On the first big Saturday for Croatian tourism this summer where thousands of tourists will intensify the borders crossings in the country, the Croatian National Tourist Board, or HTZ, has decided to help travelers cool off upon their arrival with a welcome water bottle, announced their official website on June 14, 2019. 

Namely, the action will take place on Saturday, June 15, at the border crossings of Bregana, Macelj, Plovanija, and Rupa and the Lučko toll station. The water bottles will be distributed with the message "Croatia's crystal clear waters are yours to discover! Welcome to Croatia and Discover more at Croatia.hr” along with a special tag that promotes the Croatian islands. The Croatian Tourist Board will distribute a total of 50,000 water bottles on Saturday morning at the specified border crossings. 

"The goal of this action is to further promote Croatia as a country of friendly and good hosts and express gratitude to numerous tourists who have chosen Croatian destinations for their holiday. The crowds and the heat are heightened this weekend, and with this gesture to our guests, we want to make the wait as easy and pleasant as possible,” said Director of the Croatian Tourist Board Kristjan Staničić.

While this action is admirable and awfully generous, we do wish that the Croatian Tourist Board considered the environmental impact of a single water bottle. Namely, it can take up to 1,000 years for one plastic water bottle to degrade! So, if you're one of the thousands receiving a water bottle from HTZ on Saturday, please dispose of it properly. 

But that doesn't mean that other Croatian companies aren't joining the anti-plastic movement. Recall, Croatia Airlines recently announced that they’re trading plastic cups for paper on board all of their flights.

“In line with current trends and legal requirements in the area of environmental protection, Croatia Airlines is discontinuing the use of plastic cups on all flights as of today. The use of paper cups will additionally raise the quality of our services, as well as promote a positive relationship towards the environment,” the airline announced on their Facebook page. 

Thus, by switching to paper cups, Croatia Airlines will remove around 26 tons of plastic waste annually. 

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

On the occasion of the 64th meeting of the UNWTO Commission in Zagreb, Croatian National Tourist Board director Kristjan Staničić met with UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili with whom he spoke about innovations in tourism, air transport, and themed promotions of tourism products such as gastronomy. They also announced the opening of the Croatian Tourist Board office in Madrid next year, reports HRTurizam on May 29, 2019. 

“I think that now is the right time to open your office in Madrid,” said Pololikashvili, offering all of his support in the office opening process. 

"We plan to open the office in Madrid in January next year, just before the FITUR fair, the largest tourism fair in Spain. Future representation is especially important for UNWTO's headquarters, but also because of the growing number of Spanish tourists who last year made about 290,000 arrivals and more than 640,000 overnight stays, which represents a 13 percent increase compared to 2017,” said the director of the Croatian Tourist Board, Kristjan Staničić, adding that the Spanish market is also crucial because of its connection with South American countries.

The meeting also discussed the flights between Zagreb and Madrid, as well as the overall better connections between Spain and Croatia, but also Croatia and China, which was marked as a strategically important and very potent market for Croatian tourism.

They discussed the special promotion of Croatian gastronomy, within which Pololikashvili invited a Croatian delegation to the 4th Global Conference of UNWTO dedicated to wine tourism, to be held in Chile in early December 2019.

Recall that the newly established offices of the Croatian Tourist Board opened in Shanghai recently, along with HTZ offices established in Seoul and Los Angeles. 

The meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Europe (CEU), which is taking place in Zagreb on 27-30 May, was formally opened on Tuesday morning by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković who described the event as a compliment to Croatia and its tourist trade.

The meeting, which is taking place in Zagreb for the second time, has brought together representatives of more than 40 countries and Zurab Pololikashvili, the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), who praised Croatia as a good example of the development of the tourism sector and the whole country.

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

ZAGREB, May 19, 2019 - Croatian tourism won two prestigious awards at the ITB China travel exhibition which took place in Shanghai on May 15-17, for the "Game of Thrones" film tour in Dubrovnik and for the cooperation with the Slovenian Tourism Organisation, the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ) has said.

