November 20, 2020 - The Croatian Tourism Association is optimistic about the 2021 tourist season, thanks to the recent announcements of a COVID-19 vaccine.

HRTurizam reports that the recently published optimistic results of the third phase of testing two vaccines against COVID-19 and Germany's announcement that it could vaccinate 70 percent of the population by the summer of next year have brought optimism among tourism workers around the world, including Croatia.

This news is especially important for our country, where the arrival of guests from Germany in large numbers is crucial for a successful season.

Announcements about the vaccine inspire optimism that tourism could begin to recover in the second quarter and then approach the numbers before the pandemic in the second half of next year, said Veljko Ostojic, director of the Croatian Tourism Association, adding: "We must be careful and continuously monitor the situation to be able to make appropriate decisions, both in terms of the market and in terms of the organization of work in accommodation facilities and destinations."

As a review of expectations for next year, Ostojic points out that it will be marked by last-minute reservations as well as an increase in online reservations.

"In any case, it is to be expected that next season will have the characteristics of last-minute reservations, an increase in online reservations, increased interest in higher category facilities that guarantee greater isolation of guests and that the key criterion for choosing a destination will be security in the broadest sense. Croatia's advantage is that it is an auto-destination and has a significantly smaller population compared to other countries," commented Ostojić.

Tourism in the National Development Strategy 2030 is recognized as a strategic branch that stimulates the economy

The draft text of the National Development Strategy, which was adopted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia and sent for broad public discussion, defines tourism as a strategic activity in Croatia, which is why it is necessary to work on its sustainability and recovery from the current crisis.

The goal of the umbrella strategic national document, which must be followed by all other sectoral strategies and implementation plans, is to keep Croatia among the leading European tourist destinations in terms of safety, quality, added value, sustainability, and innovation.

"This year, tourism is finally recognized as one of the key economic sectors in which we have the knowledge and experience to make an extraordinary result even in times of crisis. This year, tourism has proven to be a shock absorber of the economy, rather than a vulnerable part of the economy as it is often perceived. The key to further development of tourism is to raise its international competitiveness, both by reducing the VAT rate to the level of the competition and by defining a comprehensive approach on how to encourage increased investment and reduce barriers to investment in the hotel industry that brings the greatest added value to the economy and the local community," said Ostojic and concluded that they are satisfied that the mentioned key determinants are recognized in the draft text of the National Development Strategy of the Republic of Croatia until 2030.

In Croatia, there are still on average between 15 and 20 thousand tourists every day

An average of between 15,000 and 20,000 tourists still stay in Croatia every day, and official statistics show that 236 hotels and 31 campsites have been opened. Most tourists stay for the weekend, but there is a significant number of those who stay during the week.

Tourists are attracted by special offers, including heated houses in camps, the new offer of "home offices" in hotels, and better prices for accommodation in luxury villas. Most guests are in family accommodation, about 4000 of them, while hotels have about 3000 guests, followed by camps.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

November 11, 2020 - Zagrebacka banka has launched the interactive platform prviput.hr to help you discover Croatia's hidden gems. 

HRTurizam reports that from now on, everyone who wants to explore new locations in Croatia can find the country's undiscovered gems for their next trip or excursion at prviput.hr.

The interactive platform prviput.hr is a unique place with information on unexplored tourist experiences in Croatia, launched as part of a project by which Zagrebacka banka provides support to small entrepreneurs in tourism.

The platform brings together information about interesting locations, services, and tourism products. At the same time, it allows small entrepreneurs and family farms to introduce themselves to local guests.

Visitors will be able to discover the stories of the winners of the project, which was launched by Zagrebacka banka in September, and more than 150 locations registered for the tender will be marked and described on the map.

An additional 60 hidden natural beauties will be plotted on the map, discovered by the Croatian National Tourist Board. Everyone who visits prviput.hr will be able to find inspiration for their next trip in just a few clicks, as well as directly contact the owners of the marked locations with inquiries about accommodation, tourism, gastronomy, and other offers.

As part of the project, an expert jury brought together by Zagrebacka banka selected 15 unique locations and experiences that enrich Croatia's tourist offer.

Two of them, Heritage Hotel Frankopan from Ogulin and Ranch Ramarin not far from Slavonski Brod, have won a major marketing campaign that includes a TV advertisement. In contrast, others will be promoted on digital channels.

