ZAGREB, November 13, 2018 - Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said on Tuesday that the three Croatian tourism-related bills which the government forwarded to the parliament in late October were prerequisites for creating a new competitive identity of Croatian tourism, and that it was the government's duty to develop a strategy for managing Croatia's positive perception.
"Croatia must create a new image and move towards this topic with full responsibility, professionalism and maturity. It is the duty of our government on behalf of all citizens, institutions and companies, to develop a strategy of managing a positive perception of Croatian tourism," Cappelli said at a conference organised by the Jutarnji List daily in Zagreb on Tuesday on the system of tourist boards in the 21st century.
He is sure that the set of three bills will facilitate efforts to create easily recognisable national, regional and local identities and emphasise their importance and uniqueness considering that "they represent an additional value of the people and the nation on the global market."
Cappelli said that the proposed legislation is meant to establish a system of tourism boards following the model of the Destination Management Organisation (DMO).
Cappelli recalled that the Croatian National Tourism Board (HTZ) had recently opened an office in China and would soon set up another office in Seoul in South Korea for the purpose of better promoting the national tourist trade.
When it comes to the country's sojourn tax, the government will no longer determine the amount of that tourist tax and the decision-making on that will be at the local and county level, with the aim of decentralising the system.
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