More tourists from China are expected in Croatia and in neighbouring countries.
The Chinese Southeast Europe Business Association (CSEBA), in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism, the Croatian National Tourist Board, the Municipality of Krapinske Toplice and the international association “The Routes of Marco Polo”, will organise the 1st Silk Road Tourism Workshop on 5 and 6 February at the Villa Magdalena Hotel in Krapinske Toplice, reports tportal.hr on January 14, 2018.
The workshop will feature representatives of travel agencies from various parts of China, mostly from Beijing, Shanghai and Zhejiang Province, from which the highest number of tourists travel to other countries. As part of intensified promotional activities in the Chinese tourism market, the CSEBA has detected a growing interest in connecting with the Croatian tourist agencies over the past year.
The focus of the workshop will be on tourist agencies and hotels, mainly from Croatia, but agencies and hotels from Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro are also expected to participate. When arriving in Europe, Chinese tourists rarely travel to just one country during a single trip (they remain in each individual state for about two days on average). Therefore, there is a need for better links between Croatian tourist agencies and agencies from neighboring countries and the development of a joint tourist offer.
Chinese agencies are aware of Croatia's high tourist potential but are mostly unsatisfied with the quality of the travel programmes offered. The number of Chinese tourists arriving in Croatia has been rising significantly (approaching 200,000 a year, with a 40 percent growth) but, according to estimates, most Chinese tourists come to the country without any significant action by local touristic agencies from Croatia. The arrival of the Chinese tourists is mostly the result of efforts of the agencies from China or countries in Croatia’s neighbourhood.
The workshop will be an excellent opportunity to present the whole region to Chinese travel agencies, which should ultimately result in the development of a more high-quality tourist offer for Chinese tourists.
This move by the Chinese agencies is just one of several recent developments which show growing interest in both China and Croatia for improvement in economic and political relations. In addition to the increasing number of Chinese tourists arriving in Croatia, Chinese companies are discussing ways for possible investments in Croatia, and a Chinese consortium has just been awarded the construction of the Pelješac Bridge, which is the most significant infrastructure project in Croatia in recent years.
