Tourists Don't Come to Croatia Accidentally, Says HDZ MP
ZAGREB, November 20, 2020 - Member of Parliament Anton Kliman (HDZ) on Friday rejected criticism of tourism boards, saying that tourists do not come to Croatia accidently but as a result of an organised system headed by the Ministry of Tourism and the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ), which promotes Croatia in the world.
Tourist boards promote our tourism in the world. Large tourism companies generate the most arrivals through tourist boards, the Croatian Democratic Union MP and former tourism minister said.
He underlined that the good work of some of the tourist boards enabled a good tourism season during the coronavirus.
"Abolishing tourist boards would mean chaos. Small providers on the demanding European or global market cannot compete on their own as no one will recognise them," Kliman said during a debate on amendments to the bill on membership fees in tourist boards.
The amendments foresee a 12% reduction of the membership fee to tourist boards as of 1 January 2021.
Opposition parties in the parliament believe the membership fee reduction is not sufficient and they harshly criticised the system of tourist boards and its membership fees, claiming this is a parallel system that serves as a meal ticket.
Bridge MPs were particularly critical and called for the fees to be abolished.
MP Davor Dretar (Homeland Movement) believes that membership fees to tourist boards should be abolished altogether.
MP Hrvoje Zekanovic (HRAST) claimed that there were thousands of people employed in tourist boards, which were their meal ticket, and they mostly serve as a voting machine.
"They spend tens of millions of kuna a year on official trips around Europe and the world to allegedly attract someone to Croatia but for the most part this money is used for living it up with good meals and drink at the expense of taxpayers," said Zekanovic.
That is a parallel system that the ministry has no control of, said MP Dalija Oreskovic (Centre).
MP Zeljko Lenart (HSS) believes that tourism boards' membership fees should be abolished and that another source of financing tourism boards should be found.
British Couple Quit Jobs, Planned to Travel the World, Spent Six Weeks in Croatia Instead!
October 12, 2020 – This couple from the UK sold everything they had. With £150,000, they wanted to travel the world, but they were stopped by a pandemic and had to change their plans. That's how they, in the end, spent six weeks in Croatia.
Many couples wish to do the same – leave their usual workplaces and move to the other side of the world to follow their dream lifestyle.
According to Jutarnji.hr, 27-year-old teacher Chloe and 28-year-old computer scientist Jay Hammond from Essex in the UK succeeded in their plan. First, they resigned from their permanent and safe jobs in February this year. They then sold everything they owned and removed their 8-year-old son Oliver from school, only to embark on a £ 150,000 adventure – a trip around the world.
"We were very young when we had a child and the logical next step after parenthood was to start saving and secure a stable home. However, after taking a month off in the spring of 2019 to explore and get to know Southeast Asia, we were completely overwhelmed by ‘travel fever’. We decided that we wanted to travel all the time, which is why our desire to buy our own house was put on hold until further notice, ” says the couple.
The couple spent the next year figuring out how to make their dream come true. For six months, they moved in with Chloe's parents to save as much money as possible on renting an apartment. They sold everything except a few sentimental items, and Jay, they reveal, found it especially difficult to say goodbye to their favorite computer and games.
The Hammonds originally wanted to return to Asia, but their plans were thwarted by the coronavirus pandemic. After a few frustrating months in lockdown in the UK, they decided to at least travel to Europe.
In July, they left for Italy, from where they arrived in Croatia - for six weeks!
During their time in Croatia, they visited our coastal destinations Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar, and the Krka National Park. Their next destination is Greece, where they plan to stay for five weeks.
For more details about their big trip, you can follow them on Instagram.
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Time To Reflect, As Loyalty Not Luxury Saves 2020 Croatia Tourist Season
September 28, 2020 – The tail end of 2020's unparalleled summer offers opportunity for pause, contemplation and appreciation, as it's loyal and not luxury guests that have saved this year's Croatia tourist season.
In this day and age, things always have to get better. There's no room to sit still. Life without improvement is deemed a failure. Nowhere is this more true than the Croatia tourist season.
