January 27, 2020 - The Croatian National Tourist Board is conducting its first branding campaign this year, which will be implemented in different key periods, in 16 key markets, until the end of July.

HRTurizam reports that the main goal of the brand campaign is to further increase Croatia's recognition as an attractive tourist destination with a rich offer, which is why the focus of this campaign is on the most recognizable Croatian tourism products such as sun and sea, wine and gastronomy, active tourism, nautical tourism, and culture.

The tourist board’s first brand campaign is being conducted in the markets of Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Hungary, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia and Spain.

Campaign activities will be conducted through online and offline channels, that is, television programs, print media, outdoor and display advertising channels, social networks Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and YouTube channels, the Croatian Tourist Board points out.

“The strength of the Croatian tourism brand has been continuously growing for several years, making our country increasingly recognized as a diverse and quality tourist destination. In order to keep up with positive trends, we have created a brand campaign that is carefully planned as it follows the preferences of each of the 16 selected markets. Our goal is to offer our guests what they are looking for, and that we are successful in showing the preliminary results of the latest TOMAS research, according to which their satisfaction with most elements of the offer grows, especially with the hospitality of the hosts, hiking and biking trails, the presentation of cultural heritage, the quality of information in the destination, but also the variety of events and the gastronomic offer,” said Croatian National Tourist Board Director Kristjan Stanicic.

Otherwise, as previously announced, the Croatian Tourist Board will carry out four major promotional campaigns in 2020, that is, two pre- and postseason promotional campaigns and two brand campaigns.

In addition to the main campaigns of the Croatian National Tourist Board, in 2020, there will also be campaigns for the promotion of business and nautical tourism, advent and a campaign aimed at the domestic market, which will stimulate domestic tourist traffic in the periods before and after the season.

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

January 25, 2020 - The Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ), which is at the New York Times Travel Show from January 24 to 26, said that Croatia is among the most sought-after tourist destinations, based on the results of market research and the booking announcements by major tourist associations. 

Glas Istre reports that HTZ Director Kristjan Stanicic also visited the fair, along with the tourist boards from Zagreb, Dubrovnik-Neretva, Split-Dalmatia, Zadar and Lika-Senj counties, who are also presenting their offer in New York, HTZ announced.

“Presenting the Croatian tourism offer at the New York Fair is of strategic importance, especially if we know that the US market is one of the most important distant markets for Croatia, from which we generate the largest tourist traffic.

The continuation of American Airlines flights between Philadelphia and Dubrovnik will further stimulate US tourist traffic this year, and the ultimate goal we are intensively working on is stronger air connections between the US and Croatia,” said Stanicic.

He noted that 655,000 arrivals and more than 1.8 million overnight stays were recorded in Croatia last year by American tourists, which represents an annual increase of 12 percent.

During his stay in New York, Stanicic met with representatives of Travel Show Marketing Group, a company that specializes in independent events and brings together tourist entities, buyers and sellers in forums they organize around the world. The topic of the meeting was related to the possibility of Croatia hosting the Travel Agent Forum in 2021, when it is estimated that the forum would bring together 90 European suppliers and travel partners and about 150 US travel agencies.

"This year's appearance at the New York Times Travel Show reaffirmed Croatia's popularity as a leading growing destination for Americans and announced another successful year with double-digit arrivals and overnight stays from the US. Croatia is truly one of the most desirable tourist destinations, supported by the market research results and booking announcements by major travel associations such as USTOA, Virtuoso, Signature Travel Network and Travel Leaders Group, and numerous articles in leading US media such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, Financial Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, USA Today,” said Ina Rodin, director of the HTZ New York office.

A meeting was also held with representatives of the platform and mobile application TravPRO MOBILE, the first of its kind in the market to connect mobile learning and sales. It is an agent training and sales consulting program designed to help agents sell destinations more effectively. Currently, they provide services to more than 60,000 professional travel advisors from the United States and are also collaborating with China's leading B2B travel agency, Dragon Trail Interactive.

