August 7, 2021 - The Institute for Tourism has published the Tourism Development Index (ITR) for 2020 at the level of all 556 local self-government units in the Republic of Croatia.

HrTurizam reports that the Institute for Tourism has published the Tourism Development Index for 2020, a year marked by the pandemic and that ultimately put in trouble an industry that in 2018 contributed 19.6% to the country's gross domestic product and that represented 6.6% of total jobs in Croatia, according to the OECD.

Despite the specific cases of success in which the virus was challenged and the obstacles it brought with it as well, specifically in the Istria region last summer, the context was definitely not favorable for thousands of hotels, accommodations, restaurants, agencies, guides, and other sectors of the tourism industry in Croatia.

The tourism development index is calculated once a year and is based on five basic indicators that are exact, transparent and objective, and easily accessible to all cities and municipalities in Croatia on an annual basis, and cities and municipalities can easily monitor changes in the level of tourism development indicators, as well as planning their development. These are the following indicators: (1) number of beds, (2) number of beds in hotels and similar accommodation facilities, (3) number of tourists, (4) number of nights, and (5) number of employees in accommodation and food service activities, where all indicators are calculated in absolute and relative values.

Institute for Tourism

In addition, the model provides an opportunity to create a quality analytical and information basis for the implementation of sectoral policy measures in the field of tourism.

The values ​​of the index range from zero to a maximum of 40, with all local self-government units divided into 5 classes according to the level of tourism development, from the least developed ones with zero index values ​​to the most developed ones where the ITR index value is higher than 30.

It should be reminded that ITR is the result of many years of cooperation between the Institute of Tourism and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Croatia, and the main purpose of the index is to provide a quality analytical basis for more efficient tourism policy at national, regional and local levels.

The motive for creating the ITR index stemmed from the need for quality and precise definition of the level of tourism development of local governments as basic territorial units in Croatia, in order to establish an efficient and transparent system that will alleviate current inequalities in tourism development in Croatia and better valorize its resources.

More detailed methodological explanations related to the calculation of the ITR index can be found HERE.

March 18, 2021 - Is the post-pandemic world a bad picture or a good opportunity? How will labor relations work when the pandemic subsides? At the 4th Communication Management Forum (CMF), which is taking place online from 19 to 20 March, scientists and experts will try to answer those and many more burning questions.

The pandemic has left a huge blow to almost all segments of society. Economic activities have experienced major declines, interpersonal patterns of behavior have changed, and private and business life has shifted to the digital environment. Therefore, this year's Communication Management Forum, an international scientific conference, will discuss the topic "The Post-Pandemic World: A Bad Picture or a Good Opportunity?"

The two-day scientific conference's main event is the roundtable, organized by Jeremy Sampson, Executive director of the Travel Foundation, a leading international NGO in the travel and tourism sector, and famous Slovenian anthropologist Assoc. dr. Sc. Dan Podjed. Edward Bernays University College, in cooperation with the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb and the Institute of Tourism, organizes the event.

In addition to the lectures by eminent scientists and researchers, the 4th Communication Management Forum will seek to offer concrete guidelines for further social, economic, and tourism recovery and development. Also, as tourism is the industry most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, scientists will present the results of the latest research on tourism. There will be research by the Institute for Tourism and the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, the conference's co-organizers.

"Communication Management Forum is an event that has contributed to the conclusions from the communication and tourism aspect. We are organizing this year's edition in the pandemic circumstances that impact communications and tourism. Still, on society as a whole, cooperation with two scientific institutes will certainly contribute to conclusions about returning to normal. We are witnessing several changes that have taken place. As a result of the pandemic, it will be exciting to hear scientists think about how we, overall looking, as a society, reacted to all that," notes doc. dr. sc. Lana Ciboci, co-chair Organizing Committee of the Communication Management Forum and Vice Dean for Science and Management quality Edward Bernays University College.

In recent years, the CMF has gathered over 500 scientists and experts from Croatia and worldwide. The best papers and research will be found in three scientific journals - Tourism, Sociology, and Space and Media research, indexed in scientific databases, SCOPUS, and Web of Science Core Collection - ESCI. Peer-reviewed papers will be available in the new issue of the scientific journal Communication Management Review.