The numbers of overnight stays in the Croatia tourist season sometimes seem to be the only measure by which its success is judged. Year after year, the numbers must rise. Any decrease is unthinkable. At the same time, hungry eyes still want more. Some want to reposition themselves. A new class of guest is wanted, from faraway nations. They must be of a better quality. They must stay longer, in more expensive dwellings. They must spend more.
Incredible initiatives are undertaken to turn this want into a reality. But, at the end of the 2020 Croatia tourist season, perhaps it's time to pause and reflect. For this year, it is undoubtedly loyalty and not luxury that's saved the Croatia tourist season.
In the year the coronavirus pandemic hit, arrivals by charter plane and cruise ship were seriously curtailed. So much for the flying visits of premium guests from far-flung lands. Instead, the tourists who came were from much closer to Croatia.
The English language that most on the coast are so familiar with was this year useless. On the beaches of Istria and northern Dalmatia, it was Slovenian, Polish, Czech, German, Slovakian and Italian that was heard. The packed bars of Makarska echoed with the familiar call of 'Đe si, bolan?' (where are you, bro? - in Bosnian dialect). Many of those who came drove to Croatia. And many do so every year.
© Jeremy Segrott
Sighs and light-hearted jokes about some of these guests persist in some places. “That family come every year, but they only ever order one pizza to share between the four of them.” The choice of footwear of some German-speaking and Czech visitors frequently draws chuckles, in particular, the classic sock and sandal combo. But, just where would the 2020 Croatia tourist season have been without the 60,000 Czech and Slovak visitors who this year arrived by train?
Just two days ago, Jutarnji reported on phenomenal numbers of Polish visitors this year. Would anyone else really have taken the place of the returning family of four sharing a pizza? Just what would the season in Makarska have looked like without bolan?
Croatians are famously very appreciative hosts. On the ground, there's no doubt that such loyal guests are warmly welcomed and thanked each year by accommodation renters, restaurateurs and others. They greet returning visitors with smiles of familiarity and reserve for them their favourite place. In September 2020, gratitude to such guests was echoed by The Croatian National Tourist Board as they launched a new campaign 'Thank you', directed at the tourists who this year chose Croatia.
Perhaps it is time to ensure that this gratitude extends into any grand new initiatives for growth in the Croatia tourist season? Such loyal guests should not be taken for granted, nor forgotten.
Initiative within the Croatia tourist sector is vital. The unlocking of continental Croatia's potential is simply a must. That too of the Dalmatian hinterland and inland Istria. The exploitation of world-class Croatian assets such as nature, agriculture and health and wellness services are also perfectly on-point. The desire to attract a better class of bigger-spending visitor to luxury holidays on the Croatian coast should surely be a lower priority. After all, eyes that covet can all too frequently fail to appreciate that for which they should already be thankful.
© Oddman47
Lead image adapted from an original photograph by © Marco Verch
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310,000 Tourists in Croatia, Great Results in August
August 31, 2020 - There are currently about 310,000 tourists in Croatia, of which 240,000 are foreigners, and 106,000 came during the last weekend of August, the Croatian National Tourist Board revealed on Monday, whose director Kristjan Stanicic assessed the results in August as extremely good given the circumstances.
"August is behind us, in which we have achieved extremely good results given the circumstances. Our further strategic and marketing activities will primarily depend on the epidemiological picture of Croatia and the surrounding countries, and uncertainty in this regard requires flexibility and readiness for rapid and continuous adaptation. We are witnessing that some countries in the region have started to close, which we also consider when defining activities in the off-season," Stanicic said for HTZ at the end of August.
Stanicic presented eVistor data according to which slightly more than a million overnight stays were realized on the weekend of August 28 to 30, of which 319,000 were realized by German tourists, followed by Poles (109,000), and Slovenes (83,000).
Over the weekend, the highest number of overnight stays was again in Vir (52,000), followed by Rovinj and Crikvenica. Vir and Rovinj, according to eVisitor data, are the top two destinations in the total number of overnight stays for the whole of August - Vir with 756,000, and Rovinj with 651,000.
