending the visiting period (from April until the end of October we recorded over hundred thousand visitors per month, and in August over two hundred thousand). Last year the funicular carried 590,128 passengers, which is 9.5% more than in the same period in 2018 (as a reminder, in its first year of operation, in 2007, the funicular transported 276,038 passengers); on 5 April it transferred the four millionth passenger since the beginning of its operation. In 2019, among visitors included in the statistics of sold tourists tickets 24.21% were domestic and 75.79% foreign, and there were 3.15% more tickets sold. Foreign visitors come predominantly from Italy, Great Britain, Germany, the United States of America, Korea, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Taiwan and Croatia.
Within the framework of regular and irregular tour hours 1,215 different guided tours were conducted with 17,623 people taking part. In 2019, 60,870 audio guides were handed out, enabling participation in Slovenian and thirteen foreign languages. The adventure game with escape room elements called Castle Escape was played by 6,167 people.

Lively activity above the city every day of the year

Photo: Miha Mally

In the cultural and artistic field – within the scope of the music, art and gallery, education, performance and film programme and traditional events – 290 events were carried out last year, attracting 218,401 visitors (the number does not include exhibitions and other events with no admission). In castle spaces available for rent there were additional 320 events carried out by other organisers, in some of them the Ljubljana Castle acted as co-producer. In total, as many as 610 events were held in numerous castle spaces in 2019, making the Ljubljana Castle one of the cultural and social hubs of the capital.

Hostel Celica with a successful season, reintroduced daily lunch menus and numerous programmes

Since 2018 the public institute Ljubljana Castle is the manager of the Hostel Celica, and last year was its first full year in operation (namely, in the first half of 2018 it was under renovation). We have recorded a 74% average occupancy of beds and an 81% occupancy of rooms. The average stay has somewhat increased, namely to 1.72 nights. Most guests come from Great Britain, followed by Germany, Italy, the United States of America, France, the Netherlands and Australia. The share of Slovenian guest increased to 5%.
Beginning of 2019, the Hostel Celica successfully satisfied all sustainable criteria and received a prestigious recognition – Gold Travelife certificate.
Since its opening the hostel in addition to offering accommodation as its main activity also has a snack bar, and at the beginning of last year we expanded our hospitality services to include daily lunches, snacks and regular dishes, and since the beginning of this year we also offer student lunches.
Last year there were 110 cultural and art events with musical, artistic and educational contents held at the hostel, and they are to continue in 2020. In the area of music we have regular Tuesday evenings in the Harmony of the World cycle, and during summer music events of different genres are going to be held in the summer garden. In the Meeting Point Gallery and occasionally in the hostel hallway there are exhibitions planned throughout the year, and we are going to continue offering lectures in the field of travel, literature and philosophy. Some of these programmes are prepared in cooperation with the cultural association KUD Sestava. In addition to the aforementioned, the Hostel Celica is going to be one of the venues of the Ment festival, and at the end of May the Godibodi festival.

And so, last year the Ljubljana Castle and Hostel Celica received the certificate of excellence awarded by the internationally renowned tourist platform TripAdvisor.