The internationalisation of Valamar's business takes its first step in Austria.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of July, 2018, Croatia's popular Valamar Riviera appears to have made a binding offer for the four-star Petersbühel Hotel in Obertauern, Austria. The company has long been planning for and announcing acquisitions outside of the Republic of Croatia and this looks as if it's the very first step towards achieving this goal.
The acquisition of this four-star hotel in Austria represents Valamar's step towards its mush desired business internationalisation. The Austrian hotel in question boasts an impressive 80 accommodation units and is in an excellent location in the winter tourism destination of Obertauren.
Valamar is the leading investor in tourism with an over 4 billion kuna investment, and the acquisition of the hotel in Obertauren represents the Valamar's very first investment outside of Croatian territory. Austria is a big player and a top tourist destination for festive and winter tourism with a range of potential synergies for Croatian tourism companies, making it a perfectly logical choice for the beginning of Valamar's business internationalisation.
Željko Kukurin, CEO of Valamar Riviera, stated: "Valamar is the largest tourist company in Croatia with an ambition to become the leader of the region for resort tourism. The nternationalisation of business is one of the key strategic development goals of the company in the coming period, and this is an important step in expanding the business of the company outside of Croatia. Austria has developed tourism, especially in winter, and is a logical first step in expanding beyond Croatia with regard to projected synergies in employment, operational management, and emitative markets that are very similar to those we have in the summer. I believe this is the beginning of the development of the new Valamar business model, which will further raise the value of the company for shareholders, as well as create added value for other company shares.''
Valamar is otherwise well recognised as the top employer in tourism in the country, employing 6,600 people, and its 33 hotels and summer resorts, as well as 15 summer resort campsites dotted along the Adriatic coast - from Istria and Kvarner all the way down to the exteme south of Dubrovnik, can accommodate about 57,000 guests a day.