The TV advertisement for the Heritage Hotel Frankopan in Ogulin has already been presented to the audience and has won the sympathy of viewers with its charm and beautiful family story. The hotel is recognized as a cultural asset and is located next to the Frankopan Tower and Ivana's fairytale house.

With accommodation in 21 rooms bearing the names of the characters of the famous writer Ivana Brlić Mažuranić, guests will feel the spirit of the past, enjoy the many facilities and try traditional local dishes, including 30 types of pancakes.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes on the 6th of November, 2020, one travel agency, Croatia Luxury Rent, specialising in the placement of luxury private accommodation, achieved an impressive 12 percent increase in arrivals when compared to the summer period last year throughout the period from the end of May to the end of August this year.

With an average occupancy rate of as much as 86 percent even in spite of the pandemic is to be applauded. The founder of Croatia Luxury Rent, Josip Stulic, has offers along the entire Croatian coast.

The best results were achieved by the counties of Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar, followed by the counties of Zadar and Split-Dalmatia. The weakest results were recorded in the counties from the extreme south of Dalmatia, which can easily be explained by the significant traffic distance for visitors arriving by car, and the disruption of air traffic we've seen this year.

The fact that after the end of the spring lockdown, most of the emitting markets rated Croatia as a safe destination is responsible for the overall positive result. Stulic emphasised that he expects Croatia to have a reputation as a safe destination next year as well.

"The largest numbers of booking requests were related to the safety of accommodation, a kind of isolation from major tourist areas and accommodation facilities that allow a sense of residence in the units, such as swimming pools, jacuzzis, outdoor fireplaces, and multimedia," explained Stulic.

Of the total number of Croatia Luxury Rent's guests, the Germans made up 26 percent, 11 percent of the agency's visitors came from the Benelux countries, 10 percent were Scandinavians, 9 percent were Austrians, 6 percent were Slovenes and the same number was made up by the Swiss, and finally - 5 percent were Hungarians and Poles.

"Our predictions are that Croatian tourism and the next tourist season will be attractive to guests primarily from Europe, and we expect that Croatia will be one of the tourist leaders in the Mediterranean in 2021,'' said Stulic.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

November 1, 2020 - Lessons from Rimac - and no, it is not on how to build an electric supercar. A look at how official Croatian tourism video promotion is largely ineffective and costly. But doesn't need to be. 

Last summer, a friend sent me a link to one of the most beautiful videos I have seen promoting Croatia - pianist Lola Astanova performing solo on the tip of the famous Zlatni Rat beach in Bol on the island of Brac. 

Perfectly shot, stunningly performed by a beautiful artiste, there are few better videos online to show the magic of the Adriatic.

Take a look for yourself.

The story behind the video has that Lola was in Bol to perform at the WTA Bol Tennis Open. She apparently absolutely loved Croatia and did a lot of free promotion on her Instagram during her stay (with over 4 million views). She was due to record this video in Venice, but she was persuaded by her new friends on Brac to record it on Croatia's most iconic beach instead, and she covered all the costs of shooting and directing the video. 

A fantastic and free promotion of Croatia, generated from an initiative from the private sector. 

Looking at the video statistics over a year later, the video has had 855,333 views, with some 14,000+ likes and 857 comments. Some serious social media engagement. 

"When you have a moment," said my friend, "take a look at the national tourist board videos and their engagement."

It was a comment which stayed with me and went onto the never-ending to-do list of mine - one which I will never completely overcome. 

Music and Croatia's fabulous coast are the perfect combination, something that 2Cellos have used to their advantage on more than one occasion with their fantastic global promotions of their native country. How about this stunner from Dubrovnik back in 2017, for example? More than 42 million views, 532k likes and more than 12,000 comments. promotion which would give even Kings Landing itself a run for its money.  

When I saw this video, I was reminded of my friend's comment to check national tourist board engagement, but it still remained on my to-do list until this week, after watching THAT Mate Rimac video for the second time. 

The Rimac video had EVERYTHING, easily the best promotional video of Croatia I have seen in a long time. Apart from promoting the tourism beauties of the country, its major focus on why Croatia is a great place to work and live is hopefully the start of a discussion to move Croatia's tourism direction on a new path built on safety, authentic experiences, lifestyle, and digital nomads. In just over a week, the Rimac video has had over 125,000 views, 4,900+ likes and over 700 comments, many of which were extremely positive about Croatia.

