Sunday, 22 September 2019

Tourist Season 2019 Review by a Hotel Director from Makarska

The director of the Hotel Quercus in Drvenik near Makarska, Tonči Andrijašević, wrote an article for Slobodna Dalmacija which details his review of the tourist season of 2019. 

He mostly discusses the results achieved on the Makarska Riviera, which is the area where he works and knows best. He explains that there are around 35 thousand beds overall there. If we agree that all of those are filled during the 50 days of the high-season, and a guest spends around 50 euros each day overall, that means that 87,5 million euros will arrive along the Makarska Riviera during those days.

His key point is that, in order to estimate the success of a tourist season, we can't just judge by the numbers - saying that 87,5 million euros is successful and that 87 million would've been unsuccessful doesn't seem right to him. He is against numbers and counting as the critical criteria for the success of the tourist season.

His answer to the question "Was the season a success?" also depends on whether you want to work in tourism for a season, or your plans are more long-term. If one year is your goal, then this year was a success, as we managed to get as much money as possible from the tourists who came to Croatia. However, if you're in it for the long haul, then things get complicated because then the only measure of success becomes how many of our guests would recommend to their friends to come to Croatia, how many of them will return?

He continues to give several pieces of criteria (he calls them banal) which could be used to estimate how successful the tourist season of 2019 was:

1) Traffic - can the people of Makarska be satisfied with the fact that the traffic around the town was completely blocked for many days, that there are no new roads being built to help the growing traffic, and what do tourists think about an hour and a half drive around the town?

2) Parking - the city administration sees that as easy money, while tourists hate paying it, but they have to because there's no other solution for them. The parking in Makarska is more expensive than in Rome, no new parking places are being built or are planned, and there are no chargers for electric cars or fast chargers for Tesla vehicles.

3) ATM machines - there are around a hundred ATM machines installed in Makarska, with extremely unfavourable exchange rates. Can we be sure that the tourists understand that it's not our fault that they were legally scammed by those ATMs?

4) The beaches and the wastewaters - is the season successful if there was only one occasion when the wastewater ended up on the beaches? Or if the machines were destroying the beaches before most of the tourists have arrived?

5) Insulting the guests - each year, we can read in the Croatian media how the people arriving in Croatia as tourists aren't that great at all, we keep insulting our guests. People running the restaurants keep complaining about how their guests don't want to buy the expensive food they offer, they want something else - well, shouldn't they change what they're offering? Tourism is the only profession where it's normal to constantly complain about our customers.

He concludes by saying that the situation has not been all that bleak during 2019's tourist season, that there are amazing villas in which a lot of money was invested, there are some great restaurants, people who remember how things used to be when the tourism first started and understand that they're making their living from tourism, and thus living for it. We still have amazing nature, Biokovo near Makarska, and all of the possibilities. We don't have the strategy, planning, or any idea of what tourism should be in the years to come, or how to attract tourists in the year 2030.

Wednesday, 17 July 2019

Croatia's Tourism Suffering, How Are Things For Our Competition?

We've talked a lot about how the tourism situation in Croatia this tourist season has been a little off. Very much off, actually. While some report no particular changes, highly popular restaurants in Dubrovnik are being pictured just half full, Jadrolinija ferries are being pictured half empty, bookings are down significantly, and Croatia has quite strangely restricted access to tourism figures. Weird, right?

There are a multitude of reasons why Croatia's 2019 tourist season is a drag, but one of the reasons Croatia needs to get its act together in regard to bringing tourists in and stop relying on old (and accidental) glory is the fact that some of its competition countries in the Mediterranean are recovering, and their prices are usually far, far more attractive than Croatian ones.

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 17th of July, 2019, the European Commission for Travel (ETC) expects that the demand for tourism in Europe will remain with an upward trend in 2019, with growth of 3.6 percent.

It isn't only Croatia that has recorded minuses or stagnation this summer, owing to competition countries who returned to the ''tourism game'' in 2019, primarily Turkey, which, with its very low prices, has pulled many tourists away from the likes of Montenegro, Greece, and even from Europe's tourism king - Spain.