Otherwise, major trends in Americans' travel last year include multi-generational travel, discovering new destinations and authentic experiences - or “Live Like A Local" experiences, "transformational" travel, responsible tourism, active tourism, and cruises. Americans in Croatia especially love visits to natural and cultural attractions with a focus on UNESCO sites, nautical tourism, active holidays, and especially visits to locations where the famous HBO series Game of Thrones was filmed, as well as one-of-a-kind gastronomic experiences. Americans visit Dubrovnik, Split and Zagreb most. 

The New York Times Travel Show is visited by more than 35,000 visitors who view the offer of more than 700 exhibitors from 175 countries around the world, making this fair the largest tourism fair in North America.

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes on the 21st of January, 2020, the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) expects the new portal to be positioned as a central place for the inspiration of its users in the decision-making process when it comes to choosing a holiday in Croatia.

The Croatian National Tourist Board has announced a tender for the creation of a new tourist information portal, Croatia.hr, as well as for the collection and management of databases necessary for the establishment of public e-services of the portal. The tender is being announced as part of the Croatian Digital Tourism (Hrvatski digitalni turizam) project, which is an EU project, managed by the Ministry of Tourism, and the total value of this procurement is 8 million kuna.

As the Croatian National Tourist Board explained, the project is funded by two European Union funds, namely the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund, and they play the role of project partner.

The e-tourism project envisages the development and improvement of five public e-services, which will be completed by the end of this year, which will integrate the procedures of several public administration bodies into an integrated state information system. These are the Central tourist register, the e-Visitor guest check-in and check-out system, the Croatia.hr platform, and e-services for both administrative and non-administrative procedures.

''There are two components to the Croatian National Tourist Board, the upgrading of the eVisitor system and the creation of a new Croatia.hr web portal, which will integrate the complete Croatian tourist offer in the future. Accordingly, the procurement process was initiated, the subject of which is the procurement of website services for the tourist information system and the establishment of an IT system, the management of databases necessary for the establishment of public e-services, and the tourist information portal,'' the Croatian National Tourist Board explained.

The goal of the new portal is to connect all tourist boards into one system, so that each destination and tourist board will have its own promotion space on the national website, or on its subdomains. It is also expected to increase page traffic, have better SEO and page ranking and strengthen brand identity.

When it comes to technical features, the new portal needs to be supported through a user-friendly and efficient CMS with different administrative rights and responsibilities.

As explained in the tender documentation, the Croatia.hr pages must be made in accordance with all the latest technological solutions and requirements, responsive to display on all devices, multilingual, capable of commenting and sharing content on all platforms, and should be able to connect with different systems such as the Central tourist register and eVisitor.

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As Glas Istre/Duska Palibrk writes on the 14th of December, 2019, the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) announced a public call for non-refundable grants for the top events and manifestations to come across the Republic of Croatia in 2020, which are among the main motives for both domestic and foreign tourists to come to a given destination.

This announcement from the Croatian National Tourist Board encourages the development of facilities to further attempt to extend the typical Croatian tourist season and further increase traffic, especially in the pre- and post-seasons. Applications will be received in electronic and hard copy forms by January the 7th, 2020, with a massive 2.5 million kuna available in total.

''We launched a public call in December to allow all interested parties enough time to prepare and apply for projects in a proper manner. I'm sure that this time we'll receive a large number of applications, which will be an additional confirmation of the continuous development and improvement of the Croatian tourist offer with an emphasis placed on manifestations as one of the main motives for tourists deciding on a destination,'' said the director of the Croatian National Tourist Board, Kristjan Staničić, adding that investments in facilities and infrastructure are a basic precondition for positioning Croatia as an attractive year-round destination.

