ZAGREB, November 6, 2018 - The promotion of Croatia as a holiday destination for next year formally began on Monday at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, one of the world's largest travel exhibitions, which will present about 5,000 exhibitors from 185 travel destinations until November 7.

Croatia is represented by the National Tourist Board (HTZ) and 23 co-exhibitors, and their activities are followed by Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli, who will take the opportunity to meet with the most important partners on the UK market.

On the first day of the fair, Cappelli met with executives of British low-cost airline Jet2 and German low-cost airline Eurowings. He is also scheduled to meet with representatives of companies such as Ryanair, TUI, Thomas Cook and Saga, with whom he will analyse the cooperation so far and discuss ways of improving it.

"The British market, along with the United States and China, is one of the fastest-growing and most important markets for us and we are working intensively on developing cooperation and introducing more flights," Cappelli said.

He said that a further 15 million kuna (2 million euro) would be invested in the existing flight programme to increase turnover outside the summer months, adding that the present programme had produced excellent results, increasing the number of flights and extending the flight schedule.

Nearly 850,000 British tourists visited Croatia in the first ten months of this year, generating 4.4 million overnight stays, an increase of 8 percent in both arrivals and overnight stays. British tourists mostly travelled to Dubrovnik (36 percent), Split (23 percent) and Istria (20 percent), and mostly stayed in hotels.

The British Institute of Travel and Tourism will hold an annual conference in Podstrana near Split in mid-June 2019. The event is expected to be attended by over 400 British delegates who will have an opportunity to visit Split, Trogir and Hvar.

To read more about Croatia’s tourism, click here.

The Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) has opened a representative office in Shanghai that will cover the large and for Croatia's tourism strategically important market of China. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković officially inaugurated the office, in the presence of HTZ director Kristjan Staničić, president of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) Luka Burilović, and Croatian Ambassador in China Nebojša Koharović, reports Večernji List on November 5, 2018.

"For Croatia, this will be the best tourist year ever, with almost 20 million arrivals and over 106 million overnight stays, and a billion euro of tourism investment. The next year will be the year of culture and tourism between Croatia and China. This is a great opportunity for us to further position our country on the Chinese market,” Plenković said.

In his speech, Staničić pointed out that the HTZ office was opened at the premises of the HGK office in Shanghai, which will reduce costs and increase institutional co-operation. “We are exceptionally proud to open the office in Shanghai in the year which has been declared the year of tourism between the European Union and China. This is the right moment for us to launch even stronger promotional activities in this large and important market. We want to present Croatia as an attractive all-year tourist destination. This year alone we have recorded the growth in the number of Chinese tourists by 40 percent, and there is room for even better results,” said Staničić, adding that the new office would implement all the key activities aimed at attracting even more Chinese visitors, introducing direct flights between China and Croatia, and developing tailor-made tourism products for Chinese tourists.

“I am delighted by the fact that, in addition to tourists, great interest for Croatia has also been demonstrated by investors who have already started with major investments in the tourist sector. This positive trend should also be stimulated and I do not doubt that we will succeed in our joint efforts,” Burilović said.

Franka Gulin, director of the newly-established office in Shanghai, also spoke about the office’s plans. “China is the world's largest market in every respect, and this fact is also the biggest challenge for us. However, I am confident in the excellent results that we will achieve in the future since the Croatian tourist offer contains everything that Chinese tourists prefer, such as rich cultural and historical heritage, untouched nature and high-quality gastronomy offer,” Gulin said.

During the first ten months of the year, 216,000 arrivals and 315,000 overnight stays were recorded from the Chinese market, representing a 43 percent increase in arrivals and a 42 percent increase in overnight stays compared to the same period last year. Chinese tourists made the most overnights in Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split and Zadar.

When travelling to Europe, Chinese tourists they tend to visit several destinations. Because of this, the Croatian National Tourist Board and the Slovenian tourist organization carry out joint promotional activities on the Chinese market, as part of the project “Experience Croatia, Feel Slovenia”.

