July 31, 2020 - According to e-visitor data, there are currently 760,000 tourists in Croatia, of which 126,000 are domestic. Most are from Germany, said Kristjan Stanicic, director of the Croatian National Tourist Board, on Thursday.
T.portal reports that in addition to Stanicic, the coordination meeting of the Croatian National Tourist Board, with the tourist boards of Split-Dalmatia County, was attended by the director of the Split-Dalmatia County Tourist Board, Josko Stella, and 34 representatives of tourist boards of cities and municipalities from Split-Dalmatia County.
"Split-Dalmatia and Dubrovnik-Neretva counties are the most affected because air traffic has decreased because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I am glad that we currently have intensified air traffic. I believe we can be more optimistic in the coming weeks, as we will intensify marketing campaigns in certain markets and do our best to do this tourist season the best we can," said Stanicic.
He pointed out that marketing campaigns are underway in Germany, Austria and the UK. "Currently, we record the most guests from our most important markets - in the first place is Germany, followed by Slovenes, Austrians, Czechs, Poles and Hungarians," said Stanicic.
When asked how he commented on the negative campaign towards Croatia from some European countries, in which Croatia is placed on the list of undesirable countries for the arrival of guests, Stanicic said that it was part of the market competition because some competing countries had significantly lower tourist traffic than Croatia this year.
"We react to negative PR promptly and immediately through the network of our representative offices and publications in foreign media. We react with concrete, continuous positive campaigns and try to mitigate negative signs about Croatia. This is all the context of market competition by our competitors, which are below ten percent of this year's tourist traffic compared to the same period last year, while Croatia this year is cumulatively at 45 percent compared to the same period last year," said Stanicic.
Referring to 'Ferragosto', during which a large number of Italians traditionally come to Croatia, Stanicic said that given the situation in Italy, it is "irresponsible and unserious to expect" that Italians will come to us in numbers this year as before. "We must be aware that the situation in Italy is not good," he added.
The director of the Split-Dalmatia County Tourist Board, Josko Stella, pointed out that in July this year, the number of overnight stays was 53 percent compared to 2019, and that there is a tendency to increase if the epidemiological situation remains stable.
He also said that there were almost as many Germans in the county as last year, i.e., 96 percent compared to last July. "Almost all Germans who were in Split-Dalmatia County last July came this year as well," he said.
Responding to a journalist's remark that the British, who have been the most numerous guests in the Split area in recent years, are almost non-existent this year, Stella said that marketing actions had been taken in the British market to encourage them to come to Split-Dalmatia County.
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