Companies, crafts, cooperatives, public institutions, cultural institutions, arts organisations, local and regional self-government units and tourist boards are all free to apply. The approved fees are intended to cover the costs of organising the event, such as all of the equipment, space and transportation needed, as well as potential equipment rental, material procurement, accommodation costs, contractor fees, promotional and other organisational activities.

The non-refundable grants being offered by the Croatian National Tourist Board have been approved for use for the organisation of cultural, entertainment, eno-gastronomic, historical and traditional events, which have been held at least twice over the last five years and have a strong promotional effect both here in Croatia and abroad.

The Croatian National Tourist Board's tourism council may, in exceptional cases, decide to support an event which is being held for the first time, if it can clearly be expected that it will greatly enrich the tourist offer of the destination in which it is going to be held.

The criteria for evaluation will be the importance for creating the motive for the arrival of guests, the importance for the development of the destination and its tourist offer, and its promotion of Croatia as a whole abroad, the nature of the event, its content and quality, the period of the event and the event's media advertising plan.

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December 4, 2019 - The Ministry of Tourism, the Croatian Tourist Board, and UNICEF are cooperating on promoting children's rights in the Croatian tourism sector.

HRTurizam writes that the main objective of this cooperation is to promote good tourism practices in the context of young guests, the children of families employed in tourism, and young students and workers.

As part of the cooperation, the Ministry of Tourism, the Croatian Tourist Board and UNICEF will promote the importance of caring for children's rights in the tourism sector, through conferences, congresses, and other events, and organize training on children's rights for tourism professionals. The Ministry of Tourism and the Croatian Tourist Board will also support UNICEF's programs to help the most vulnerable children in Croatia and their families.

"Tourism is an industry of experience and emotions, and we desire that all children who visit Croatia have the opportunity to see all the best that Croatia has to offer so they can remember it forever. Likewise, tourism can be an opportunity for everyone to create together. That is why the Ministry of Tourism always encourages children and students to be creative and innovative through part of its youth programs. We want young people to be involved in creating competitive and responsible tourism, which is why working with UNICEF is another step towards building the foundations for the future of Croatian tourism, because ultimately, people are always the key to success,” said Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli.

"We are extremely proud of our cooperation with UNICEF in promoting children's rights in the tourism sector in Croatia, especially considering that children up to the age of 14 make up 18% of the total Croatian tourist traffic and form a significant segment in tourism. Accordingly, a large number of our promotional campaigns around the world, but also our total tourist offer, is directed precisely at families with children,” said Croatian Tourist Board Director Kristjan Stanicic.

Globally, UNICEF works with the travel and tourism sectors, governments and civil society organizations to promote the perspective of children's rights and to support companies in the sector in identifying and managing their impacts on children.

Cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and the Croatian Tourist Board is an important step in the realization of children's rights in Croatian tourism and contributes to the sustainable development of tourism and society as a whole, points out Regina M. Castillo, Head of the UNICEF Office in Croatia, and adds:

“Tourism, as an important industry, has a great impact on children. The safety of children traveling with their parents, decent wages and working conditions for parents or guardians, working conditions for young employees, care for the environment in which children grow and develop are just some of the areas of interaction of the tourism sector with children. The Ministry of Tourism and the Croatian Tourist Board are strong partners who, together with UNICEF, will work to raise awareness of these impacts and promote good practices that will positively impact the lives of children and their families. We are happy that one of the leading tourist groups in Croatia - Arena Hospitality Group - will join us in this important work,” said Regina M. Castillo, Head of UNICEF Office in Croatia.

Arena Hospitality Group is the first tourism group in Croatia to support families with children from the welfare system in Istria County in cooperation with UNICEF.

On this occasion, a partnership between Arena Hospitality Group and UNICEF was announced to support UNICEF's Stronger Family Program initiative, which improves the quality of social support for families with disabilities.

Arena Hospitality Group will launch a series of activities focused on guests and employees in its selected hotels, resorts, and camps in collaboration with UNICEF to promote children's rights and solidarity with the most vulnerable members of our society. The funds raised through the cooperation will be used to support families with children from the social care system in the County of Istria.

