(ANSA) - BELGRADE, JUN 10 - Gorizia, the European Capital of Culture in 2025, is seeing a 19.9% increase in tourist arrivals compared to 2024. Between January and May, over 28 thousand people visited the Castle; guided tours and walks were frequently sold out, and ticket sales for exhibitions and city museums were steadily increasing. In the first four months of the year, there was also a significant increase in the number of foreign visitors (+64%), particularly from nearby Croatia (+69.6%) and Slovenia (+127.5%), as well as from Friuli Venezia Giulia's historical reference markets: Germany (+5.2%) and, above all, Austria, which experienced a real boom (+273.6%). Austrian tourists alone account for a quarter of the foreign component. (ANSA).