Croatia's products were presented as part of the European Travel Commission stand together with 22 other European subjects, including the Rijeka 2020 European Capital of Culture and the Zagreb Tourist Board.

Croatia won the award for the "Game of Thrones" film tour in Dubrovnik as part of the "It's My World Travel Awards 2019" in the "Amazing Travel Experiences of the Year" category. The awards are presented by ITB China and Qyer, a portal aimed at Chinese tourists which is used by over 100 million people around the world, the HTZ said.

The HTZ won the "CTW Chinese Welcome Award" together with the Slovenian Tourism Organisation for the "Experience Croatia, Feel Slovenia" project in the "Internet & Media“ category. The award is presented by the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute.

The two awards were accepted by HTZ director Kristjan Staničić, who said they held special importance in 2019, which was declared the Croatian-Chinese Year of Culture and Tourism.

The northern Adriatic city of Rijeka was presented as the 2020 European Capital of Culture as cultural tourism is one of the most in-demand products on the Chinese market, Staničić said, adding that the Chinese turnover on the Croatian market this year so far was 60% higher than at the same time in 2018.

Staničić also met with representatives of the Chinese tourism sector.

More news about Croatian tourism can be found in the Travel section.

Trams, buses, and trolleys, or the public city transport of numerous European cities like Milan, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Lviv, Brna, Plzeň, Amsterdam, Den Haag, and Stockholm, have been painted with the images of Croatia, reports HRTurizam on May 6, 2019. 

The result is the current promotional campaign of the Croatian Tourist Board, which consists of advertising abroad in markets such as the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, France, the Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, and Slovenia.

“Visual effects have been proven to attract a lot of people's attention and create a strong and long-lasting impression on potential tourists. Outdoor advertising on the most frequent roads in major European cities and metropolises is one of the projects realized within the additional 10 million kuna for marketing and PR activities in major markets this year,” said Croatian Tourist Board director Kristjan Staničić, adding that Croatia's external advertising as a tourist destination was carried out by using billboards in the exceptionally busy London and Paris metro stations, but also in Prague, Ljubljana, Rotterdam, and other cities. 

The Croatian Tourist Board also stated that a promotional business tourism campaign worth 1 million kuna was launched, aiming to position Croatia as a tourist destination suitable for MICE tourism.

Advertising is being conducted in two waves, i.e., in May and in September and October. Campaign activities include display and print advertising in specialized media and promotion on social networks, and is conducted in the markets of the UK, Germany, Italy, France, USA, Benelux, Sweden, Norway and Croatia.

“The campaign focused on the promotion of business tourism is a continuation of our continuous investments in the promotion and development of this important tourist product. Croatia has great potential in this segment of travel due to the quality of the resource base, but also because of the excellent references that were confirmed by the last major international meeting, China +16, which was recently held in Dubrovnik,” Staničić concluded.

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

As Morski writes on the 2nd of May, 2019, the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) has established a successful cooperation with the BBC, one of the largest and most respected media outlets in the world.

This cooperation includes the full production of three sixty second videos that will showcase the Republic of Croatia as an attractive year-round destination, the production of three articles with accompanying video footage for the BBC platform, as well as advertising and activity on all online BBC platforms from May to September on twelve key broadcasting markets.

''Cooperation between the Croatian Tourist Board and the BBC is one of the great examples of cooperation and working together with foreign entities on the promotion of Croatian tourism. We're exceptionally proud that such a large media group, achieving the reach of 454 million households around the world, has recognised the significance and potential of Croatia as a tourist destination. I'm sure that all the material shot, as well as all of the other activities, will significantly contribute to the visibility of Croatia, and thus to achieve even better tourist results this year,'' said HTZ's director Kristjan Staničić.

The BBC recording crew visited Osijek, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Klis, NP Paklenica and other destinations where they recorded eno-gastronomic themes, cultural and historical heritage, active tourism offers and other interesting tourist attractions focusing on the locations of the world famous "Game of Thrones" hit series.

Other activities within this cooperation include content placement via BBC Story Works social network channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and the creation of websites on BBC.com where there will be video and written material about Croatia. The markets covered by this cooperation, and on which the materials will be presented, are Germany, USA, Austria, Russia, Italy, France, Poland, Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, Belgium and Switzerland.