“Arena Hospitality Group, as the first Croatian hotel company to expand its portfolio beyond the borders of Croatia, is continuously investing in the development of social responsibility towards its guests, employees, partners, shareholders and the community in which it operates. In our work, we are especially focused on families with children who strive to provide a variety of quality facilities and the highest level of service. But we also take into account the needs of families with children in our community who are facing various life difficulties. By joining forces with UNICEF, we will support the implementation of the "For a Stronger Family" program initiative, which will help strengthen systemic support for the most vulnerable families with children in Istria County. We are particularly proud to include our employees in the project, who, through activities with families and children, will draw attention to the importance of solidarity with our guests,” said Reuel Slonim, CEO of Arena Hospitality Group d.d.

To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

November 26, 2019 - The Croatian National Tourist Board has launched a promotional Croatia Advent campaign as one of the key motives for traveling here in the winter. 

HRTurizam reports that the campaign is being implemented in the markets of Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Austria, France, Switzerland, Spain, Hungary and Slovenia until the end of December this year. The communication channels through which the campaign is advertised are YouTube and social networks Facebook and Instagram.

The Advent campaign is implemented through the new promotional video "Croatia, full of magic" and encourages the Advent offer of Croatian destinations.

According to the Croatia National Tourist Board, the campaign leads the user to the page "Croatia.hr", where in addition to Advent in Zagreb, which won the title of the best Christmas fair in Europe for three years in a row, the Advent events of SalajLand, Slavonia, Dalmatia, Kvarner, Istria and continental Croatia are also promoted. 

Over 50 foreign established journalists, bloggers and influencers from 11 European countries will visit Croatia in the organization of the Croatian National Tourist Board in December and will have the opportunity to get to know and experience the Croatia Advent offer firsthand. For example, Croatia will be visited by Russian MUZ TV, which creates the show "Independent Traveler", which is viewed by more than 25 million viewers across Russia.

Also, a team from Swedish RES TV and RES Magazine will record three special episodes dedicated to Zagreb's Advent, which are estimated to be watched by a total of 1.5 million viewers in Sweden. Croatian traditional holiday customs will be transmitted to its viewers by TVN Discovery, the oldest and largest private TV station in Poland, which is watched by over 8.38 percent of the entire Polish market.

"In the last few years, our country has become an increasingly sought after and attractive tourist destination in the winter, when diverse Advent programs come to the fore. I believe that the vibrant Advent facilities in many Croatian destinations such as Zagreb, Split, Osijek, Zadar, Rijeka, Porec, Dubrovnik, but also on the islands will attract numerous Croatian and foreign guests and contribute to the conclusion of a very successful tourist year,” said the director of the Croatian National Tourist Board Kristjan Staničić.

According to eVisitor, more than 410,000 tourists visited Croatia during last year's Advent, generating over one million overnight stays.

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

ZAGREB, November 3, 2019 - The year 2020 will be a watershed for Croatian tourism because of a reform of the system, Croatia's Council of the EU presidency and participation in Expo Dubai, the state secretary at the Tourism Ministry, Tonči Glavina, said at a Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) meeting.

The meeting decided on a 2020 public call for the "Sporting Croatia" project as well as on cooperation in the filming of a show for the Chinese market. It also endorsed a draft agreement on the promotion of Croatian tourism during the EU presidency in the first half of 2020.

Glavina said that and participation in Expo Dubai in the second half of the year were excellent opportunities for Croatia to present its business and cultural products. "That's why next year we wish to put special emphasis on all the best that Croatia offers, linking different business and cultural segments in order to present them in the best way possible."

HTZ director Kristjan Staničić said the meeting also discussed promotional guidelines and activities in 2020.