Medulin, Porec, and Crikvenica are among the top five destinations per night in August.
A total of 2.6 million tourists came to Croatia in August, more precisely until August 30, with 20.7 million overnight stays, which is 64 percent of last year's result in the same period.
The German market maintained its leading position with 5.2 million overnight stays, followed by domestic tourists with almost four million overnight stays. Slovenia is third with 2.7 million overnight stays in August, while Poland and the Czech Republic are fourth and fifth with 2.2 and 1.3 million overnight stays, respectively.
By counties, most overnight stays in August were realized in Istria County - slightly more than five million, while in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, there were 4.1 million overnight stays, in Split-Dalmatia County 3.9 million, in Zadar County 3.7 million, and Sibenik-Knin County 1.6 million overnight stays.
Noting that complete statistics of arrivals and overnight stays for August and the first eight months of this year can be expected in the first part of September, the Croatian National Tourist Board adds that given the pandemic, they have prepared several different communication concepts to apply depending on the market and circumstances.
"If the situation allows, in the autumn we plan to launch a campaign 'A week's vacation is worth it' for domestic tourists and encourage their consumption in the off-season by using tourist services in the country at lower prices," announced Stanicic.
In conclusion, he emphasized that "domestic tourists have a share of 20 percent in the total result of the current part of the tourist year, which is an important share, and that their contribution is expected in the off-season with shorter and weekend trips."
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Minister Says 246,000 Tourists Vacationing In Croatia
ZAGREB, June 25, 2020 - Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said on Thursday that currently, 246,000 tourists were vacationing in Croatia.
"Their number is rising by 20,000 to 30,000 on a daily basis," Cappelli said at a government session, adding that this was a sign that Croatia "is a safe and recognisable tourist destination."
Cappelli made the statement as part of a discussion on the adoption of a regulation on amendments to the Islands Act, which increases the annual, subsidised quantity of water for human consumption for residents of islands.
The government today also reduced, by 50%, water supply taxes which investors pay when building a new building, or legalising an existing one.
Environment and Energy Minister Tomislav Coric said that the reduction was in line with the action plan for the reduction of non-tax and parafiscal levies for 2020, adopted by the government in May.
The reduction of water supply taxes, which represent the revenue of the Croatian Waters water management company, refers to all categories of users.
From Osijek to Makarska, Booking.com Users Rate Croatian Hosts
What do Croatian and international travellers think of their hosts when staying in private accommodation? How do they rate them, how much interaction is too much and are privacy and inside information the key?
As Lea Balenovic/Novac writes on the 9th of April, 2019, almost two thirds of Croats believe that the host is a key factor when staying in an accommodation facility, and those who are the best rated in the Republic of Croatia, both from domestic and foreign guests, can be found in in Rakovica, Osijek, Bibinje, Korenica, Kaštela, Makarska, Brela, Senj, Trogir and Podstrana.
They are the results of research conducted by the world's leading rental company, Booking.com, on a sample of 21,500 travellers worldwide. As the survey showed, 63 percent of international travellers and 62 percent of Croatian travellers think that their stay was better because of their engagement of the host who did everything they could to make it a better stay for them.
Most travellers want to feel "at home," as they have indicated in such surveys. For 62 percent of international travellers, the main advantage of non-hotel accommodation is the ability to take advantage of the knowledge and information available from the host and decide to stay in a property owned by someone who actually comes from the region in which the property is located. The same goes for 48 percent of Croatian travellers.
Nearly half of the international travellers who partook in the survey, or more specifically 45 percent of them, and 59 percent of Croatian travellers consider the local knowledge and information at their disposal from their host important for their overall budget because they hope to be given insider advice that will help them save some cash and avoid potential tourist traps.
However, while it seems that all travellers who took part in this survey generally consider the same things to be significant, each traveller is looking for a different type of engagement from their host. Therefore, some travellers are satisfied with a simple warm welcome, while others have slightly higher expectations from their hosts.
