Slovenia Unveils Award-Winning AI Virtual Travel Advisor

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 (Bernama) -- The Slovenian Tourist Board (STB) is reinforcing Slovenia’s positioning as a digitally advanced, visitor-centric destination with Alma, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered virtual travel advisor that has quickly emerged as one of the country’s most innovative tourism tools.

Integrated into the national tourism portal slovenia.info, Alma provides visitors with real-time, personalised travel information, marking a key milestone in the STB’s broader digital transformation strategy aimed at improving the end-to-end visitor experience, according to a statement.

Launched in May 2024, Alma engages users through conversational interactions in seven languages, offering tailored recommendations, destination insights and practical travel guidance.

Named after traveller and writer Alma M. Karlin, the assistant, is built on advanced OpenAI technology. It draws on the slovenia.info database alongside content from more than 60 curated tourism websites and application programming interface (API) integrations.

The virtual advisor has gained international recognition, winning silver in the Tourism category at the 2024 Websi Awards and more recently being named Travel Tech Project of the Year at the 2025 Game Changer Awards, highlighting Slovenia’s leadership in responsible and user-focused travel technology.

“Alma represents an important step towards modern, intelligent and personalised services that make exploration of Slovenia easier,” said STB Director, Maja Pak Olaj, adding that the awards validate the board’s innovation-driven approach to tourism development.

User adoption has been strong. In August 2025 alone, Alma handled nearly 12,000 queries, primarily from English-, Italian-, German- and Slovenian-speaking users. Satisfaction levels remained high, with positive ratings rising from 88 per cent in August to 91 per cent in October and November.

Travellers increasingly use Alma to plan multi-day itineraries, discover lesser-known regions, select family-friendly activities and explore culinary, cultural and sustainable mobility options, reflecting growing demand for personalised and immersive travel planning.

The STB said it continues to enhance Alma’s capabilities, including mobile interface improvements and dynamic suggestions, while developing “Admin Alma” to enable local destinations to contribute insights. Longer term, the assistant is expected to evolve into a real-time voice guide supporting visitors throughout their journey in Slovenia.

-- BERNAMA