The 2020 "Sporting Croatia" project envisages special forms of marketing and PR cooperation as part of sporting projects and events which position Croatia as an attractive year-round tourist destination and which strengthen the national tourist brand.

More tourism news can be found in the Travel section.

ZAGREB, October 25, 2019 - The Croatian National Tourism Board (HTZ) on Friday informed that Croatia has already generated a tourist turnover so far this year which is equal to the figures for the entire year last year.

Thus 19.7 million arrivals and 106.2 million bed nights have been recorded year to date.

According to data kept by the eVisitor, the number of arrivals is up 5% and there are 106.2 million bed nights or 2% more than for the entire year last year.

Last year there were 19.7 million arrivals all up and 106.1 million bed nights.

The most bed nights were spent by tourists from Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Poland, Italy, Czech Republic and Great Britain.

Dubrovnik, Rovinj, Poreč, Split, Medulin, Umag, Vir, Mali Lošinj are the most desirable destinations.

The results broken down by type of accommodation indicate that the most bed nights were generated in household accommodation (38.8 mn), hotels (24.4 mn) and campsites (18.8 mn).

In other tourism news, in 2018, 1.7 million Croatian citizens or 46.5% of the population aged 15 and over went on at least one private trip with overnight stays spending a total of 8.7 billion kuna, 3.8 billion of which was spent in Croatia and 4.8 billion abroad the latest data released by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) indicate.

The DZS conducted a telephone survey on a sample of 22,000 citizens regarding their tourist activities.

About 1.9 million or 53.5% of Croatian citizens did not go on a private trip with overnight stays in 2018 with the most common reason being lack of finances (51%), health reasons (28.4%), and lack of free time (17.7%).

A total of 4.3 million private trips with overnight stays were realised, of which 2.8 million (64.0%) were realised in Croatia and 1.6 million (36.0%) were realised abroad. The most common international destinations were Bosnia and Herzegovina (21.7%), Germany (13.3%), Slovenia (9.6%), Italy (9.2%) and Austria (7.9%).

The most common reasons for going on a private trip with overnight stays were seaside vacation (1.4 million trips or 31.2%) and visiting relatives and friends (1.3 million trips or 30.6%).

"Average travel expenditure per private trip with overnight stays in Croatia amounted to 1,395 kuna, while for trips abroad, it amounted to 3 076 kuna," the DZS says.

More tourism news can be found in the Travel section.

So far, from the Asian market, Croatia has seen a ten percent increase in arrivals and overnight stays compared to the same period last year. Could tourists from distant markets like Asia be the key to extending the Croatian tourist season?

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes on the 16th of October, 2019, the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) has been presenting the Croatian tourism offer at the ITB Asia fair 2019, the leading tourism fair for the Asia-Pacific tourism industry that brings together international exhibitors from the holiday and corporate segment and is taking place in Singapore from October the 16th to the 18th. The three-day program of the fair is held at Singapore's Marina Bay Sands.

"Participation in ITB Asia 2019 is a continuation of the Croatian National Tourist Board's activities aimed at a very important Asian market, given that Asian tourists mainly travel in the pre- and post tourist season periods and have a great influence on the continued affirmation of Croatia as a year-round tourist destination. The focus of this year's work is to introduce the entire Croatian tourism offer to distant markets such as Australia, USA, China, South Korea and Singapore because our goal is to reduce the dependence of Croatian tourism on traditional European markets,'' said HTZ Director Kristjan Staničić.

As stated, so far, from the Asian market, Croatia has seen a ten percent increase in arrivals and overnight stays compared to the same period last year. Asian tourists opt for an average of two to three overseas trips a year, with one 'long haul' trip lasting between 10 and 21 days. They mostly come to Croatia in June and their favorite destinations are Dubrovnik, Zagreb and Split.

Staničić revealed that the major tour operators are Holiday Tours & Travel Singapore, Pacific Leisure Group, Globe Travels and C&D Global Tourism Group, Inspiring Vacations, and Wings Away Travel, which have already confirmed increased interest in Croatia in 2020.

