Zagreb the Christmas destination comes alive.
With the turning on of special festive lights and opening of various programs on the city squares and streets on Saturday afternoon, the latest edition of “Advent in Zagreb” will begin. It is expected to attract numerous tourists to Zagreb which could this year see more than one million tourist arrivals, reports Poslovni.hr on November 28, 2015.
This sixth edition of “Advent in Zagreb” will take place from 28 November to 10 January, organized by the Zagreb Tourist Board, whose director Martina Bienenfeld explained the exceptional importance of this event for tourism and the wider economy in the city, since it contributes to other sectors like hospitality industry, hotels, crafts and trade as well. “The event has made Zagreb known outside Croatian borders as an attractive and nice place to enjoy yourself during the holiday season. This year, we have been nominated for Europe’s most attractive Christmas event according to the well-known website European Best Destinations“, Bienenfeld said.
She pointed out that, regardless of the results of the vote, the mere inclusion on the list is a great recognition, especially since during the last two years the website has included Zagreb among the top 10 destinations in Europe. She believes that this year the event will attract even greater number of tourists than previously.
Although the budget of the Zagreb Tourist Board for this year’s Advent events is similar to last year and amounts to 2.1 million kuna, Bienenfeld says that all those involved in the organization expect even better sales and attendance. She recalled the excellent figures from last year, when Zagreb was visited by more than 56,000 Croatian and foreign tourists in December, who made 101,500 overnight stays, which was 21 percent more than in December 2013. The majority of foreign tourists came from Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia.
“This year, we also expect tourism to grow in Zagreb during December. We know that the guests liked what they saw and experienced during the Advent, and we believe we are going to have even more tourists, especially from neighboring countries and those countries which have direct flights to Zagreb. In addition to them, we expect journalists and tourist agents from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, USA, France, Russia and the Czech Republic”, Bienenfeld added.
During the first ten months of this year, Zagreb recorded an increase of 12 percent in the number of arrivals and overnight stays compared to last year, with more than 889,000 arrivals and 1,530,000 overnight stays. “With such figures, in just ten months we have almost achieved the same results as in the whole of last year. If all goes well, we expect further good results in the future and even stronger positioning of Zagreb on the tourist map of Europe and the world”, Bienenfeld concluded.
