Croatia is one of the top 25 fastest growing countries for arivals from China. But, what is exactly attracting the Chinese to come and visit Croatia?
Croatia seems to be one of the most popular holiday destinations for Chinese tourists, reports Vijesti RTL on September 14, 2017.
Coming all the way from Shanghai to Zadar - not even flood can stop Chinese tourists. "This is a beautiful city by the sea, which is why we chose to visit it. We've visited many European countries, but Croatia is the number one for us, " explained one of the tourist from China. "I've seen the photos of the Plitvice Lakes on the internet and I simply knew I had to come here and photograph them," said another Chinese tourist.
But their tempo is not easy to follow. "We're on our feet from the early morning until evening hours. They mostly want to see all the beautiful places, including Plitvice Lakes, Split, Dubrovnik, we practically visit every [major] city," said Bartol Donadić, a tour guide. The Chinese are thrilled to visit cultural sights and natural phenomena, but what they seem to miss in Croatia are photo tours and specialized tours that offer diving, kayaking or drinking champagne in hot air baloon.
The average Chinese traveller is 40 years old and earns between 650 and 1300 euros. Chinese tourists mostly travel with their young children, and they stay at one location on average for two or three nights. They prefer organized tours and their most important motive for travel is sightseeing.
"Another interesting to note about the Chinese tourists is that they like shopping, and that they are absolutely delighted with our [roasted] lamb. They also like to gamble," says Nikolina Frklić, spokeswoman for the travel agency. They love Croatia because it is a safe destination where food and drinks are safe for consumption. Accommodation is inexpensive. Also, another advantage for Chinese tourists is that Croatia still hasn't introduced euro.
The Chinese, world travellers number one, realize around 122 million trips in a year, and spend a whopping 109 billion dollars abroad. Part of this money never ends up in Croatia because of the language barrier. "Language barrier in a way prevents our promotion [on Chinese market] since Chinese is a very complicated language, and we also have a shortage of Chinese translators and service agencies which know and operate in Chinese language," says Mario Rendulić, president of Chinese Southeast European Business Association.
Despite the fact that it takes 20 hours from China to Croatia, the total of 102 200 Chinese people arrived in Croatia last year, realizing over 160,000 of overnight stays. This year saw an increase in that number. In the first eight months of this year, more than 100,000 Chinese tourists came to Croatia, realizing almost 153,000 overnight stays. However, the president of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies claims that the potential is much larger, but... "The problem with Croatia, and Europe, are the Schengen visas, which slow down the whole process. Also, there is still a need for better marketing and promotion in these markets," said Boris Žgomba, president of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies (UHPA).
Zagreb is the most visited city by the Chinese, then Dubrovnik and Split, where they mostly stay in hotels. And they rarely return to the same place again.
Translated from Vijesti RTL