As part of the first day of the fair, Staničić also held meetings with Kristian Brumby, Director of International Partnerships, OTT's global renowned online travel learning platform for travel destinations, which is the primary source of knowledge for travel professionals worldwide.

It is used monthly by more than 20,000 tourism professionals who choose from 200 offered courses. A meeting was also held with Gianluigi Bazzini, commercial manager of Skyscanner, one of the world's most famous travel searches for airline flights, accommodation, car rental, travel agencies with over 100 million individual visits on a monthly basis. The possibility of future co-operation was discussed, since Skyscanner has been part of Ctrip since 2016, the largest agency in China and the second largest travel agency in the whole world.

According to the Croatian National Tourist Board, the Zagreb Tourist Board are participating in this, otherwise the twelfth fair.

''We've been performing continuously on this most significant Asian market since 2011, and we're seeing a growing audience interest in the Croatian capital. We're presenting the holiday and business offer of Zagreb with a special emphasis on health tourism and a cultural segment that is of great interest to guests from Singapore, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, other Far Eastern countries and Australia,'' noted Zagreb Tourist Board Director Martina Bienenfeld.

The importance of appearing at ITB Asia is especially evident in the structure of Zagreb's visitors, because along with the tourists from the United States of America and Germany, at the top of the arrivals and overnight stays list in Zagreb are tourists from the Far East and Australia.

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October 9, 2019 - Battle Trip, the most popular South Korean TV show, is using Croatia as its home base this week. 

HRTurizam reports that the Croatian National Tourist Board and Bluesun Hotels, in cooperation with Korean National Television KBS and A9, hosted the production crew of the most popular South Korean TV show 'Battle Trip', as well as Korea's biggest pop stars Park Cho-rong and Yoon Bo-mi.

The crew is on a six-day visit to Croatian destinations, which will be featured in the popular TV show. Otherwise, the Battle Trip broadcast on the KBS channel is followed by over 25 million viewers in South Korea, as well as a large number of Korean expatriates, predominantly in the US, via KBS World.

Korean pop stars Park Cho-rong and Yoon Bo-mi, who are currently in Croatia, are members of the K-pop group Red Velvet. They are followed on social networks by 8.3 million followers on Instagram and 1.3 million followers on Facebook.

The Battle Trip production will visit Zagreb, Hrvatsko Zagorje, Split, Makarska Riviera, and Brac.

HTZ

During their journey, they will learn about traditional Croatian customs such as making gingerbread hearts in Zagorje, enjoying gastronomic delicacies in Split, but also experiencing an off-road buggy adventure in Baska Voda and cycling around Brac. The show, which is 90 minutes long, will be broadcast in South Korea in about a month.

"Croatian destinations have made their way into excellent locations for top films, series, and shows. The positive impact of world-renowned shows and films on the global promotion of our country is beyond question, which is confirmed by the huge jump in our country's popularity in the Korean market after the Korean reality show 'The Romantic' was filmed in Zagreb in 2013. I am sure that the popularity of Croatia in Korea will increase further after their music stars stay in our country, but also after the most-watched South Korean TV show is broadcast,” said Croatian Tourist Board director Kristjan Stanicic, adding that the recent formal opening of the HTZ Representative Office in Seoul further increased Croatia’s promotional activities in Korea.

South Korea, with 51 million inhabitants and an established direct flight between Zagreb and Seoul by Korean Air, represents a significant market potential for Croatia.

To date this year, Croatia recorded over 317,000 arrivals and 402,000 overnight stays from the Korean market, which represents an increase of almost 5 percent in overnight stays compared to the same period last year.

According to the realized number of overnights, the destinations that record the highest traffic from the Korean market are Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar, and Plitvice Lakes. Korean tourists mostly visit Croatia in the pre and post-season, mainly during May and June and September and October.

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.