The Croatian National Tourist Board was present at this year’s Vakantiebeurs Trade Fair which was held on January 15, 2017 in Utrecht. This was the first large tourism fair held this year in Europe where Croatia’s offer is traditionally represented.
Director of the Croatian Tourist Board in the Netherlands and Belgium – Ivan Novak – comments on the progress and cooperation between the countries, while announcing additional flights, as reported by Glas Istre and Poslovni.hr on January 20, 2017.
“The Benelux market for the Croatian tourism sector represents a very important market which last year generated more than 3.5 million overnight stays. The presence of the Croatian Tourist Board at the Vakantiebeurs Fair further confirms a strong interest in the Dutch to Croatian destinations, especially for the camping segment which we will present in more detail at the Caravan Fair which is held from January 19 to 24 in the Dutch town of Leeuwarden.
At the fair in Utrecht, numerous meetings were held with representatives of the media, tour operators and air carriers. We are certainly looking forward to growing the interest of air carriers in Croatia, which is evidenced by the introduction of new routes to Croatia and the increase of existing ones. KLM this year introduced a flight from Amsterdam to Split; TUI Netherlands introduced an additional flight from Amsterdam to Pula, while Thomas Cook Netherlands is introducing a new tour operator program for central Dalmatia.
The first signs of booking local tour operators for Croatia are positive, but this is still a very small number of reservations, while the right period of booking is imminent,” said the director of the Croatian Tourist Board in the Netherlands and Belgium, Ivan Novak, who met with important partners in the Dutch market on this occasion.
As communicated from the Croatian Tourist Board, the Vakantiebeurs Fair this year gathered over a thousand exhibitors and was visited by around 110,000 visitors. Statistics show that 64% of visitors have stated that the main reason for visiting the fair is because they have not yet booked their holiday, while 54% of them have said that they visit the fair to get inspiration for their holiday.
With the Croatian Tourist Board as the main exhibitor at the fair, 13 Croatian co-exhibitors were also present including Rovinj’s Maistra and Valalta and Laguna Novigrad – Aminess.