I smiled at the end of the video at the slide thanking the national tourist board for use of their footage in the making of the video. Rimac is a smart guy. Why reinvent the wheel (I guess he invents enough of his own in his day job)? If you can get fantastic footage for free, interview a few employees at the office, then throw in some footage of those amazing Rimac cars, the production cost of the video is going to be very affordable. 

It also shows that the stunning footage exists in the official archives. And, as the Rimac production team showed, it is possible to use that footage to create something very engaging and positive, promoting many aspects of life and work in Croatia, as well as tourism - on a budget. Perhaps the Rimac team threw some money to boost the video. I would be surprised if yes, and it certainly got a ton of organic traffic and media space, so there was really no need. 

But really great engagement again. When I saw the national tourist board footage slide at the end of the video, my friend's comment from last year came back into my head, and I decided to finally take a look. 

Having written about the heroes who run the Kingdom of Accidental Tourism for a decade now, there is nothing about their efforts that shocks me anymore. I truly have seen it all. 

Or so I thought. 

For when I looked at the Croatia, Full of Life YouTube channel and compared it to these outstanding examples above, what I discovered was truly staggering. Expecially when one considers what must be at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in social media promotion, in addition to the cost of the videos themselves. Having looked at the channel for 5 minutes, I realised that in order to understand and analyse what I was looking at properly, I would need some industry expert help. I posted such a request on Facebook, and a social media marketing expert from a major Croatian tourism company (who asked not to be named) offered his services, including generating some data on the videos. Thank you,  Sir - you know who you are. 

(Croatia Full of Life YouTube screenshots above, and more below)

I decided to start at the top. What was the most popular official video of all time? Wow! An impressive 22 MILLION views. Very, very impressive. 

Until I saw the engagement. 

Have you ever come across a video on YouTube with over 20 million views which has just 76 likes and 7 comments (including those of the original poster)?

Nor had I. The second most popular video of all time. Again, an impressive 12.2 million views, but just 71 likes and just 4 comments (including those of the original poster). 

If a car maker, a pianist and a couple of cellists could get so much engagement and reaction, liking and sharing of their videos, how was it possible that the Croatian National Tourist Board was getting so little love for its videos? As Rimac had proved, they had the material, and he had shown how to use it. My new online data analyst friend offered to run a report on the 12 most popular videos of all time on the official national tourist board channel. Here is what he found.

Pageviews - seriously impressive  But engagement? Only one of the 12 most popular videos in terms of views with more than 80 likes? And a total of just 32 comments over 12 videos and over 120 million views?

And you don't have to make the world's fastest electric car or be the most famous cello duo in the world to get engagement. Here is my little contribution on Hvar 5 years ago, when I managed to persuade a couple of YouTubers to go for a swim in Gariful's underfloor aquarium, complete with baby shark as part of a report they did on a visit to Croatia's premier island. Some 4.5 million organic views later, it is now the most popular video about Hvar on YouTube, with engagement of 92,000 likes and more than 5,000 comments. I personally have answered at least 10 emails from tourists on Hvar asking me where to find the restaurant so they can go for lunch. 

This screenshot from the official YouTube channel gives us some clues. The same video, posted in numerous languages 8 months ago. The German version, posted twice, has 274,000 views in total, while the Italian one was just viewed 109 times, and the French one a lamentable 61 times. The only explanation, my data expert said, is that the German version had been heavily promoted through a paid campaign, while the Italian and French versions were examples of how the organic traffic looked. Not quite the same as Rimac or Lola.

Indeed, of the 43 videos posted in 2020, over a third (15 of them) have less than 1,500 views. This despite the channel having almost 19,000 subscribers.

Time for another report, said my new friend. In 2020, the national tourist board has apparently posted a total of 43 videos (actually not 43 unique videos, as several have gone out in different languages - each video in a new language is counted as one). And here is a summary on engagement compared to Lola on Brac, 2Cellos in Dubrovnik and Rimac in Sveta Nedelja. Almost 30 million views over 43 videos, which sounds ok until we examine just how much of that is paid promotion below, just 1650 likes over 43 videos (even after paid promotion) - the one Rimac video is already three times higher than all 43 official videos combined as it now approaches 5,000 likes. 

