July 21, 2020 - More than 600,000 tourists are currently staying in Croatia, some counties have a 60 percent occupancy rate compared to the same time last year, and by the end of the year, the result could reach 40 percent of last year, Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said on Monday.
"Today we have almost 600,000 tourists, mostly foreigners, and there are about 90,000 locals. Croatia is a safe destination no matter what happens," Cappelli said after a session of the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) on Slobodna Dalmacija.
Greece, he said for comparison, currently has only seven percent of turnover compared to last year.
On the other hand, Croatia has over 50 percent of its turnover in July compared to last year, and more than 30 percent at the level of the previous part of the year.
He pointed out that in some counties, such as Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar, more than 60 percent of arrivals are realized compared to last year. According to him, the tourist workers are well prepared for the epidemiological conditions in which they work. Currently, as he said, 75 percent of the available nautical charter is operating, while in August, everyone will work at one hundred percent capacity.
Cappelli is in favor of more rigorous epidemiological measures in order to achieve the results we expect with a reduced number of infected people, that is, to prove that we are still a safe destination.
He pointed out that the decline in the number of domestic tourists is only 13 percent, and that most continental destinations have traffic of more than 60 percent compared to last year, and family farms on the continent work even better than last year.
He stated that the prices of tourist services were reduced in a number of destinations, on average, by 10 to 30 percent.
"I claimed that the first good reaction of the economy will be in tourism, and that is what is happening," said the minister, adding that this year there is a minimum of seasonal workers coming from outside Croatia, i.e., that domestic labor has been withdrawn.
At the session of the Tourist Council, additional financial resources for the needs of crisis communication were approved. It will be aimed at continuous monitoring of the market situation, in order to quickly and timely inform the target public about all new changes in the travel segment, with an emphasis on Croatia as a safe and accessible tourist destination.
"Today we have provided additional financial resources for crisis communication activities in foreign markets. Quality promotion and placement of targeted messages are extremely important in these market circumstances when many countries are fighting very hard for each guest. With these financial resources, amounting to one million kuna, among other things, we will focus on intensified monitoring of the entire situation with an emphasis on communicating accurate information on the epidemiological situation in the country," said the director of HTZ, Kristjan Stanicic.
Stanicic also said that from Friday to Sunday, almost 300,000 arrivals and 1.8 million tourist overnight stays were realized in Croatia.
The members of the Tourist Council also discussed the situation on the markets and the course of the season, and it was emphasized that in the current part of July, from July 1 to 19, about 1.4 million arrivals were realized, which is 53 percent of last year's result achieved in the same period, and 9.6 million overnight stays, which is 56 percent of last year's result achieved in the same period.
The largest tourist turnover came from the markets of Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria.
Stanicic also stated that additional funds will be used for PR activities in the domestic and foreign markets, and that additional funds were found through internal redistribution, within the HTZ budget.
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