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The new official uniforms for representatives of the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) at various tourist fairs will be shown for the first time on Saturday. They will be presented by a group of well-known prominent women, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Marija Pejčinović Burić, Member of the European Parliament Dubravka Šuica, the director of the Zagreb City Tourist Board Martina Bienenfeld, lawyer Jadranka Sloković, neurosurgeon Nikolina Sesar, actress Doris Pinčić, writer Milana Vlaović, blogger Ella Dvornik and many others, reports Večernji List on November 2, 2018.

The uniforms will be presented on Saturday evening during the charity fashion show “Create with Heart”. Part of the proceeds will benefit the “Dar” Association from Osijek, which helps children with autism, as well as the Croatian Early Childhood Intervention Association from Zagreb.

The new official uniforms of the Croatian National Tourist Board have been designed by the ELFS team. It is believed that dresses will be dominated by the colour blue and will abound with recognizable motives from all Croatian regions. If there were no major last-minute changes, the dresses will feature the roof of St Mark’s church in Zagreb, the Pula Arena, the Croatian Apoxyomenos statue and so on. The uniforms will again be marked by distinctive red and white squares, as stated previously by HTZ general manager Kristjan Staničić.

The first actual use of the new HTZ uniforms at a tourism fair will take place only two days after the show in Mimara, at the London tourism fair which starts on 5 November. The current uniforms also had their premiere in London in 2015, but then there was no official presentation. On the contrary, there was much more stress and even tensions in relations between the Ministry of Tourism and the Main Office of the Croatian National Tourist Board.

That year, a major effort was underway to promote Croatia on the British market. An artificial island was launched on the river Thames, and the ceremony was attended by then Prime Minister Zoran Milanović and even some British celebrities. Tourism Minister Darko Lorencin thought that the presentation should also include new uniforms, and he got angry with the then HTZ leadership because they did not think of it themselves. The uniforms were designed and made almost overnight. Still, they were ready in time for the London fair and they served the HTZ staff well until now.

If you want to known more about Croatian tourism, there is plenty to read here.

Translated from Večernji List (reported by Radmila Kovačević).

ZAGREB, November 2, 2018 - Croatia has a huge trade deficit with China which it tries to cushion, at least in part, with the rising number of Chinese tourists, so trade and tourism will dominate the talks Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković will hold during his working visit to the world's most populous country on November 2-6.

Plenković will meet with China's top officials and leading business people. As part of the visit, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce will organise a Croatian-Chinese economic forum in Shanghai, where Croatia's National Tourist Board (HTZ) will open its first office in China.

China has a population of 1.4 billion and is the world's second biggest economy, its biggest exporter and it has the largest foreign-exchange reserves.

In 2017, Croatia's trade deficit with China amounted to 652 million dollars, 90 million dollars more than in 2016. The trends, however, are not that bad as Croatia's exports have been rising, by 50% to 125 million dollars in 2017 and by 44% this year.

The number of Chinese tourists visiting Croatia is also rising. In 2016, they accounted for 216,000 arrivals and 315,000 nights, up 43% and 42% on the year respectively.

The HTZ has organised a joint campaign with Slovenia's National Tourist Board called "Experience Croatia, Feel Slovenia" aimed at raising the visibility and reputation of the two countries in China as attractive and authentic European destinations.

Interestingly, readers of the Chinese edition of Travel+Leisure magazine have voted Croatia as this year's most desirable new European destination.

The Chinese market's potential is huge and there is almost no limit to the rise in the number of Chinese tourists in Croatia. In 2016, they generated 122 million tourist trips around the world, spending $109.8 billion, with an annual growth rate of 5%.

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In Stari Grad on the island of Hvar, it will no longer be possible to construct new hostels or turn existing buildings into hostels. The decision was made by a revision of the local spatial plan, making the town one of the first in Croatia to more seriously focus on the issue of tourism management and the development of local accommodation capacities, reports Jutarnji List on October 31, 2018.

Therefore, there will be no new hostels in Stari Grad. Such facilities usually attract guests who stay for a shorter period and spend considerably less money. They will still have available the two existing hostels, with a capacity of around 200 beds. Mayor Antonio Škarpa said that should be more than enough to accommodate hostel guests.

