Tour operators claim that the geopolitical situation in the world is in favor of Croatia, which is still perceived as a safe destination among tourists.
Tourist bookings from Germany are up as much as 30 percent from last year, which was announced by leading German tour operators during a meeting in Munich with the Minister of Tourism Gari Cappelli, reports Poslovni.hr on February 22, 2017. Minister Cappelli is currently in Germany for the travel fair F.re.e.
In Germany, Cappelli has met with representatives of Thomas Cook, DER Touristik Cologne, FTI, Schauinsland, ID Riva, Reisewelt, Misir Sonnenreisen and Novasol, who have all pointed out that Croatia is a destination that has been marked with continuous growth.
Representatives of Novasol, the leading specialized agency for private accommodation, pointed out that Croatia is very well developed, and its image is growing thanks to good promotional work. This year, bookings are up 35 percent for Croatia, which is merit of a greater supply of new apartments and houses in private accommodation - but also certainly because of the continuing collapse of bookings for Turkey and North Africa. The company also pointed out that more and more of their clients are coming to Croatia by private jets, and they are increasingly looking for villas.
TUI representatives for Croatia said that this year Croatia is not only popular with the German market, but also popular with the Russian and UK market. TUI added that their customers are increasingly looking for large rooms and prefer Istria, but that Dalmatia is becoming more interesting.
The sixth-largest German tour operator and one of the fastest growing, Schauinsland Reisen, said that this is their first year working with Croatia and they are already pleased with the numbers, both for the individual and organized trips.
Misir Sonnenlandreisen has specialized in travel to Croatia since 1996, and also pointed out that this year's bookings are rising 30 percent. Most of their guests come by plane and stay in hotels in Croatia, and there are six buses organized for their groups. These trips are planned usually towards the front of the post-season, but this year the compny is satisfied with the interest in November. The last two years were successful and there is a growing demand in the segment of cruise travel, while they are thinking about the business expansion to the continent, especially to Zagreb and Varazdin.
The continent is also very interesting for Thomas Cook, who has hotels and family accommodations in the area in their portfolio. Otherwise, the minister announced an organized trip for the tour operators interested in the development of tourism on the continent, especially in the case of trips throughout the year. In addition, Thomas Cook pointed out that the geopolitical situation in the world is in favor of Croatia, which is still perceived as a safe destination among tourists.
In the off-season, a smaller tour operator from Frankfurt - Reisewelt - was in operation. Their representatives pointed out that this year traffic is a lot higher, but that they also see a problem with the fact that in addition to the larger cities on the coast, there is little content available during the pre- and post-season.
There has been a 20 percent rise in bookings for Croatia from the company Olimar, a tour operator that specializes in special offers such as smaller and more exclusive hotels. They have certainly seen an increase in bookings to Croatia over the last five years, and they see great potential for the future.
The German market recorded 2.3 million arrivals (+7.2 per cent) and 17 million overnight stays (+8.3 percent) last year, which makes up about 23 percent of Croatian guests. Of the total number of German tourists in 2016, 35 percent of them went on organized trips, while 65 percent of them traveled individually. Istria is the leading region for tourist traffic from the German market, followed by Kvarner, Split and Zadar. The most commonly used types of accommodation for German guests are private accommodations (33 percent), followed by camps (30 percent) and hotels (28 percent).