And ZERO comments. How can that be possible?

Quite simple, if the comments are turned off. I don't know much about online promotion, but if you pay to get people to watch a video to then engage, where is the logic in blocking people from doing that by not allowing comments? Perhaps to mask the embarrassment of lack of comments when they were switched on - see above with a total of 32 comments for the top 12 videos of all time. 

Even more curious is the wasted opportunity of using the description to provide a call to action, a chance to engage further. Take this example from a Croatian tourist board video in Polish with over 1.4 million views, but just 17 likes, no comments possible, and no link for further information. 

Now look at this example of how someone in the private sector does it:

This is how Rimac promotes not only his video, but also his company. He guides people through the video with a helpful timeline. But look at the other options to engage further, with a range of calls to action. 

It really is not that difficult, especially as I understand that all this work is outsourced by the national tourist board to a third party. After all there are only 70-80 people working fulltime at head office, so who could possibly have the time to take on such a task?

Interestingly, given that the national tourist board has a policy of not promoting any material from private businesses, the Rimac video was shared on official channels 6 days after it first appeared online. Great stuff, and I hope this is the start in a change of policy. I had to smile to compare the level of engagement on the official national tourist board social media of the Rimac video and then compare it to the engagement to its own record-breaking video with 22 million views. 

So how many likes SHOULD a good video get to indicate how well it is received by its audience? A quick Google search, as well as a question to my new friend, came to roughly the same conclusion:

Like to View Ratio Although likes aren’t taken into consideration when it comes to monetizing your video, it doesn’t mean they aren’t important. Likes will determine your popularity. On average, YouTubers should expect a 4% like to view ratio. That means they should be getting at least 4 likes for every one hundred views. Likes are usually given by people who find your video informative and engaging. If your videos are not getting a high enough like to view ratio, consider an alternate approach.

So Croatia's most popular official video with its 22 million views should then have almost 1 million likes if it was hitting the mark. 

It has just 76. 

If your videos are not getting a high enough like to view ratio, consider an alternate approach.

So how much is all this costing in terms of promotion, to boost these videos that nobody is engaging with?

A Google search reveals a number of prices per view, but my friend suggested a more conservative number of between $0.01 and $0.03 per view. For the sake of this article, let's stick to the conservative end of that (while acknowledging that the amount could be three times higher, or more), so $1 per 100 views. 

Given the lack of engagement and the French and Italian examples above, it is fair to assume that almost all of the traffic is therefore boosted by a paid campaign. Looking at 2020 alone, my friend came up with this. Almost 30 million views so far this year. If the price is $0.01 per view, then that equates to $300,000. If the amount is $0.03 per view, however... 

And this, of course, is just the cost to Google. Add a nice fee to the agency doing the work, and let's not forget the costs of actually producing the material. 

And for what end result? A product nobody engages with, with restricted chance to engage via comments and no call to action to find out more information (not in every video, but in the vast majority I checked). 

There is another tool of measurement I was unaware of - the cost of engagement. How much should it cost for a successful campaign of engagement?

Cost Per Engagement can mean too many things to many people, so there isn't really enough data that is comparable to average out. It's usually not much, however. According to Quora it can be about $2, and according to Reddit, you can pay around $0.01.

A lot more than $2.  As a huge disclaimer, these are suggested numbers based on the expert analysis I was given. I invite the Croatian National Tourist Board to transparently publish the amounts spent on these promotions, as well as their interpretation of the results. There are always two sides to every story. Well, almost always. 

By way of comparison, IF Rimac, 2Cellos and Lola were just promoting their videos with paid similar paid promotion (Lola's management has confirmed all views and engagements are organic, so her cost of engagement is $0), it would compare like this, above. Well within the recommended amount, so they are clearly doing things right. The engagement cost is actually much lower, or even zero (as in Lola's case at least) due to the huge organic traffic. 

So somewhere between $0.01 and $2 then is average. My data friend told me that the calculation as he sent me the above report - page views x 0.01/likes, dislikes, shares and comments. And this price of $169.82 is assuming a conservative ad price of $0.01. If it was $0.03, for example, then the number would be over $500 per engagement.

So what have we learned from all this? And is our tourism promotion money being used effectively?

Lessons from Rimac - we have the material, we need creativity to get the message out effectively (actually let's take a step back, we have to figure out what our message is - the golden era of accidental tourism is coming to an end), calls to action and engagement work. 