Although the European Commission for Travel does continue to provide optimistic forecasts for destinations in Europe in its report for the second quarter, the current situation is causing many to fear the decline in tourist traffic and tourism revenues this year.

The European Commission for Travel's report (ETC) for the second quarter cites expectations that tourism in Europe will remain upward in 2019. A growth rate of 3.6 percent is projected, which is more in line with the annual average from 2008 up until 2018, but is in fact less than last year's growth.

The report states that in the first two quarters of 2019, the Balkan region was the most successful in terms of growth in arrivals, with Montenegro as the record holder with a massive fifty percent increase in the period from January to the end of April, while Turkey experienced such growth at a mere twelve percent. Both Slovenia and Greece recorded significant growth in the first quarter of 2019, both with eight percent growth, and the EC has given a positive forecast for Greece, despite the return of Mediterranean rivals like Turkey.

As is well known, Croatia had six percent more arrivals and three percent more overnight stays in the first six months of this year than it did during the first half of 2018, but for the first time in a few years, there was a significant slump in July.

Namely, in the first twelve days of July 2019, the number of Croatian overnight stays fell by almost five percent, while tourist arrivals dropped by 6.2 percent, according to eVisitor data. The year, however, is still in the surplus, but for the time being, the encouraging percentage figures are drawn entirely from Croatia's successful pre-season, which of course also yields significantly lower tourism revenues than the summer months do.

Optimism hasn't managed to touch on the announcements of Croatia's hoteliers either, a segment in which reservations have dropped during summer so far, and were in the range of three to seven percent in mid-June. On certain portals which have group deals, there are several offers for leading Adriatic hotels and destinations for the end of July, which have been overcrowded over the past three years. Worrying indeed.

Although official figures suggest that the tourist season in neighbouring Montenegro remains at last year's level, those ''from the field'' in Montenegro have warned that the situation is much worse than last year, and that there is a fear that, if this trend continues along with possible unfavourable weather conditions, the season in the popular coastal town of Budva could experience collapse.

The Montenegrin Tourism Association's Petar Ivković, has stated that online sales figures in Montenegro indicate almost forty percent less individual reservations, and that reservations have been booked on the markets of Turkey, Greece, and Egypt.

Ivković agrees that Croatian and Montenegrin tourism are facing a very similar problem - the overgrowth of private accommodation facilities, and has added that only through water consumption and garbage collection calculations in Budva can they mathematically come to the conclusion that Mongenegro's private accommodation is half empty.

Even Greece is experiencing a growing problem of unfair competition in private accommodation, and more and more Greek hoteliers are now expecting a fall in revenue, occupancy, and so prices will have to be lowered in order to fill hotel capacities this summer.

The new Greek government will continue with the tourism policy created by the previous government, and thus facilitate the sector through tax breaks. The new Greek Minister of Tourism of Harry Theocharis has his priorities in order, the first of which is the reduction of the VAT rate from the current 24 percent down to 13 percent for accommodation (with the goal of reaching 11 percent). In addition to the tax breaks, the ministry's agenda is to review resident tax and introduce incentives for the energy renewal of Greek tourist facilities.

The aforementioned Greek ministry will also address the revision of the structure and activities of the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO). They are also planning to partner with the private sector to promote and improve the country's brand, and organise the promotion of alternative tourism.

Even the Spanish Tourism Excellence Association (EXCELTUR) confirmed that this summer there has been a slowdown in Spanish tourist traffic, which is currently at 2018's level, with a moderate increase in revenue.

EXCELTUR expects growth of 1.6 percent this summer, down slightly from 2 percent last year. However, in the second quarter of 2019, Spain recorded a decline in tourist traffic in destinations selling just sunshine and sea, unlike Spanish city destinations.

The largest minus have been seen in the traditional beach destinations in Spain, which are more dependent on the demand of foreign tour operators, especially on the Canary islands and in the Balearic islands. Barcelona, ​​Madrid and Valencia have the best forecasts for the rest of the summer. In addition, as vice president of the association José Luis Zoreda explained, the results vary considerably between those destinations and hotels that invested in reconstruction and renovation of their facilities, and those who didn't invest.

