Melania Trump smiles at passersby on a highway in Sevnica, Solvenia that reads “Welcome to the Hometown of First Lady” — a billboard that represents more than a celebration of its most famous citizen.
The number of tourists in Slovenia rose by 8 percent year-on-year in March, with tourists booking overnight stays jumping a whopping 30.6 percent and tourists visiting by 22.5 percent, CNBC reported using data from the government’s statistics office.
“Analysts said domestic tourist figures reflected improved economic conditions in Slovenia, a country which narrowly avoided an international bailout for its banks in 2013 but expects economic growth of 3.6 percent this year versus 2.5 percent in 2016,” CNBC reported.
The unemployment rate also has improved — although no direct connection to the first lady is implicated — from 12 percent in March 2016 to 10.2 percent in March 2017.
In April the central European nation of Slovenia celebrated a milestone, CNN reported, at a time when one of its own will be living in the White House after First Son Barron Trump finishes the school year in New York.
Slovenian Ambassador to the United States Dr. Božo Cerar commemorated the 25th anniversary of U.S. recognition of the European nation by planting a Linden tree in the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C.
“Slovenians are ‘very proud’ that Trump is first lady, Cerar told CNN recently. “She has helped the nation’s visibility considerably, he said, noting that Americans no longer mix his country up with Slovakia, a ‘huge improvement.’”
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