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ZAGREB, October 11, 2020 - Tourists vacationing in Croatia in 2019 spent a daily average of €98 per person and per overnight stay, with the amount being slightly higher in the continental part of the country, €115, and a little lower on the coast, €97, shows a survey conducted by the Institute of Tourism.

The survey, which has been conducted for 30 years and is one of the oldest in Europe, covered close to 14,000 respondents, domestic as well as foreign, coming from 24 markets, who stayed at least one night in hotels, hostels, at camping sites or in private accommodation facilities in 143 places across Croatia.

This is the first time the survey, conducted with the support of Tourism and Sports Ministry, also covered visitors to the continental part of Croatia. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was completed sooner than planned, in March instead of May.

In 2019, the record year for the Croatian tourism industry in terms of the number of arrivals and overnight stays, the average consumption of tourists vacationing on the coast was around 18% higher than in the summer of 2017 and they were slightly more satisfied with tourist services. As continental tourism was included in the survey for the first time, it was not possible to make a comparison of most of those data or overall indicators.

Accommodation costs account for 54% of daily consumption

In the period from May 2019 to March 2020, 54% of the overall average daily consumption were costs of accommodation and food, and only 17% were costs of food and drinks served outside accommodation facilities. All the other services accounted for 30% of the average daily consumption.

Even though average daily consumption in coastal destinations was €97 and in the continental part of the country €115 per person, the Institute of Tourism says that there are no significant differences in the structure of average daily expenses in the two regions.

Hotel guests spend the most on average, €142, followed by guests in family-run accommodation facilities, €88, guests in hostels, €78, and tourists staying at camping sites, €68.

Tourists spent a minimum €67 per day, as spent by visitors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a maximum €206, which is how much Japanese tourists spent per day on average.

Other tourists who spent above-average amounts were those from the United States (€174), the Republic of Korea (€157), China and other Asian countries (€150), and Great Britain (€143), followed by tourists from Switzerland (€118), Scandinavian countries (€115), Spain and France (€107), Austria and Belgium (€102) and Serbia (€100).

Average visitor aged 43, half have monthly income of more than €3,000

The survey also shows that the average age of visitors is 43, that 55% of them are aged 30-49, and that 43% have a university degree while almost half have a monthly household income of more than €3,000.

The most frequently cited motives for visiting the Croatian Adriatic were sea and nature (81% and 56% respectively), city break (24%), touring (21%), sport and recreation (15%), culture and art (13%) and gastronomy, entertainment and festivals (7% and 6% respectively).

The most frequently cited reasons for visiting the continental part of Croatia were nature (32%), touring and city break (26%), sport and recreation (24%), business (22%), culture and art (16%), hiking and rural tourism (10%) and gastronomy and events (7% and 6% respectively).

More than 50% of foreign visitors had already visited Croatia three or more times, of whom 52% had already visited the Adriatic and 33% the continental part of the country; 33% of foreign visitors visited Croatia for the first time, of whom 32% visited the coast and as many as 53% visited the continental part of the country.

The Internet was the main source of information on destinations for 55% of the respondents, followed by recommendations by family members and friends. Most of the foreign visitors to the coast, 43%, arrived, as before, with their families, and 40% with their partners.

Interestingly, close to 40% of visitors to the continental part of the country arrived alone, 32% were with their partners, 16% with their friends, and only 14% with their families.

As for the means of transport they used to come to Croatia, 73% of those who stayed on the coast arrived by car, 19% arrived by plane and 6% by bus while around 50% of those who visited the continental part of the country arrived by car, close to 40% by plane and 9% by bus.

Visitors most satisfied with nature, atmosphere, hospitality

Visitors covered by the survey were satisfied the most with individual tourist services and natural and local attractions, as well as personal safety, atmosphere and the hospitality of local residents, and they were also very satisfied with the overall quality of their stay.

They also gave high marks for the cleanliness of the place they stayed in and of the beaches in the entire country, as well as for accommodation facilities, ecological preservation and transport accessibility as well as opportunities for destination exploration, walking, gastronomy, children-friendly conditions, and culture and art.

Nonetheless, they said they would prefer more entertainment, better conditions for persons with disabilities and more cycling routes in the continental part of the country. As regards the coast, they were least satisfied with local traffic, as well as with the lack of entertainment possibilities, the level of adaptation to persons with disabilities and insufficient shopping possibilities. Some also complained about crowding, garbage that has been inappropriately disposed of and the absence of waste sorting.