“We were not really sure whether the idea will be accepted, but we have realised that we do not want to have ‘issues’ like our colleagues in Hvar or Novalja have. We want to avoid the development of mass party tourism. Stari Grad is a town with 2,400 years of history and culture, the town centre is under the UNESCO protection, and we have decided to intervene in time in order to turn towards high-quality tourism and cultural tourism,” said Mayor Škarpa.

The decision to ban the construction or renovation of existing properties as hostels was made by the town authorities in Articles 89 and 90 of the amendments to the spatial plan, which state that “within the settlement, hotels, tourist resorts, camps and other tourist facilities can be constructed, with the exception of hostels.”

The decision was made unanimously by the town council following the Urban Planning Committee proposal, and Mayor Škarpa, who became mayor as an independent candidate in June last year, said that the decision was made in view of announced investments in the town.

“French investors will open two five-star hotels in the next two years, and the preparatory works have already begun. We expect the takeover of the Helios Faros hotels by Valamar and the PBZ Croatia Osiguranje Fund to be completed soon. These investments will move us towards the direction of more luxurious tourism, so we have decided to participate more actively in defining what type of guests we want. The existing 200 beds in hostels is quite enough for our destination,” said Škarpa, adding that hostel guests have not yet conquered Stari Grad but they still wanted to act preventively because potential damage to the destination would subsequently be very difficult to mitigate.

The town authorities’ efforts to influence the development of accommodation capacities are currently limited to the hostel sector, but they say they will soon begin to introduce measures to raise the quality of private accommodation facilities. As early as this winter, they will launch courses to increase the quality of accommodation and infrastructure.

“Of course, we also count on measures which the state provides for the categorization of private accommodation, and we as a local community are willing to subsidise the renovation of facades and similar projects. The plan is to help people prepare documentation for registration for the recategorisation projects,” said Škarpa, adding that much is expected from the new director of the local tourist board. The competition for the position will be announced on November 12.

Interested in more stories about Hvar? Click here.

Where can you enjoy the arts in the city, where are hidden playgrounds for children located, where are green oases hidden in the urban jungle, and where are places where you can meet creative people... These are just some of the questions answers to which can be found in the new alternative guidebook called Lost in Zagreb. The guide is written in Croatian, English and Arabic languages, reports Večernji List on October 29, 2018.

The guide was created as part of the "Magic Carpets" project, aimed at using artist residencies, workshops and exhibitions to foster intercultural dialogue between 13 European countries. The guidebook can be seen as an art book since it was created by the Danish artist Maj Horn, in cooperation with the Lab 852 organization, local artists and asylum seekers. The project was supported by funds from Creative Europe, the Ministry of Culture, the City Office for Culture, and the Danish Arts Foundation. The guidebook is free and will be available in city libraries.

“During my residency in Zagreb, I dealt with mapping hidden economic layers together with local artists and migrants who are staying in the former Porin hotel. We had three artistic walks and three workshops which resulted in the final product,” said Maj Horn. The guidebook is divided into six thematic parts: socializing, art, fashion, children, green areas and markets.

“We would like to share our favourite places in the city with others. The places were chosen arbitrarily by the participants. It is interesting that the authors are of different profiles, so we can see how the city is seen by a taxi driver from Baghdad, a poet, a cook or local artists,” explained the author.

The guidebook on Zagreb is a process, not an end result

Creating the guidebook helped Horn in her social art, while for asylum seekers the participation in the project was an important step in the process of adaptation. “The guide is in Arabic precisely because most of the authors are native speakers of that language. This is also the first guidebook to Zagreb in Arabic,” said Marija Kamber, an artist.

The alternative guidebook “Lost in Zagreb” is aimed at everybody who wants to enjoy hidden, yet beautiful and inexpensive venues in the city. “In addition to all the other things this publication is, it is also a witness to the current state of affairs in Zagreb, and our goal is certainly to encourage not only asylum seekers but also local people to get more involved in the life of the city,” said the authors. Therefore, the book should not be understood as an end result, but rather as a process.

If you are interested in more articles about Zagreb, visit our dedicated section.

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