It's worth mentioning that the BBC network reaches as many as 308 million individuals on a monthly basis, while on social networks, there are more than sixteen million followers. In addition, the BBC has over 472 million views on its YouTube channel. A large percentage of their users are lovers of travel, and as many as 72 percent usually travel abroad.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle and travel pages for much more on Croatian tourism.

As Lea Balenovic/Iva Grubisa/Novac writes on the 17th of April, 2019, Croatian tourism's current business model is unsustainable and has some serious challenges, according to Emanuel Tutek, a partner at the Horwath HTL consulting house, who stated this at the very beginning of a conference on the challenges of the Croatian tourism sector at Edward Bernays High School, the co-organiser of which was Jutarnji list.

Since 19 percent of Croatian GDP comes either directly or indirectly from tourism, the unsustainability of the system is a more serious issue, he added.

''First of all, our tourism is an extremely seasonal sector and as much as 86 percent of all tourism activities in Croatia take place during the summer months. It's also problematic that 96 per cent of these activities are realised on the coast and in Zagreb. In translation, this means that we have plenty of room for progress and the development of our tourist offer across the rest of Croatia, as well as the extension of the season. We are well below the European average. For example, if we compare just the peak of the tourist season, ie July and August, there is 10 to 20 times more of a burden on the area and the residents in Croatia than there is in other European countries. Just remember how some of the destinations and beaches look in July or August,'' warned Tutek.

He also added that Croatia has plenty of room for progress and development in the quality of the accommodation it provides. The Croatian hotels that, as Tutek says, are the pearl of Croatia's hospitality, are very much losing the battle with the hotel industry in the rest of Europe, and the alarm that should be enough to wake the country up is also the fact that the revenue made from tourists' overnight stays in Croatia is less every year.

In addition to this, Croatian tourism is feeling the country's ongoing demographic crisis bite hard, and has a human resource problem as a consequence. This is, as was explained by Tutek, actually a global problem. However, since the international labour market is far more competitive than the Croatian one is, foreign countries are filling their gaps with Croatian workers. Croatia is, unfortunately, at an unimpressive 100 of 138 countries in the world according to the labour market competitiveness index. An even more concerning piece of information shared by the Horwath HTL consultant was that Croatia is the last and second to last in the world on the ladder of attracting and retaining workers.

''We have no solution. The answers to this can't just be some lump sums and other initiatives, we need something more fundamental,'' he warned. One of the negative factors in each case is the uncompetitive average salary. In nearby Austria, for example, in the hotel sector, wages are about 122 percent higher. Still, the hotel industry here in Croatia has experienced a great discrepancy in numbers, and they have therefore begun to increase employee salaries for the last two summer seasons, which has been a fruitful decision. With the rise in salaries and expenses, revenue also grew.

In addition to the inadequate management of human resources, huge problems are also created by the Croatian tax policy. Property tax, Tutek said, practically doesn't exist in Croatia. ''We're the champions of how good private landlords have it. Croatia is a tax oasis,'' he claims.

''We want to be competitive, but there are a number of things that we're not even close to, not even in the wider environment. VAT reduction is certainly important, and there is also the question of consistent policies. It is important for us to have a perception of what will happen in the future at some point, but if the policies constantly change then we can't have a stable business,'' said Sanjin Šolić of the Lošinj hotel group Jadranka.

Davor Lukšić, President of the Lukšić Croatia Group, agreed with him, pointing out that Croatia's 25 percent VAT rate is very high, and even with a rate of 13 percent there would still be room for progress. "We have to remain competitive, especially now when other destinations in the Mediterranean are making a come back," Lukšić added.

But if one was to as Croatian Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli, the problem of the high VAT rate is one of the easiest problems to solve in the Croatian tourism industry. The minister claims that the Croatian Government could lower the VAT rate with one decree, bringing it down to 10 or 13 percent, and such a decision is in the government's plans for the beginning of next year.