Spanish entrepreneurs in tourism are still optimistic according to surveys, and as many as 40.7 percent believe they will increase their sales when compared to last summer. Obviously, Turkey is an absolute hit this year, and in the first five months of the year, it had 11 percent higher turnover than it did last year, with growth expectations of 10 percent year-on-year.

Can Croatia adjust itself accordingly to repair its tourism situation? Only time (and an actual strategy outside of obsessing over eVisitor's figures) will tell.

Make sure to follow our dedicated travel page for much more.

Friday, 12 July 2019

Croatian Camping Sector Has Potential, Yet Season Remains Uncertain

The Croatian camping sector has a lot of potential, but much like with many other things in Croatia, is it really being taken advantage of properly? The short answer is of course, no.

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 11th of July, 2019, a new law should provide for the high-quality planning and preparation of a long-term development strategy in Croatian camps, which should result in the growth of not only quality, but also in the opening up of new, high-quality employment opportunities.

The adoption of the new Law on Tourism Land is of crucial importance for Croatian tourism as it abandons the old model and foresees fifty-year leasing, which offers the ability to release all of the investment potential of the Croatian tourism sector, which is estimated to stand somewhere between three and five billion euros.

If this new law becomes operational and developed, then the Croatian camping sector will finally be able to secure the solid place that it deserves with its remarkable potential - which is to become a leader in the Mediterranean and to position Croatia as a country for camping, as was stated by Adriano Palman, (CCU).

Otherwise, Croatian camping makes up about 25 percent of the total tourist accommodation capacity in Croatia, and in terms of overall quality, it's one of the strongest segments of Croatian tourism according to German ADAC ratings, which results in competitive prices compared to other countries in the Mediterranean.

Poslovni Dnevnik talked to Palman after an unfavourable pre-season in which the heavy amount of rain drove would-be camping tourists away, and at the beginning of a challenging season, which will require a lot of luck and skill to see results anything like those of last year reached again.

What are the results of camps for the first half of this year like, what are the reservations for the rest of the season like? What sort of year do Croatian camps expect?

From the opening until the end of June, campsites cumulatively generated 4.55 million overnight stays, or 1.7 percent less than in the same period last year. It's unfortunate, but it's expected.

Due to the scheduling of school holidays, the first two weeks of July will be worse than those same two weeks were last year, too, from the 1st of July to the 7th of July, for example, cumulative overnight stays were down by 8 percent. The rest of the season will be marked by uncertainty and nobody can really predict the final results of that right now. On the other hand, it should be said that this is the same picture that's coming from all of our Mediterranean competitors, as it reflects certain market events, the return to the market of certain eastern Mediterranean countries, as well as favourable weather opportunities in Northern Europe, the Netherlands, and Germany.

A good weather forecast in the north can contribute to last year's trend when campers in those countries decided to spend their holidays there at home and therefore their camps achieved historical record numbers.

Can you expect to have to cut prices due to the bookings being down?

The average cost of family camping in Croatia (two adults and one child, one night on a plot) is around 38.66 euros, and the European average is 37.56 euros. Compared to other countries, we're ranked sixth in terms of prices, the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, and Switzerland are all more expensive than Croatia, and the most expensive is Italy.

We don't think this price is all that high given the level of quality we offer. The same trend is present in the camping sector across the entire Mediterranean, which is also visible in other forms of accommodation in Croatia. Quality facilities, in which there has been investment and an expansion of an offer, as well as increased the quality, are accepted by the market and are well filled, while unfortunately more and more problems occur in the business of facilities where the raising of the prices didn't result in the raising of the quality. Those issues also exist for those who didn't invest enough.

That's why more and more, they are constantly implementing complete reconstructions and renovations that are aimed towards raising the quality of the camps by two or three stars, up to five stars. There were three such complete renovations in the last couple of years, one in Dalmatia, Kvarner, and Istria, and more are planned in the future.

What is the current picture of Croatian campsites like when compared to its competitors?

Croatia has a total of 785 camps, of which 66 are in the category of 4 or 5 stars, and their capacity covers up to 40.5 percent of the total capacity of Croatian camps.

