I have some friends from the UK who bought a property through our agency ten years ago. They come to Jelsa twice a year on average, eat in the restaurants daily, patronise the cafes, buy their wine from Tomic and generally contribute significantly to the local economy while here. They are generous to allow friends and family to use their property, and they tend to be equally good patrons of Jelsa's establishments. As seasoned travellers, they take an active interest in tourism in Jelsa and have, over the years, expressed more than a little frustration over the lack of available tourist information. At their farewell dinner at Me and mrs Jones a few days, they asked a question which completely summed up how my thinking about Jelsa tourism is different from most local opinion:
"Who is Jelsa's tourist board hoping to attract? It seems very much geared to local people, with little effort to attract foreigners."
The penny dropped, and at that moment I realised why I see things a little differently than many local people. As I said in the first of the three articles in this series, the events were pretty successful overall, and the tourist board director should be congratulated. In fact from a local persepective, things ended well after a VERY quiet start, but one of the reasons that Total Hvar has been so successful has been the fact that we are able to offer a local window to the foreign eye. The owner of one of Dalmatia's most successful restaurants wrote a great piece for Total Croatia News recently, saying that Croatia was not a premium destination. He talked about how locals complained about the price of an expensive wine for example, but would rarely complain about the price of a hotel in Split, for the simple reason that they did not use hotels in the city they reside in.
In the same way in Jelsa, locals have no need for tourism information in English, because theirs is the language of the tourist board. And - in the interests of being constructive - I want to invite people to investigate Jelsa as a tourist destination through the eyes of a potential English-speaking tourist. And where better to start than with that much-praised cultural summer programme, which we have also already praised. Forget you speak Croatian, and let's see how tourist information looks like for the people who should matter most, potential foreign tourists.
The programme came out in two languages (10 out of 10) and was available at the Jelsa tourist office. Great news if you were already in Jelsa and knew where the tourist board was, not much help if you were somewhere else. The logical place to try is online, on the tourist board website (we will discuss this website in greater depth later). While the Croatian version of the events page is full of useful information, this is what English-speaking tourists are confronted with:
This screenshot was taken today, and reflects the tourist information available in English about Jelsa's summer programme on the official website all summer. Someone asked me recently why I made such a big deal out of this, and the answer is that it matters - if foreign tourists are the target. Many local people could not see the problem, because they get their information in Croatian, and the programme is known.
Having figured out that the only promotion of Jelsa this year online is by Facebook, a tourist could find the official Facebook page, but although the programme is on their somewhere, it is not pinned or easily accessible. Official events were posted, usually shortly before they actually happened, leaving little or no time for planning for people who did want to come.
A word on Facebook promotion. The page has increased from I think 700 to 1800 followers in a year, which is a significant increase. As a quick look at the social engagement on the page will show, the engagement is almost totally in the Croatian language, with almost all the posts ONLY in Croatian until late May. A tourism promotional tool for local people or for potential foreign visitors, asked my British friend over dinner. And if someone is not on Facebook...
So actually finding out about what Jelsa has to offer in terms of events for a foreign visitor in English is all but impossible through official channels, unless one happens to walk past the tourist board office. Not a criticism, just an observation, and something someone will want to look at this winter (as I hope some other points below). For locals and Croatian speakers, it is much easier - the calendar is online, the Facebook feeds reminders.
It is great having a wonderful events programme, but not much use if it is not used to try and attract paying tourists, at least from a tourism point of view. Having events for locals is important of course, and it was nice to see events such as dailect poetry reading in the programme, although these are obviously not going to be popular with foreign tourists.
In my opinion, the first two things which are crucial for a destination are totally lacking in Jelsa, and I hope they will be a prime focus in the coming weeks - now, rather than just before the season. The Brand and the Business Card.
In all the time that I have been living in Jelsa (fulltime since 2002), nobody has been able to quite decide what Jelsa is as a destination. There is no brand whatsoever, and without a brand or an idea of what the destination is trying to be, it is hard to attract tourists. The brand we have suggested is The Family Destination on the Island of Sun. Without a defined brand of strategy, it is hard to progress.
