November 9, 2018 - A man from Hvar, Ivan Vucetic, was the first to solve a crime using fingerprinting. Sherlock Holmes comes to visit Croatia's premier island. A nice branding op for Croatia as a safe destination? 

I have found myself visiting a lot of conferences in the last couple of months, with one theme coming up a lot - branding. How should Croatia be branding itself? One of the key strengths Croatia has during these brainstorming sessions is how safe it is. In a world gone mad, here is a country in Europe which is very accessible and offers endless coastline and beaches, as well as a rich cultural and gourmet offer. And it is very safe.

Soon after I moved to Hvar, I remember reading in a regional news portal about the theft of a few litres of olive oil in some village on Hvar. Major crime indeed, and worthy of big news headlines... 

For the first ten years on Hvar, I don't think I ever locked the front door of my house, and I was not alone - it is just a really safe place to be.

The perception of 'safe Croatia' came up once more this week at the outstanding Crikvenica International Health Tourism conference organised by the Kvarner Health Cluster. A fascinating small pilot survey of Chinese perceptions of Croatia as a medical tourism destination compared to Japan, South Korea, Germany and USA had the one stand-out finding - the perception of the safety of Croatia among respondents. Read more about the research by Professor Christine A. Lai from the State University of New York Buffalo State.

One of the great promotional things about Croatia that should get a little more attention, at least in my opinion, is the achievements of this Hvar-born man, Ivan Vucetic. While an increasing number of people know that Nikola Tesla was born in what is Croatia today, Croatia gave Croatia the tie, the parachute and the pen, not so many know that it was a Croat in Argentina who is known as the father of dactyloscopy - here he is above, on a mural on the entrance to Hvar Town. To learn more about Ivan Vucetic and his big discovery in this, the 160th year since his birth, click here.

And then when you find out that the Master Sleuth himself, Me Sherlock Holmes, recently visited Hvar, the idea of the branding of safe Croatia takes hold a little more. Benedict Cumberbatch is a very fine actor with a very distinctive voice, but how did he do trying to pronounce 'Hvar'?

You can see the full interview with Benedict Cumberbatch by Ivana Nanut (with Croatian subtitles) on Dnevnik.