We also have the experts in the private sector who can take tourism promotion to the next level for a fraction of the cost of the cash being thrown wastefully at the moment. 

Let's use them. 

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

October 31, 2020 - A closer look at 2020 for Croatia's national carrier, as Croatia Airlines recorded almost 1.2 million fewer passengers and a net loss of HRK 243.5 million.

Croatian Aviation reports that Croatia Airlines ends the first nine months of 2020 with a financial result directly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which caused the deepest crisis in civil aviation history.

The epidemiological crisis has drastically reduced the demand for air transport services, which, together with the resulting traffic restrictions, has imposed the need to reduce capacity and drastic cuts in the scheduled flight schedule by reducing crashes, that is, by canceling or reducing flight operations on existing routes or by abandoning the introduction of new planned routes.

In the current market circumstances, Croatia Airlines made an operating loss of HRK 222.4 million in the first nine months of this year, which with a net financing result, gives a net loss of HRK 243.5 million.

The increase in the net loss of HRK 195.1 million compared to the same period in 2019, which is a direct consequence of the reduction in demand for air transport service in the context of a global pandemic, directly reduced the company's revenues by 70 percent between April and September 2020.

As a result, there was a reduction of 11,709 flights and a drop in the number of transported passengers of 69 percent (-1,168,190 passengers). The structure of the crash was additionally adjusted to the needs of reduced traffic. Given the market circumstances, greater emphasis was placed on using the Dash 8-Q400 fleet, whose capacity is smaller compared to the fleet of Airbus 319/320.

Due to reduced demand for air transport services during the coronavirus crisis, Croatia Airlines recorded a drop in passenger traffic of more than 90 percent in April and May, 80 percent in June, 70 percent in July, 67 percent in August, and 80 percent in September.

In the first nine months of 2020, the number of passengers in domestic regular traffic (142,958 passengers transported) decreased by 64 percent; in international regular traffic (384,712 passengers), this decrease was 69 percent, and in extraordinary traffic (5,700 passengers), there was a decrease of 91. A total of 533,381 passengers were transported in the first nine months, i.e., 1,168,190 fewer passengers than in the same period in 2019 (-69 percent).

Given the worsening epidemiological situation and a further decline in bookings in the coming period (autumn and winter), no significant improvements are expected. These are low season months (winter season) when the company makes losses under normal conditions. An additional problem in maintaining liquidity is the unpredictability of the duration of the crisis caused by the pandemic and the pressure on its cash flows.

The company's operations until the end of 2020 will largely depend on external factors, decisions and recommendations of the Croatian Civil Protection Headquarters, which directly affect the possibility of travel in domestic and international regular traffic, reciprocity in abolishing or facilitating measures at the interstate level and the achieving optimal occupancy and average tariffs in conditions of reduced demand caused by COVID-19 directly (public health restrictions) or indirectly (financial and security reasons).

As the Croatian national airline, Croatia Airlines represents a strategic part of the Croatian transport infrastructure, which came to the fore in this crisis period because the company contributed to maintaining transport connections with the Croatian economy and citizens.

From the beginning of the crisis until May 2020, the company helped 23,000 Croatian citizens return, made itself available to the Republic of Croatia to transport humanitarian aid, returned Croatian soldiers from Afghanistan, and performed several repatriation flights from different parts of Europe.

In the conditions of the crisis and the consequences for the tourist season, the additional importance and contribution of Croatia Airlines to tourism is in connecting Adriatic airports with European destinations in the season when the arrival of foreign airlines was significantly reduced. In the autumn-winter period, and especially due to the current deterioration of the epidemiological situation, the importance of Croatia Airlines will be further emphasized by maintaining Croatia's connection with major European destinations, as a large number of foreign airlines have already withdrawn from the Croatian market or reduced flights. 

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

October 27, 2020 - The recent Mate Rimac promo video on living and working in Croatia is an excellent cornerstone for a new direction for a country which needs to reinvent its tourism strategy. 

Things are a different than how they used to be. 

It used to be the case that you worked hard all year, then you had time off and took a 2-week holiday in the sun.

The distinction was clear. Most of the time you were working (an incredible 50 weeks a year, say some of my American friends as they wondered at the Dalmatian lifestyle of waiting tourism to happen and then for the olives to ripen). And then a much shorter time - 2-4 weeks usually  - was vacation time, where work was a distant memory. 

