APITOURISM – BEE TOURISM, SLOVENIA’s LOVE FOR ITS BEES

API travel experience can provide an opportunity to be intrigued by the mystic world of bees. Not only to learn about different bee products, a number of which enjoy medicinal applications, but to get as close to bees as you want. As a visitor on an API tour, beekeepers will invite you to enter a bee house, where you can listen to the relaxing buzz of the bees, which has been proven to have a positive effect on a person’s state of mind.

Apitourism or bee tourism has become a hive of activity for Slovenia. This small and elegant land of forests is one of the best places to visit in the world if you love bees or, in fact, if you are a bee.

The industrious insects face declining numbers due to habitat loss, climate change and pesticides, but thankfully this bee-loving nation has their back. Slovenia is the only European member state that has given its native honeybee species, the carniolan, protected status as well as being one of the first to prohibit some harmful pesticides.

Bee keeping is one of Slovenia’s oldest and proudest traditions. But it isn’t a remnant of its past, it is very much part of the country’s modern culture. The nation has an impressive 10,000 beekeepers that produce about 2,000 tonnes of honey a year. And many young people have taken up the tradition. Even the capital Ljubljana is home to a healthy community of urban beekeepers with hives dotted about its roofs, gardens and parks. And the busy bee Slovenian Beekeeper’s Association aims to increase numbers even more, while raising awareness of the bees’ plight.

Unique experience is what people search today. Apitourism, as a novel concept in travel and holidaying, has emerged and developed into an important component of the green economy.