I was quite shocked by my first visit to Bol earlier this year. Similar to Jelsa as a destination in many ways, the difference in branding and promotion was quite staggering, and I discussed the branding of Bol (read the article here) with the Mayor of Jelsa when I returned. By chance, one of the guys who works with the Bol branding team was spending time in Jelsa. I suggested a meeting, which took place a few months ago, after which the mayor called me to say how impressed he had been, and that Jelsa would be using their services. If that happens, it will be a huge step forward for the destination, and one which is long overdue.
The Business Card. There is little to add about the disaster of the Jelsa tourist board website, available in seven languages, and with such outdated information that it is counter-productive in its use. Travel advice on how to get to Jelsa still recommends an airline which went bankrupt in 2012, for example. As an information source - events apart - for those English-speaking potential tourists, it is desperate for an upgrade, and I had been expecting that to be one of the priorities of the new regime.
I sincerely hope it will be for this winter, for the current situation makes no sense. When I met the Mayor and Tourist Board Director, it emerged that the annual running costs of the site are equal to the building, hosting and domain-name buying of a website like this one. Some good came of that meeting, and the mayor has since been in touch with our web developer, so hopefully a website to reflect the quality of the destination will be in place over the winter. This has to be a priority, more important than the one-night special of 2Cellos or Severina - if foreign tourists are the target.
A brand and a business card will make a huge difference to the image of Jelsa in the eyes of potential foreign tourists, if indeed they are the target market, as my friend was asking. There are several other free initiatives which can also greatly enhance the promotion of the destination, using other parts of social media.
YouTube and Twitter are popular ways for potential tourists to research and keep in touch. The Jelsa Tourist Board is not on Twitter, something simple to rectify this winter. Searching for things on YouTube is complicated by the popularity of Frozen character Elsa, but the difference in YouTube search between 'Jelsa Tourist Board' and 'Bol Tourist Board' is stark. Try it.
The sad fact is that Jelsa Tourist Board DOES have its own YouTube channel, and with seven commissioned videos on it, all filmed three years ago. The least popular one has mustered just 57 views in that time. Rename the channel from TZO Jelsa (if foreign tourists are the target) to something more sensible such as Jelsa Tourist Board. If there is money to make a new video (Hvar TV prices are reasonable, and already have great material), work with other Jelsa-affiliated businesses with great videos to consolidate them in one place - Andro Tomic, Lavandermen, the Hvar Wine Association, ECA and Artichoke, for example, all have excellent videos promoting Jelsa. Put them all in one channel, and let potential foreign tourists browse the potential of Jelsa online. And don't be afraid to promote Jelsa events and businesses which are not organised directly by the tourist board. Andro Tomic brings thousands of people to Jelsa each year for wine tasting, Mojito puts on many great events, hardly any mention of either, as they are not in the official programme.
A brand, a website, a bi-lingual approach, a more comprehensive and intelligent use of social media. Combine this with a better presentation of the many things which Jelsa has to offer as a destination, which we covered in the previous blog (which you can read here), and without spending too much money (or effort), suddenly Jelsa becomes infinitely more interesting to a potential foreign tourist. To the locals such changes will not bring such a difference, as they are tuned into the destination, but for potential foreign tourists, they are essential. If foreign tourists are the target.
And so in answer to my friend's question:
"Who is Jelsa's tourist board hoping to attract? It seems very much geared to local people, with little effort to attract foreigners."
My answer is that it is very much geared towards appealing to local people, and not so much towards attracting potential foreign guests. It is an approach which I hope will change, and the tools above are free, easy to use, and incredibly effective.
I had a call from a popular British TV show last night, asking me to appear on the show promoting Hvar. I am happy to do so, and it would be great to have the opportunity to present that vision as it could - and should - be.
The plan for the winter should be clear.
Thus ends Blog 2. Next up the question of how much Jelsa wants to improve its tourism, and if yes, it is possible to put tourism ahead of the sacred cow of local politics?