Then came the onset of technology - emails, SMS messages from the office. It was no longer a guarantee that a holiday was an opportunity to switch off completely from the office. 

And then came the next stage of development, one which is evolving right before our very eyes - the rise of the remote working opportunity. 

It is now much more common for people to take work with them on holiday and for those holidays to be longer. If you can work for a few hours a day in the hotel while the family is off at the beach, then join them later, that is a much better option than being stuck in the office back home. 

The biggest change, however, has come with more companies allowing staff to work from home, or elsewhere. This has led to an increase in digital nomads, and one pre-pandemic prediction had as many as one billion remote workers by 2035, a number which perhaps looks conservative given recent events. 

As long as they are in touch with their office during working hours, an increasing number of people can now work from anywhere, thereby offering a huge range of new opportunities, as well as a type of tourism in which Croatia sells but does not really promote effectively. 

Lifestyle tourism. 

Rather than the 50-week/2-week work/holiday dynamic of yesteryear, this relationship is now a lot more blurred, and tourism (lifestyle living) mixes with work a lot more these days. 

Why not spend a month in another country, working for the office back home by day, then enjoy the local exotic delights by night and at the weekend? It is not classical tourism, which is a lot more rigid, and the flexibility of work location allows these remote workers to spend longer in a country than they would on that beach holiday, experience more, and - crucially for the local economy - spend more. 

Not tourism as we know it, but a much better type of tourism - lower impact, more sustainable, bigger spend, and one where word of mouth will bring others to follow. 

I wrote recently about the recent Mate Rimac promo video, Working and Living in Croatia, calling it the best promo video I had seen for some time in Croatia. Quite when Rimac has the time for such side projects is a different matter, given that his day job is revolutionising the global car industry, but his video captured two of Croatia's greatest selling points, which are currently being undersold. 

Safety and Lifestyle. 

And, to show how the boundaries between work and tourism have become so blurred, his video was not aimed at tourists, rather at showing what a great place Croatia is to live and work. A place that he personally loves, and that people from some 35 countries have moved to in his company alone. 

Listening to the impressions of outsiders is always instructive, for they often see things that locals take for granted. As I have written before, one of my friends runs a successful luxury tour agency, and he recounted the moment when he discovered the secret of selling Dalmatia to rich clients.

"I was having lunch in this olive grove with a group from New York," he explained. "There was a lemon tree, and one of the group walked over and picked a lemon from the tree. He was mesmerised. Later he told me that this was the highlight of the trip. Picking a lemon from a tree, something that he would never be able to do back home. It taught me that the simplest authentic Dalmatian experiences are also the most highly prized. Easy to arrange, and people are willing to pay."

Rimac's video is insightful, as it focuses on the view of Croatia and what it has to offer, almost exclusively through the eyes of his international team. The South African who wonders at the safety of the country, having seen two 16-year-old girls walking home alone at 2am, for example - something that would never happen at home. But the message of lifestyle, lifestyle, lifestyle shines through the video, as does too that work v life balance.  

There is a lot of discussion of the digital nomad visa for Croatia at the moment, which looks like it will be available in early 2021, offering Croatia's lifestyle to a new mobile global market for 12 months at a time. And while the early feedback is that this would be very welcome, Croatia's lifestyle tourism based on people working here on a temporary basic is already a very well-established thing. Even with restrictions of maximum stays of 90 days for non-EU residents, there are hundreds of digital nomads currently in Croatia (if not more), people who have come to sample the Croatian vibe over an extended period. And with stays of one to three months, their net spend is usually more than the average tourist coming for a week or two. 

As the Rimac promo video points out, these remote workers are attracted to Croatia for the same things as his foreign staff - safety and lifestyle, as well as the range of fantastic authentic experiences that Croatia offers to see and do. Croatia, Your Safe, Authentic, Lifestyle Destination. It has more of a message and focus than Croatia, Full of Life, doesn't it?

Rimac raves about the lifestyle, as well as the emerging startup scene in Croatia. His focus is living and working in Croatia. All the points in the video are relevant to tourism as well, and never has work and play been as aligned as now, or Croatia looked more attractive place to live and work. Either for a fabulous company such as Rimac full-time, or for yourself with your online business, for a month, two or more. The new tourism normal for many.

