February 16, 2020 - The final schedule of the One Day or Day One #hrturizam2030 conference has been published, bringing together some of the top names of Croatian tourism's public and private sector.  

I have never seen a conference organised from a conversation over a kitchen table to realisation before, and it has been really inspiring seeing the progress of Goran Rihelj and his indefatigable wife Mirjam to make 'One Day or Day One #hrturizam' a reality at Congress Centre Forum Zagreb on April 2. 

Goran, of course, was the man whose initiative to bring Days of Croatian Tourism to Slavonia last year really put the spotlight on the potential of tourism in eastern Croatia. And now his #DayOne conference is bringing together key stakeholders in the public and private sector in Croatian tourism to focus on areas of agreement and cooperation to build a roadmap of progress for a better future for Croatian tourism. 

The programme, which will be in both English and Croatian with simultaneous translation available, has now been published. Apart from the presentation by keynote speaker and acclaimed global tourism guru, Doug Lansky, there is bound to be great interest in the panel with Minister of Tourism Gari Cappelli and Croatian National Tourist Board Director, Kristjan Stanicic, discussing where they are aiming to get Croatian tourism to by 2030.  

In addition to the speeches and panels, there will also be a gastro and wine show by celebrity chef Mate Jankovic and wine expert Sasa Spiranec. 

And after a stimulating day, perhaps the most interesting part in terms of networking - Night One, the after-party, where there will the chance to mingle and network with the many progressive tourism professionals who will be attending, as well as meeting some of the speakers. 

I am delighted that TCN is able to support #DayOne as media partners, as well as having the chance to present my own contribution, 5 Gifts Croatian Tourism is Ignoring, and How to Fix This. You can see my video message supporting the conference in the video above. 

To reserve your tickets, visit the dedicated page on the HRTurizam website.

If you have any questions or need help from me, contact me on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Tourism is one of the key, most important sectors of the Croatian economy, which generates around 20 percent of GDP in Croatia. Just how can we influence Croatian tourism for the better?

These days, we live and work on the global European market, Goran Rihelj writes for hrturizam.hr. Information and knowledge are both available to everyone, and we're all fighting for the same tourists on the global market. Additionally, today more than ever, every country focuses on the growth of the small and medium economy as a basis for a healthy, sustainable and strong economy, and through the tourism sector, we directly influence the sustainability of the local economy.

Although the number of arrivals and overnight stays has been growing for years, there are various challenges, such as the prolonging of the length of the tourist season, sustainable development of tourist destinations, a lack of a qualified workforce, or indeed difficulty in finding qualified staff, a lack of strength when it comes to cooperation and synergy, etc...

However, one of the key problems in the fact that quality dialogue and communication between the public and the private sector is non-existent. Tourism isn't homogenous, it isn't just one single industry, it is vertically and horizontally tied to many other industries. That's exactly why it's complex, and we have to deal with that in a strategic and sustainable way. We need everyone to be able to work together, and this includes both the private and the public sector.

I'm aware that it might sound naive to some, but on the other hand, let's start with ourselves - each of us as individuals, and as experts, and as part of society, in the end, are responsible for the change we're waiting for. Whether we want to cooperate and move forward, or not, it's all up to us. It's all up to the people, right?

Two words have marked the Croatian tourism industry for decades now: potential and change.

We all talk about the incredible potential all around us, and that the only change we need is in the context of market development in order to turn this potential into resources. However, to turn that potential into resources, we need to start working on market development and growth in a more proactivel manner, we need to create dialogue and communication, as well as reach a consensus on the topics and challenges we all share.

HrTurizam.hr wants to be at the very centre of this story, as a mediator of some kind, a channel that creates connections through dialogue and communication, providing specific solutions. Speaking in tourism terms, we need to define the rounded tourist product, ie - remove market obstacles in order to properly develop the entire tourism sector.

The question we need to ask ourselves is: How can we move forward faster and in a better way? What can we do to make tomorrow better? Where do we see Croatian tourism in 2030?

ONE DAY OR DAY ONE PLATFORM #dayone

And that's why the need to start the #DayOne platform arose, the focus of which is to connect the unconnectable, which means to start communicating. The main focus is not focused on problems and on the past, but rather on constructive open dialogue and solutions. The focus is on the positive, not the negative. The focus is on synergy and on cooperation.

We all constantly talk and go around in circles when it comes to the problems in every sector of tourism, but we don't deal with the content, and we expect someone else to be the change. Here we talk about market development, not politics, this includes operational problems that the private sector deals with, and that's not a matter of a priori politics, instead, it's about market development.

As I have highlighted, #DayOne is not just another conference, it's a platform. Because we can't talk about the future of Croatian tourism in just the one day on which the conference takes place, we need to do so every day.

HrTurizam.hr as a mediator between the sectors

The ONE DAY OR DAY ONE Conference will be held on April the 2nd, 2020, at the Forum congress centre in Zagreb, and it will officially announce the entire #DayOne platform.

The conference will bring together experts from various tourist sectors, including the private, scientific, healthcare and public sectors, it will welcome international lecturers who will present some global tourist trends, it will showcase some of the positive examples of cooperation and talk constructively about all the challenges faced, and most importantly, it will offer specific solutions on how to make Croatian tourism grow faster. Some of the lecturers will be Božo Skoko, Ognjen Bagatin, Paul Bradbury, as Total Croatia News is the partner and the media sponsor of the conference. We'll talk more about the program a little later on.

The key point to highlight is that after the conference, meetings with the private sector in each of the fields will be held, to create a strategic document with all of the specific solutions, a document which will be a list of all the challenges in the field, a so-called "white paper", clearly addressing the entire problem, and most importantly with specific solutions on how to speed up the market changes offered.

The document will bring together the opinions of the private but also the public sector, with the goal of creating a consensus regarding some of the main challenges Croatian tourism faces, and a specific time frame in which to bridge them.

We need to be real and honest, we can't do it without each other, no matter what others might think. Without dialogue, we can't achieve the sustainable growth and development of Croatian tourism.

In the end, let me ask you: Should we continue talking about the potential and the need to change in the years to come, or should we all start working together now and be that change?

One Day Or Day One. I choose dialogue, cooperation and #DayOne, starting today, starting with me first.

This isn't my story, this is our story. We all make up the Croatian tourist product. Let's forget about the past and turn towards the future. Let's, from now on, focus on #dayone, not #oneday.

Every day, more information on the conference, the programme and the entire platform will be available. #DayOne

SAVE THE DATE - April the 2nd, 2020!