''We have a problem with having five-star hotels in two star destinations. First of all, we have to start improving the quality of the destination and spend the whole year measuring what's happening and only after a few years will we see whether both residents and tourists are happy, as well as service providers and the environment. If everyone is more or less happy, then it makes sense to invest in a four or five-star hotel,'' stated Minister Cappelli, adding that in Croatia, it often happens that investments are made in luxurious hotels first, but not in the development of the destination in which it is located.

"Well, we have cases where five-star hotels don't have sewage systems but septic tanks," he said. The minister also referred to the initial lecture by Emanuel Tutek about the key challenges facing Croatian tourism. He agreed that there was always room for progress, but he also pointed out that he was tracking the figures daily and that he couldn't bring himself to agree with all the alarming warnings about the unsustainability of Croatian tourism.

''We're a strange people, two years ago there were no tourists and they wanted to get rid of me, now there are a lot of tourists, and they want to get rid of me again, the projections of what's to come in two years keep coming in, and they're already that I'm shaking in my chair,'' said Cappelli, adding that Croatia is spending what it earns and has therefore finally got an investment rating.

''Now the pressure on public finances is being relieved and the taxes on the economy can be reduced slowly,'' he said.

If the Croatian tourism association is asked for their opinion on the matter, this is last chance saloon for this tax relief to actually become a reality. Namely, it is anticipated that hotels could reduce the volume of their investments by as much as thirty percent over the next three to four years. ''We want to warn the government that it must not let that happen. We have to invest, but we expect that the government to create measures to encourage that and not just put us off,'' said Jadranka's Sanjin Šolić.

Dubrovnik has experienced not only growth in terms of tourism but also the improvement of infrastructure in recent years, Lukšić believes. However, despite the wild popularity of this particular southern Croatian city, it has multiple problems during the winter season.

''In the last two years, we have extended the [tourist] season and the so called ''congress season'' has helped a lot. But we all have to sit around the table and design a strategy for the winter season, which is actually the only problem,'' Lukšić said, arousing a grin from Šolić, who, having being on an island, has much bigger problems.

''It's easy for Dubrovnik. Imagine how it is for us to extend the season! You need to get to the island, the bridge is a problem, the bura is a problem, everything is a problem. We're less competitive than our colleagues on the mainland whichever way you turn. The Chinese, the Koreans, whoever comes to Croatia, lands in Zagreb, goes to Plitvice, Split and Dubrovnik, nobody comes to us,'' complained Sanjin Šolić.

That is why his team sat down together at the table and decided to turn to health tourism for which Lošinj has natural resources, a strategy and a future, said Šolić. Another solution for the development of island tourism is golf. Therefore, a location permit is currently being sought for the construction of a golf course with eighteen holes, with which will be a hotel and villa that will have a total of 800 beds.

''These are the two routes we have on Lošinj. People don't play golf in July and August because its too hot. During November, December, January, February and March, the weather is wonderful and we'll fill our capacities that way,'' he noted.

Emanuel Tutek welcomed this discrepancy in Croatia's tourism development strategies at various locations.

''Not all destinations are suffering the same issues. In Dubrovnik, there is a problem with excessive demand, and the quality of the offer needs to be worked on to reduce the number of tourists. In Istria, the offer should be increased. This has, for example, been done in Maistra. Nobody thought it would pay off to build a five-star hotel in Rovinj, but after the construction of the hotel, the rest of the sector was accompanied by the arrival of tourists and the development of the destination.

However, in addition to the respective issues destinations face in Croatia, the eternal problem facing the entire Croatian tourism sector is labour and wages.

''Salaries are a problem, they're still a base for attracting workers,'' said Tutek, agreeing with the CEO of Jadranka, but as he said, it's difficult to increase salaries because there isn't enough revenue.

"When the minister sorts us out with less taxes, I'll give the rest of it in salaries," he stated.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle and business pages for much more.

Click here for the original article by Lea Balenovic and Iva Grubisa for Novac/Jutarnji

The Tourist Council of the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ) decided to award grants to top tourism events this year and has selected the British PR agency "Hills Balfour" for co-operation in 13 markets. Darija Reić was appointed as a new director of HTZ's office in London, reports Poslovni.hr on April 10, 2019.

Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said that the newly-appointed head of the HTZ office in London would have “a challenging job of further positioning Croatia on the British market, which has recorded a 35 per cent increase in the number of tourists in the last two years.” HTZ Director Kristjan Staničić said that he believes that Reić would justify the confidence of the UK market, which is becoming more important for the overall results of Croatian tourism.

Darija Reić lives and works in London, and she has gained her professional experience by working for the Hong Kong Tourist Board and TUI. Her three-year term in London will start on 1 May, when she will take over from the current head Ivona Grgan.

The Tourism Council has also decided to engage the British PR and marketing agency "Hills Balfour", with the explanation that "its proposals and guidelines separated it from other candidates." This agency will be responsible for the development and implementation of the PR strategy until the end of this year. It will also conduct international PR activities in the area of media relations, social media and online communication, as well as organise events and public relations projects for HTZ on the 13 markets.

The HTZ Tourism Council has also adopted a proposal to increase available funds for grants for the development of the tourism sector. It will co-finance events and programmes of destination management companies with the amount of 6.4 million kuna. The budget for the so-called top events has been increased by 1.9 million kuna. As a result, 32 projects will be co-financed with 4.4 million kuna in total, including Špancirfest, Sinj Alka, Pula Film Festival, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Picokijada, InMusic Festival and others.

Sports events such as "DOBRO World Cup Osijek 2019", ATP tournament "Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag", "Pannonian Challenge", "Tour of Croatia" and others will be co-financed this year as part of "Sports Croatia" initiative.

Cappelli believes that such a project will contribute to strengthening of the national brand and positioning the country as a year-long destination, while Staničić announced that through this initiative the HTZ would support 10 top Croatian athletes and sports teams that have been proven to be one of the best promoters of Croatia in the world, as well as 15 major international sports events that are a reason for the arrival of many tourists to various Croatian destinations.

Translated from Poslovni.hr.

More tourism news can be found in the Travel section.

During the upcoming weekend, the Croatian National Tourist Board representative office in New York will present the offer of Croatian tourism industry at the Dallas Travel and Adventure Show, a general tourism fair held in Dallas, Texas. The fair is expected to be visited by about 15,000 visitors, including representatives of tourist companies and numerous specialised media outlets, reports Večernji List on March 29, 2019.

“So far this year, we have seen a growth of about 20 per cent in the number of arrivals and overnight stays from the market of the United States of America. The two-digit growth for Croatia is also anticipated by Virtuoso, a prestigious association of travel agencies specialised for luxury travel,” said director of the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) Kristjan Staničić, adding that positive trends will be further improved by the opening of the new office of the Croatian National Tourism Board in Los Angeles, which is expected soon. A total of 20 candidates applied for the position of the office head.

“In addition to the eastern and western coasts of the United States, Texas is the area with the highest average income in the country, that is, it is an area that is a major tourist demand generator. This is confirmed by the information about the visitors to this fair, among which there is a large number of people earning annually more than 150,000 US dollars," said Ina Rodin, the director of the HTZ representative office in New York, adding that Croatia was also presented to numerous US agents at Virtuoso workshops held in Los Angeles and New Orleans.

The positive projections are supported by the launch of new direct seasonal flights from the USA to Croatia, which will take place soon. Namely, American Airlines will fly between Philadelphia and Dubrovnik three times a week from 7 June to 27 September this year.

The Dallas Travel and Adventure Show offers the opportunity to meet tourist agents and media representatives, get the latest tourism industry news, and it also includes an educational and entertainment programme which takes place on three stages and is attended by many prominent lecturers.

More news about Croatian tourism can be found in the Travel section.

Translated from Večernji List.

The Croatian National Tourist Board, in cooperation with the Slovenian Tourist Organization and with the financial support of the European Tourist Board, organizes two business workshops titled "Experience Croatia, Feel Slovenia" in China, reports HRTurizam on March 26, 2019. 