Croatia is one of the safest countries in Europe to visit. It also has the best lifestyle in Europe. Add in all the extraordinary authentic experiences, great English, good infrastructure, accessibility, affordability, natural beauty, and much more, it should not be hard to attract even more remote workers looking for an authentic lifestyle experience after they finish their online working chores of the day. 

It is a relatively new kind of tourism, but one which could dwarf the current (and non-sustainable) accidental tourism approach. Longer stays, more community involvement, less location pressure on peak season beaches, more revenue - there are many advantages that this new type of tourism could bring over the existing mess. 

And if our tourism chiefs are looking for some ideas, I am sure that young Rimac could find some time for a coffee. 

00:12 Why is Rimac based in Croatia

01:39 Overview and location

02:08 What Croatia offers

02:51 Language

03:31 Food culture

04:10 Prices and standard of living

04:40 Mindset

05:07 Getting here: documentation

05:40 Finding a job for your partner

05:46 Accommodation and commuting

06:47 Croatian culture

07:12 Croatian women

07:33 Safety

08:25 Christmas market in Zagreb

09:12 Traveling and activities in Croatia

10:18 Working in Rimac

12:36 Growing startup culture

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

October 26, 2020 - At the last session of the Rab Town City Council, the Strategy for Rab Tourism Development until 2030 was adopted.

HRTurizam reports that experts from the Faculty of Management in Tourism and Hospitality, led by Dora Smolčić Jurdan and Danijela Soldić Prlet, were in charge of drafting a new tourism development strategy for the town of Rab. Rab is a modern destination of authentic island experiences, rich natural and cultural heritage, happy and hospitable hosts, explains the new vision of tourism development in Rab.

Among the most prominent shortcomings that potentially slow down the tourist development of Rab are still high seasonality, transport infrastructure and connections with other islands and towns, lack of innovative off-season facilities, inadequate structure and quality of accommodation, insufficient beaches, insufficient use of locally produced food and drinks and the lack of a strong brand. Although the situational analysis showed several strengths and positive aspects of tourism in Rab when considering future development, all aspects of the current situation (especially weaknesses) were taken into account to offer more concrete measures to combat such shortcomings, the authors say.

From the set vision, four strategic goals emerged, which, in addition to natural and socio-cultural ones, also respect the economic aspects of tourism development. These are integration and improvement of the offer of Rab, placement of local products through tourism, activation of all city resources to extend the tourist season, raising competitiveness, and conquering new markets.

According to the authors of the study, the well-being of people and quality living conditions on Rab are the common denominators for all established priorities of Rab, which is also the basic meaning of responsible tourism development.

Considering the resource base, the level of development of the tourist offer of Rab and taking into account the future market perspective as primary tourist products until 2030, the following are identified: sun and sea, cultural tourism, nautical tourism, and sports and recreation. Health and rural tourism can be especially emphasized as secondary tourist products.

In addition to retaining key markets, the authors also suggest activating new potentially significant markets such as the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, and Asian countries. Based on the established specifics of Rab and situational analysis, the starting points for positioning Rab as a tourist destination were determined, divided into three basic groups: natural resources, cultural and historical heritage, and perceived quality of life.

You can read the entire tourism development strategy of Rab town until 2030 here.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

October 14, 2020 - The Croatian National Tourist Board has launched a new promotional campaign, "Discover The Colours of Croatia," in seven European markets, namely Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy and the United Kingdom.

HTZ announced that this autumn campaign especially promotes natural beauty, culture, nautical and eno-gastronomy, and will be carried out until the second half of November through thematic articles on online portals, print ads and advertising on social networks with the hashtag #DiscoverTheColoursOfCroatia.

"Although the current epidemiological situation in Europe, as well as the current restrictions for travel that vary from country to country, do not allow the greater realization of tourist traffic, in this part of the year it is very important to maintain Croatia's visibility in our most important European markets. It is with this goal that we launched this campaign in which we want to further position our country as a safe destination with a rich, quality, and attractive offer in the post-season period. Our goal is for Croatia to be positioned in the minds of many as a destination that guarantees safety and quality vacation with numerous activities and facilities," said the director of the Croatian National Tourist Board Kristjan Staničić, reminding that the action Vacation-Worthy Week is starting soon, through which domestic and all foreign guests who find themselves in Croatia will be able to use numerous tourist services in the country at 50 percent lower prices.

