British and American tourists are major players in the luxury tourism market.
In the foreign markets, Croatia is still not seen as a destination for luxury tourism, although there are many tourist facilities which cater to such tourists. It is not easy for them to operate in Croatia, due to high seasonality and poor airline links with markets such as the United States and the United Kingdom, where there is a large number of potential guests, reports Poslovni.hr on September 27, 2016.
Branding of luxury offers and repositioning in the market are therefore the main objectives of the Luxury Hotels Group, established this spring within the Croatian Chamber of Economy, which last week announced a tender for the design of image and visual identity of the group.
“Our goal is for all members of the group to operate under a common brand, in order to strengthen our performance in foreign markets. Among other things, we will specifically target the markets of the United States and Great Britain, which is why we have teamed up with the Croatian National Tourist Board and their local offices in these markets. We already have the first results of our efforts, since some potential partners have already expressed their interest to work with Croatia”, said Antonia Urlić from the Luxury Hotels Group.
The US market is particularly interesting, not only because of its size (one-fifth of 320 million inhabitants travel abroad), but also because American guests are especially attracted to destinations with a rich cultural and historical heritage. Europe is annually visited by 11 million Americans, and Croatia last year welcomed about 300,000 of them. This year, by the beginning of September, there were around 266,000 American tourists.
The Luxury Hotels Group currently includes about a dozen hotels with a unique offer (gourmet, wine, heritage, boutique hotels, castles): Vestibul Palace Hotel in Split, Meneghetti in Bale, San Rocco in Brtonigla, Kazbek and The Pucić Palace in Dubrovnik, Bevanda and Navis in Opatija, Life Palace Heritage Hotel in Šibenik, Martinis Marchi Heritage castle hotel in Maslinica on the island of Šolta, and Bastion Hotel in Zadar. The Group also includes Adriana Hvar Spa Hotel, Maistra Hotel Adriatic, Boutique Hotel Alhambra, Lešić Dimitri Palace in Korčula, Isabella Resort, and Villa Dubrovnik. There are also several other hotels which want to join the group, and which have to comply with very demanding criteria.
“We plan to provide training in various business segments and organize joint participation in events specialized in luxury tourism. So far, we mainly have hotels from the coastal areas, but we would like for the Group to be expanded to inland areas as well, since we want to promote luxury offers in the entire Croatia”, explained Urlić.