According to the German ADAC, which is the guide to the camps of Europe and still considered the most relevant and complete camp rating system, in 2019, Croatia is ranked second in the European Union behind the Netherlands. In terms of Croatia's direct competition in the Mediterranean, France is the third, Italy is the fifth, and Spain is the seventh.

The average rating of camps in Croatia is 6.31, the Netherlands ranked first with 6.74, and the average rating of camps in Europe is 5.46.

In all the elements of this rating, Croatian camps are better than the European average, and we're the best in terms of commercial and hospitality offers in the camps; we're third in elements of quality, in the number and size of sanitary facilities and pitches within the camp, and the worst position we're in, with fourth place, are the free time, entertainment and swimming offer, ie, the quality and the equipment of beaches, swimming pools and water centres within the camps.

How was the current law a barrier to investment? Because, we can see that there have been investments...

Although the capacity in 4 and 5 star camps has increased by as much as 2.8 times since 2010, when that law was passed, the realizstion of investments was significantly hampered.

A particular problem was highlighted in Croatian camps that had significant areas of so-called ''tourist land''. In those areas, because of the inadequate legal conclusions and the various limitations that were prescribed, investments were planned within a limited range in the areas of the camps where they could be realised, and not at locations where such investments (water centres, etc) from the point of view of the guests and the product concept, would have been ideal.

The new law should provide for the quality planning and preparation of a long-term development strategy in Croatian campsites, which will result in the enrichment of supply and quality growth, as well as the opening of new, high-quality job opportunities.

How does a modern camp look on the global market today? Do Croatian camps use modern technology, and what is their importance in this segment of tourism?

With the coming of the new generation of millennials, our camps are becoming more and more popular, and along with the advancement of technology, their diversity is growing as well. Croatian camps base their quality on the number and quality of the sanitary facilities, their equipment and the size of their plots, the commercial and hospitality offer in the camps, the leisure offer and entertainment, as well as the quality and amenities of the beach and other swimming related offers. Everything further depends on the positioning of the camp itself and the type of guests it wants to attract.

Accordingly, there are two main developmental routes for camps, the first are large camps which have all of the facilities and are positioned as real holiday resorts where a variety of accommodation options are available, from mobile homes to glamping. Other smaller or small family camps, which are, as opposed to the variety of content offered, more oriented to the very hospitable and close relationship with the host and their highlight is the intimate atmosphere inside the camp.

Apart from these two major developmental routines, there are many other features of special positioning and finding the right traveller and market, from the simple form of an adventure camp, camps on islands, near towns, camps for lovers of special interests (horse riding, bird watching, cycling, kayaking...), up to the most glamorous modern glamping camps.

Which is currently the largest investment in Croatian camps, are mobile homes still the biggest hit?

When talking about investments, in recent years, the trend of investment, the majority of which is in mobile home bidding, has changed considerably, and has become more balanced.

In the last two to three years, Croatian camps have been invested in with the aim to equalise and raise the overall offer and content of the facilities to a higher level, thus obtaining a balanced product that corresponds to the camp quality standards in all elements and doesn't have large jumps between the overall quality of the offer and the product. This includes investments in new water centres and swimming pools and beaches (the swimming offer), investments in the context of the wealth and quality of the shopping offer within the camp, entertainment, investments in equipping and increasing the plot areas as basic accommodation units within the camp, and sanitation facilities.

In addition, a new type of accommodation offer has appeared on campsites, which is the luxurious glamping tent, and currently glamping has the highest growth rate in relation to other capacities, and it is predicted that this trend will continue for the next few years.

How do we stand with the range of Croatian campsites that are open all year round?

Contrary to the general belief, compared with just one decade ago, the trend and the possibility of year-round camps in Croatia has been done well, and today we can boast of fourteen camps all over the country, two on the continent, six in Dalmatia, three in Kvarner and three in Istria.

Nowadays, Croatia has a high quality network of camps that provide winter campers with quality round trips between different destinations and parts of the country, and according to the information from these camps, more and more visitors from all over the world recognise this product and position the Croatian camps not only as a seasonal option, but as a year-long option.

Make sure to follow our dedicated travel page for more information on Croatian tourism, Croatian campsites and much more.

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