June the 2nd, 2022 - Asian tourists are likely to make a return to Croatia this year following two pandemic-dominated years. Could we see the figures we enjoyed back during the record year of 2019? Some believe so.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, after a two year halt, the first group of guests from South Korea this year have arrived in Croatia, organised by the Uniline agency. This is a market that was especially responsible for the tourist boom here in the City of Zagreb over the last few years before the pandemic struck.
Boris Zgomba, President of the Management Board of Uniline, expects great interest and the return of Asian tourists to Croatia in a relatively short time.
"The arrival of the first Asian tourists in Croatia is a good announcement for this year's tourist season, as evidenced by the increased interest from this market in the last two weeks, which has confirmed a number of groups that will visit this country during the months of June and July. Given the interest and the state of reservations, we can already expect the return of the level of tourist traffic from South Korea to the level of 2019, and potentially even higher numbers,'' said Boris Zgomba.
Uniline is the first destination management company in the Republic of Croatia and the country's immediate region to begin to primaril focus on distant Asian markets more than 10 years ago, opening its own branches in Seoul, among other locations, in order to grab the potential of the fastest growing tourism markets.
"Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, tourist traffic from Asia has been almost completely interrupted all over the world, including in Europe and Croatia. However, this weekend, after a two-year pandemic period, the first group of tourists from South Korea landed at Zagreb Airport, and they'll visit Zagreb, Plitvice, Sibenik, Split and Dubrovnik. Asian tourists are known for touring destinations in several countries as part of their travels.
At the same time, Asian tourists use the services of restaurants, public transport, museums, cultural and archaeological institutions. They show a lot of interest and curiosity and are very active when they're here. They're not the type of visitors who come solely for the sun and sea, they want to get to know the area,'' said Zgomba, adding that Asian tourists bring significant traffic in the pre-season and post-season in Croatia.
The programmes of Korean and other Asian tourists whose arrival in Croatia has been announced this summer include several Croatian destinations that will be visited in seven to ten day periods. Back during the record, pre-pandemic year of 2019, more than 400,000 tourists from South Korea came to Croatia, spending more than 511,000 overnight stays here.
Until the pandemic struck, and when focusing on Zagreb, guests from South Korea were second in the number of foreign guests visiting the capital. There are announcements now circulating that as long as no new problems with the pandemic occur and as long as the ongoing war in Ukraine doesn't escalate, Croatia could have a better tourist year than the record year of 2019, and it seems that distant markets will finally contribute to that once again.
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