The workshops are intended for representatives of Chinese tour operators and agencies. The first workshop was held on Tuesday in Beijing, while the other will be held on Thursday, March 28 in Shanghai.

"We are pleased to have Ctrip, the largest Chinese online agency at this year's workshops, and one of the largest in the world. There is also the presence of Qunar, the leading Chinese travel search engine as well as the Mafengwo and Qyer platform, the largest Chinese online platform through which young Chinese share their impressions of travel through photos, video clips and notes, which certainly contributes to strengthening awareness of the destination's image,” said Franka Gulin, the director of the HTZ Representative Office in China, who added that Croatia’s excellent position was also confirmed by the great interest of the Chinese media that followed the workshop, including China Media Group, China Daily, CCTV, Lonely Planet China, Sina Travel, Sina Fashion and others.

In addition to the workshop, there is also a rich supplementary program, which includes a special light show and the delineation of six Croatian tourist destinations and locations including Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Opatija, Pula, Kornati, and NP Plitvice Lakes. For the Chinese participants, they prepared a prize game with two wagers per workshop, including a return ticket and overnight stays in Zagreb, Dubrovnik, and Šibenik, as well as tickets for NP Plitvice Lakes.

Twelve Croatian entities participated in Beijing, while 11 of them will be present at the Shanghai workshop, including the Dubrovnik-Neretva, Lika-Senj, and Šibenik-Knin County tourist boards, as well as Northern Sunshine Farms d.o.o., Amathus Travel, Greatline, G2 Travel Croatia, Limea Travel Zagreb, Dnevnik putovanja, Ilirija d.d. and A.T.I. d.o.o.

In 2018, Chinese tourists made up 234,118 arrivals and 345,293 overnight stays in Croatia, representing a growth of 46 percent in 2018, while 2019 projections show more than 300,000 arrivals and more than 430,000 overnight stays from the Chinese market.

"The good news of Chinese partners from the Beijing workshop shows that our activities directed at the Chinese market are producing results and that we are expecting a very successful tourist year from this market, during which we will keep high growth rates of tourist traffic. Also, we are extremely pleased to see that the representatives of luxury travel agency agencies attended the workshop, which confirms the breadth and attractiveness of our offer,” said Croatian Tourist Board Director Kristjan Staničić.

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

T.portal reports on March 22, 2019, that Croatia is currently recording 14 percent more tourists and about seven percent more overnight stays than in the same period last year. The first results show that the Croatian preseason will be good and that we are preparing for a quality tourist year, Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli pointed out in Vinkovci on Friday.

"I think we are prepared for a quality tourist year, and we expect figures equal to last year's or one to two percent growth,” Cappelli said about preparing for the upcoming season at a meeting with representatives of the tourism and related sectors.

Cappelli also said that even though tourism is returning to some countries in the Mediterranean, such as Turkey, Tunisia, and others, Croatian tourism will not be jeopardized, and that late bookings this year is noticeable for all tourist countries.

The tourism minister emphasized that this year, more attention is paid to tourism in the continental part of the country, especially in Slavonia where the Days of Croatian Tourism will be held in the autumn.

"When it comes to the Slavonia project, the first assessment says that we will invest 575 million kuna in tourism projects in five Slavonian counties. Nineteen million euro was also given for the tourist development of Slavonia from European funds and the first grant from these sources was already allocated,” Cappelli said.

The director of the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ), Kristjan Staničić, pointed out that HTZ approved an additional 10 million kuna for the promotion and marketing in 12 markets.

“As part of its activities, HTZ is also conducting the promotion of continental tourism, and in Vinkovci, we are coordinating with the Slavonia cluster, in which there are five Slavonian counties. It was agreed, among other things, to create a new tourist brochure, fair appearances and joint campaigns for the pre and postseason,” Staničić said, adding that a strategy for the development of tourism in Slavonia will also be worked out.

According to all surveys, security is the second most crucial factor in the selection of a tourist destination, said Deputy Chief of Police Željko Prša in Vinkovci.

He also assessed that last year's security in Croatia was high and reminded that the MUP formed the Headquarters for the implementation of security measures in Zadar, which coordinated all activities with competent bodies and services.

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