The Recreational Use and Abuse of the Coastline of Slovenia

Abstract

With 46.6 km of the coastline, the Republic of Slovenia is a Mediterranean and European nation-state with the most limited access to the sea. Therefore, the use of it should be of the highest state priority. The core of coastal tourism is located in and around Portorož-Portorose, in the commune of Piran-Pirano. Other parts of the coast have been primarily devoted to other businesses, urban structures and port/communication infrastructures. Intensive tourism is located on close to 9% of the coastline, whereas elsewhere, on almost one third of the Slovenian coastline, tourism activities are a “by-product” of the urban way of life, port facilities and other commercial and non-commercial activities. Different acts of nature/culture-conservation have made several coastline areas -just because of it - attractive, like the “Strunjanski klif” (the highest cliff, made out of the flysh (stone), on the coasts of the Adriatic) and the salt-pans of Sečovlje (“Sečxoveljske soline”).