November 10, 2020 - The Croatian National Tourist Board, together with 10 Croatian co-exhibitors, is currently presenting the Croatian tourist offer at one of the world's largest tourism fairs - World Travel Market (WTM) in London, which is held virtually for the first time in 40 years. 

HRTurizam reports that the fair is held from November 9 to 11 from 7 am to 10 pm to cover all time zones, and participants will communicate through virtual platforms, conferences, workshops, and seminars.

"Once the situation improves, and restrictions begin to ease, the British market will start traveling again, and the final decision on travel will depend on consumer confidence. Health is now a top priority. The entire travel industry will need to adapt and define procedures that reconcile destination provisions with passenger needs, such as digitization and contactless processes wherever possible. The security of Croatia as a destination is one of the most important messages in communication with our guests, partners, and the media on the British market," said the director of the CNTB Representation in the UK, Darija Reić.

According to the CNTB, during the fair, they will hold virtual meetings with representatives of the most important partners, such as TUI UK, easyJet, SAGA, Jet2.com/Jet2 Holidays, Thomas Cook, British Airways, TravelZoo, TourRadar, and others.

In addition to the basic package that includes promoting the tourist offer at the virtual stand and promotional content on the WTM website, the Croatian National Tourist Board will also position itself through the Premium Deluxe package, which includes prominent visibility on the list of co-exhibitors, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, banners on the WTM website, and advertising through sponsored email addresses of visitors.

"The virtual presentation of Croatia will be additionally accompanied by parts of the promotional campaign 'Discover The Colors of Croatia', which is already being implemented in the most important European markets and will last until mid-November. This emphasizes the promotion of tourist products that are most in-demand in these market circumstances, and those are natural beauty, nautical, culture, and eno-gastronomy," said the CNTB.

In addition to the Croatian National Tourist Board as the main exhibitor, co-exhibitors who will ensure their visibility through the CNTB virtual stand are Adriatic Luxury Hotels, Association of Small and Family Hotels (OMH), Croatia Airlines, Dubrovnik Tourist Board, Zagreb Tourist Board, Maistra Hospitality Group, Valamar Riviera dd, Perfecta Travel, Plitvice Lakes and Uniline DM.

"Despite all the challenges, Croatia was one of the most popular tourist destinations this year. We focused on online promotion, creative solutions, and services adapted to current circumstances in line with new trends. Participating in one of the world's largest tourism fairs, although virtual, offers the opportunity to present Croatia as a safe destination with quality products, combining natural beauty, nautical, culture, eno-gastronomy - which are extremely popular this year. Croatia has shown that it can be a leader in innovation and development of offers that represent the future of tourism while thinking of digital platforms and social networks, changing the way we communicate with tourists and present the destination in a new way to the world," said Minister of Tourism and Sports Nikolina Brnjac. 

"Most of the events and fair appearances until the end of this year, but also at the beginning of next year, will be held in a new, virtual form, so we have joined the world's most important tourism fair, WTM in London. It is important that, despite the current situation and travel restrictions, we maintain Croatia's presence in our important markets and tell everyone that we are a safe, well-prepared, and quality tourist destination. The goal of participating in the fair is to maintain business contacts and relationships with key partners because it is one of the world's largest tourism fairs for business audiences, which is confirmed by the data on about 50 conferences that will be held in virtual form as part of this year's WTM," said the director of the Croatian National Tourist Board Kristjan Staničić, adding that to make Croatia more prominent at the WTM fair, they co-financed the co-exhibitors 50 percent of the virtual participation amount.

The CNTB also adds that the Croatian tourist offer will be presented at other major world tourism fairs next year, especially in the most important markets for Croatian tourism, such as Germany and the ITB, f.re.e., Boot et al., Austria and the Ferienmesse trade fair in Vienna, Italy and the TTG trade fair in Rimini, the Netherlands and the Vakantiebeurst trade fair in Utrecht, and the United Kingdom and the WTM trade fair in London.

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November 5, 2019 - The World Travel Market, which takes place in London from November 4 to 6, is one of the world's most important trade fairs. This year, among the hundreds of booths showcasing tourist destinations, you'll find the Split-Dalmatia County Tourist Board, who is participating for the first time with their own booth. With this appearance at the World Travel Market (WTM), the official fair promotion of the Split-Dalmatia County tourist offer begins.

