Last year, Dalmatinska Zagora (Dalmatian Hinterland) received several important tourist awards, and the tourist statistics from Vrlika to Vrgorac are getting better with each passing year. The town with the highest number of visitors and overnights is Dugopolje, reports Dalmacija Danas on March 25, 2019.
Ahead of the new tourist season, Dalmacija Danas spoke with Tomislav Bralić, the director of the Dugopolje Tourist Board.
Directors of local tourist board recently met and discussed the preparations for the new tourist season. We divided the topics into clusters, geographical areas: the Split Riviera, islands, Zagora and the Makarska Riviera. We mainly discussed the preparations for the arrival of cyclists and active tourists. Brochures and maps of thematic trails across the county will be published soon.
How does Dugopolje cooperate with the coastal area and the rest of Zagora?
The cooperation is good, but we can always do better. Much depends on ourselves and the activities of the local tourist boards, but also on the laws as well. In Zagora, we work well together.
In the summer, due to tourism on the coast and islands, food consumption is significantly increased. We know that Zagora has a lot to offer in this area. Is that segment used enough to provide tourists with locally-produced food?
Unfortunately, we do not use that nearly enough. Agriculture should be much more developed, and Zagora should feed the coastal area; that is our ultimate goal. There is a lot of room to grow.
Regarding this topic, the mayor mentioned that green markets would be established during this term.
The markets are in the design phase. We were waiting for certain funds that have not yet been, but we hope they will be shortly. There are more and more family farms, and that is good news. Tourists are increasingly looking for authentic and homemade food.
In the last year, Zagora has received several tourism awards, and the statistics are getting better. Not everybody knows that most of the tourism in Zagora actually takes place in Dugopolje.
That is true. We have a 4-star hotel with almost 400 beds in the area of our municipality. It makes the bulk of our tourism traffic, although we recorded 12,000 overnights in the private sector as well. Still, the hotel makes the most of over 70,000 overnight stays recorded in the municipality, which is a huge number for such a small area.
What did tourists visit the most in 2018?
First of all, Dugopolje is at a great location, well connected with Split and the coast, and the rest of Zagora is just an hour's drive. Dugopolje has its natural beauties and historic sites that are of more and more interest for the tourists.
Makarska is increasingly turning towards Biokovo. How much is Dugopolje turning towards the Mosor mountain?
We recently entered a future mountain lodge into our spatial plan. We have received funding for new hiking trails and the reconstruction of the old ones. We have tracking and trail races on Mosor. One will be held in September, Dalmatia Stage Run. I would say we are working as much as we can, given the existing resources.
More Zagora news can be found in the dedicated section.
Translated from Dalmacija Danas (reported by Rade Popadić).