Activities within the "Discover The Colors Of Croatia" campaign will be carried out through the social networks Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, through the placement of articles on the most read and most famous portals in certain markets such as oe24.at, DerStandard.at and Krone.at in Austria, Gazeta .pl in Poland and novinky.cz in the Czech Republic, as well as on the specialized portals MarcoPolo.de and Holidaycheck.de in Germany, within which special HUBs, i.e., micro-websites with content dedicated exclusively to Croatia, have been created. All promotional materials created for advertising are linguistically adapted for all seven markets.

The campaign is also implemented through print advertising, and cooperation has been launched with the travel platforms Lonely Planet and National Geographic, through which all tourist products included in the autumn campaign will be promoted and visible to millions of their users and followers on social networks.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

October 14, 2020 - On Tuesday, the Ministry of Tourism and Sport, led by Nikolina Brnjac held a working meeting with representatives of county tourist boards. Along with the Minister, the meeting was also attended by State Secretary Sandra Herman and the Director of the Croatian Tourist Board Kristjan Staničić.

HRTurizam reports that Minister Brnjac thanked those present for their work so far and pointed out that such coordination will be held more often in order to better implement strategic and operational plans.

"You are the backbone of our system. I believe that through open dialogue and timely exchange of information, we can contribute to a better and more systematic solution to the challenges in the coming period," said Minister Brnjac.

Representatives of regional tourist boards presented concrete problems to the ministers and associates and suggested proposals in order to better adapt to the COVID situation, expressing satisfaction with this form of cooperation.

Minister Nikolina Brnjac pointed out that now is the opportunity for a strategic turn, both in the organization of the tourism sector and in finding the best solutions for the coming period.

"We have started the initial administrative steps for the development of a long-term sectoral strategy called the Strategy for the Development of Sustainable Tourism until 2030. For the first time, we are in the process of preparing an Environmental Impact Study. These are documents on which it is important to reach an agreement between the private and public sectors because they will determine the further direction of tourism development," added Minister Brnjac and called on the representatives of tourist boards to cooperate and proactively communicate.

All participants in the meeting agree that the opportunity for development certainly lies in the use of EU funds, but also in the harmonization of the Ordinance and timely guidelines for the implementation of work and programs as well as the exchange of experience and knowledge.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

October 14, 2020 – The biggest surprise of the Croatian tourist season 2020, the municipality of Vir on the island of the same name, is planning new large investments. The opening of the first hotel and marina on Vir is planned for 2023.

As Večernji.hr reports, Vir is this year's Croatian record holder in the number of tourist overnight stays, and only about 10 percent less revenue was recorded than last year. Vir's tourism was less affected by the coronavirus pandemic than in the rest of the Adriatic. However, there is still no hotel on Vir.

This tourist destination, which many remember by excavators and the demolition of illegally built houses, has two thousand private renters and about 9,000-holiday homes. Approximately half of them are owned by foreigners (from Budapest, Vienna, Bratislava, Ljubljana), who often come to Vir now, during October, on weekends.

On Vir, there is still more tourist traffic in October than in much more famous Adriatic places. However, this change did not happen in one season, but Vir has been patiently building its new tourist destiny for more than a decade.

The island of Vir has so far invested around 300 million kuna in water supply, sewerage, public lighting, roads, decoration of beaches, and green areas. So, all the long-term stake returns to Vir through the season.

"Not everyone here is still aware of the change that has taken place in Vir. But that's why Germans, Hungarians, Austrians, Poles, and Swiss know very well that Vir has become a great tourist destination," said Mayor Kristijan Kapović.

Seventy percent of Vir is covered with Mediterranean greenery, and only one-third of land can be used for building on Vir.

"We plan to build a hotel with about a hundred rooms, a marina, and a camp. All at the level of five stars, and it should be done in 2023. It is an investment of a total of 30 million euros, and we have the financial potential to do that," reveals Kapović, who believes that many 'weekend tourists' are a great advantage, not a lack of Vir tourism.

Vir has been the first in Zadar County in terms of the number of tourist nights, and during the last three seasons in the summer it is among the top three destinations in Croatia. By the end of September, there were just over 101,000 guests, and 2.1 million overnight stays were realized this year, which is a respectable 86 percent of last year's number.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.