Dalmatinski Portal and TZ Split-Dalmatia County report that the Split-Dalmatia Tourist Board is presenting its tourist offer with four cluster info-desks, and has provided the county's economic operators with the conditions to interview business partners at the world's largest gathering of businesspeople from the tourism industry. Within the Split-Dalmatia County booth, a series of events and business meetings are planned, with the presence of prefect Blazenko Boban and his associates. Guests are also offered a tasting of Central Dalmatian wines, prosciutto, and cheese from local producers in Split-Dalmatia County.

“I am happy that, as a County with our own booth, we had the opportunity to be at the two largest tourism fairs this year, first in Berlin and here in London now. We aim to develop tourism in two directions. The first is to try to extend the tourist season by diverting tourist arrivals from July and August into April and May, and September and October. The fact that we were the most visited county in Croatia in October this year is confirmation that we are on the right track. We want to gently divert tourists from major coastal destinations to the rural areas of the county, which we can only achieve through attendance at fairs such as this one in London, where we have the chance to show all the beauties that our county truly abounds. And these beauties are not just in the frequently visited tourist destinations of Split, Makarska, Bol, Hvar, or Trogir. We try our best to present all the treasures of our beautiful Dalmatian Zagora and the interior of our islands. This year's results of the Imotski Tourist Board after the Berlin fair are the best indicator that we have something to offer and attract tourists both in the pre-season in the post-season and the rural, peripheral areas of the County,” said Boban, who had the opportunity to speak with the British Minister of Arts, Heritage and Tourism, Helen Whately.

Kristijan Stanicic, director of the Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB), said that for the development of tourism, we need the right people and continuous education about the quality of tourism infrastructure, from tourist capacities and the catering offer to the quality of the overall tourist service.

“The main task of the CNTB is to recognize trends in tourism in a timely manner and to keep up with the competition in the innovation and creativity of the offer. I believe that when it comes to the sustainability of tourism development, Croatia has all the resources it needs and that a bright future awaits us.”

Tourism Minister Gari Capelli said we could expect even better results in 2021 'because, in the presence of such fairs and major marketing activities, only HRK 70 million has been invested in additional airlines over the past two years, which was discussed here'.

Josko Stella, director of the Split-Dalmatia County Tourist Board, expressed his satisfaction with the fact that Split-Dalmatia County presented itself for the first time at the London Fair.

“We want to bring our county to the British market, where we traditionally stand well,” Stella said, adding:

“We have conducted several interviews with three airlines, in cooperation with our airport in Kastela, to introduce additional lines and overcome the possible consequences of Brexit as smoothly as possible.

The results achieved during the peak season in Split-Dalmatia County continue with the new post-season records. According to data from eVisitor and the offices of the Split-Dalmatia County Tourist Board, in October, Split-Dalmatia County was the most visited and most desired Croatian region in tourism. Thus, in October, there were 188,562 arrivals and 623,895 overnights in commercial accommodation, which is an increase of 14 percent in arrivals and 8 percent in overnight stays. In October, there were 15,255 arrivals from the UK market in Split-Dalmatia County, which is an increase of 17% in arrivals and 81,142 in overnights, and an increase of 10% compared to the previous year. In the first ten months of this year, a total of 3,592,210 arrivals (+5%) and 17,932,166 overnight stays (+2%) were realized in the county. In the first ten months, the Germans ranked as our largest market for the first time, with 318,000 arrivals and 2.21 million overnight stays growing 9% in arrivals and 3% in overnight stays. Growth in arrivals and overnight stays in the first ten months compared to last year was also recorded from the UK market. Namely, with 241,000 arrivals and 1.12 million overnight stays, the UK market is up 5% in arrivals and 3% in overnight stays.

In the first ten months of this year, UK guests visiting Central Dalmatia liked Split the most. Namely, they made up 39 percent of the arrivals and 29 percent of overnight stays in Split. Split is followed by Hvar, where they made up 13 percent of the arrivals and 10 percent of the overnight stays. Split, Makarska, Hvar, Omis, Baska Voda, and Tucepi are the most visited tourist destinations in Split-Dalmatia County this year, registering an increase in the number of nights compared to last year.”

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Airlines EasyJet and Jet2.com announced the upcoming tourist season for Pula, with new connections to Amsterdam and Birmingham, and the extension of the already seasonal flight schedule, reports Denis Ivošević, Director of the Tourist Board of Istria County.

On the second day of the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, Minister of Tourism Gari Cappelli held meetings with tour operators and airlines Thomas Cook, TUI, Ryanair and Saga at the Croatian Tourist Board's booth.