For example, 52 percent of international passengers and 40 percent of Croatian travellers believe that their host should only be seen once during their stay in order to make them feel welcome, and more than a third of international travellers and almost the same number of Croatian travellers expect their hosts to contact them only during their arrival, registration, and then again when they eventually check out and leave the premises.
What is often even more challenging to hosts is the fact that many travellers also expect them to have some sort of sixth sense and know just how much of a personal touch is needed for each traveller. 69 percent believe that hosts should intuitively know the right amount of time they should be spending with their guests, and that is also what 73 percent of Croatian travellers think. For four out of five international travellers and the same number of travellers from Croatia that means respecting their need for personal space, which means that the feeling of privacy is key.
The hosts also agree. Namely, nearly 80 percent of Croatian hosts think that the most important thing for guests is to be able to properly ensure their privacy.
"Our research reveals that it's very important for the owners and managers of accommodation facilities to find a balance which ensures the best experience, regardless of whether guests are staying in a vacation home, an apartment, in accommodation with their hosts or any other type of facility," explained Olivier Grémillon, the vice president of Booking.com, adding the fact thatt "what is crystal clear is that there is nothing like the ability of ordinary people to turn something into an unforgettable experience."
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Click here for the original article by Lea Balenovic for Novac/Jutarnji
Good Croatian Tourist Season Sees Domestic Economy Grow
Government spending has risen since 2009, citizen spending has slowed down, and employers continue to express their heightened anxiety about the emigration of Croatia's domestic labour force. Despite issues, a good Croatian tourist season has seen the economy boosted in the third quarter.
As Ljubica Gataric/VL/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 28th of November, 2018, the Croatian economy grew by 2.8 percent in the third quarter of this year, which is better than the previous expectations of domestic economists, but slower than the economy grew during the same period over last three years. A good Croatian tourist season has of course done its job well, and along with tourism, this positive contribution to economic growth has also been boosted by the further export of goods.
While a good Croatian tourist season is the main thing ''holding up'' these positive results, data following the first GDP estimate reveals that the domestic construction sector recovered more (by about seven percent in surplus), while the manufacturing industry's impact on GDP was negative (minus two percent) since industrial production collapsed that bit more this year.
"Taking into account the possibilities and the framework we're currently facing, particularly the labour market situation and the challenges we have in industrial production, GDP growth of 2.8 percent is a relatively good result, almost at the maximum limit," commented employers around Croatian Employers' Association (HUP), which claims that regardless of the good results in the third quarter, they feel a slight slowdown in growth and a general sense of anxiety and nervousness among employers owing to problems with finding staff and the continuous fall in overall production.
HUP has also used this opportunity to become louder and louder still in its call on the Croatian Government to further ease the economy so that companies can raise employee salaries and thus prevent further migration of the country's young and highly educated people in an ongoing and extremely concerning demographic crisis. Croatia entered winter with 147,000 unemployed people registered on the labour market, as well as 15,000 job vacancies.
In addition to the fact that movements being made in the Croatian economy aren't in support of the current global trends, especially in terms of the dynamics of growth in the European Union, analysts from the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) have noted that relative to the first half of this year, slight changes in growth trends have indeed occurred in some categories of particular demand.
Personal consumption growth has slowed down as the category which has the highest share in the structure of total demand, while when it comes to government spending, investment in fixed capital and especially the export of goods and services, growth has been accelerating.
Looking at the figures, domestic demand during the first six months of 2018 had three and a half times greater impact on the growth of gross domestic product than in foreign countries. RBA analysts note that government consumption at a 3.9 percent rate rose more this year than in the first quarter of 2009, and growth in gross fixed capital investment continued to grow quarterly, an increase of 3.7 percent in the third quarter, which may indicate the increased utilisation of funds from the European Union.
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Click here for the original article by Ljubica Gataric/VL on Poslovni Dnevnik
Tourism: September Remains Three Times Weaker Than August
While Zagreb out-shined its coastal rivals by far, the post-August drop is still steep.
Tourist Season Positive, But Echoes of Tourism Boom Fade
Croatia is oozing with potential, and yet we continue to offer so little of it to eager tourists.
