June 4, 2018 — Zadar's tourist aparatus has stalled since being named the 2016 European Best Destination. The coastal jewel may have lost its way.
Maybe it's possible to have too much of a good thing.
Reports from Zadar show an oversaturated market experiencing, in some parts, tourism fatigue — all while guests have no clue what the hell they're looking at.
Case in point: Zadar's infamous "Pillar of Shame," an aptly-named solitary stone monolith cutting a lonely figure on the outskirts of the town's Roman forum, a few paces from the iconic St. Donatus church.
Beside it, a few more smatterings of carved stones haphazardly line a nearby wall like some ancient detritus. A few steps further, a ramshackle parking lot is ringed by the remnants of some wall. Or something.
What the hell is the pillar? An Egyptian obelisk? A fancy Roman column? A remnant left by the same alien civilization that built the pyramids and Stonehenge?
Asking any local will likely elicit a shoulder shrug. Perhaps some mention of its role as a "Pillar of Shame" during the Middle Ages. Eventually myth and reality need to have a meeting and decide upon an accepted history; one useful to visitors and locals alike. The antiquity has no obvious ties to anything around it and no signage, existing in a contextless vacuum. One can only guess; the local Tourism Board is still waiting for permission to tell you.
Any other place designated the 2016 European Best Destination would have given the object a history, a purpose. Perhaps even a name. Not in Zadar, where the striking pillar sticks out like a white stone middle finger aimed squarely at curious pedestrians.
Zadar's old town is a small peninsula so rife with history, folks literally trip over it. It has a Venetian gate called the Foša, unique "bunari" or communal wells smattered about and a breathtaking vista which inspired nearly as many Dalmatian hit songs as its bigger rival, Split. Yet tourists strolling the streets know little to nothing about any of it, thanks to lackluster — even nonexistent — signage. But you can learn a hell of a lot about Alfred Hitchcock!
A comically massive photo of the horror director rests at the heart of the town's main quay, accompanied by a verbose explanation of his love of Zadar's sunset. The late director's wistful musings remain a speck in the town's 3.500-year-old history, yet it earned its own page on the Zadar Tourist Board's web site. A needless endorsement for anyone with functioning eyes. (The "Pillar of Shame" also gets a mention on the same site, in a too-brief explanation of the Roman Forum).
Does the pillar deserve a plaque? Maybe even a sign rivaling Hitchcock's? At least a laserjet printout wedged into the gaps within its stones?
Zadarski List asked the local tourism board for an explanation. Its response began with "When the Conservation Department issues a solution..." followed by the phrase "a request for signage."
Ah yes, the perpetual game of avoiding responsiblity. Zadar's Tourism Board often draws the ire of locals, who consider it a perpetual roadblock to any attempts at fixing the town's wheezing tourism industry.
Perhaps then it's little surprise Zadar's Small Renters are upset this year's 11 percent growth in overall arrivals isn't reflected in the number of overnight stays. The latter has stagnated, primarily among private accommodations, according to Daniel Redata, president of the Zadar Association of Small Renters.
Renters have seen an influx of competition from new construction and renovations, ballooning the market to an estimated 20,000 private accomodations. Redata told the paper, "This season started worse than last year. [...] The supply is much higher than the demand." The deluge has driven down prices just to keep rooms full, Zadarski List reports.
Redata blamed lackluster infrastruture and, of course, the Tourism Board, claiming it lacked a long-term plan to keep the waterfront destination humming during the tourism season.
The tourism board's Galić claimed the agency, alongside it's national parent HTZ, invested 4 to 5 million kuna in promoting Zadar... little of which went towards signage or regulating the rental market, clearly.
