Whisper it quietly, but more tourists are taking time off from Croatia’s famous beaches each year to discover the road less travelled – Croatia’s phenomenal adventure tourism potential. TCN meets one of the pioneers on February 10, 2016, Veselka Huljic from &Adventure.
With a spectacular coastline and more than a thousand islands (including the sunniest in Europe – Hvar), it is not surprising that the majority of Croatian tourism is focused on the sun and sea.
That dynamic is changing slightly, and despite little official promotion, the word is slowly getting out internationally on the tremendous unfulfilled potential Croatia has in the field of adventure and activity tourism. In the absence of a coordinated official approach, it has been left largely to private individuals to use their intitiative, enthusiasm and finance to promote a sector of Croatian tourism which could truly prolong the season and offer much needed diversity away from the beach.
One of the leading pioneers of adventure tourism is Veselka Huljic, Director of CroActive Holidays and &Adventure. After founding her own adventure company with partners on her native Hvar in 2005, Huljic has now moved to the mainland, and is perhaps a symbol of the new generation of private tourism entrepreneurs who are adding innovative quality to the basic ingredients of the official Croatian tourism approach.
(The visit of popular YouTubers Oli White and Joe Sugg last summer helped highlight Croatia as an adventure destination)
1. Croatian tourism is all about beaches and the Adriatic, isn’t it? Tell us a little about adventure tourism.
We are still in the shadow of beach, sea and sun as the main Croatian tourism products. I don’t say that we need to abandon that concept of tourism, but it is about time that there was some equality in marketing with other niches. Through active and adventure tourism, we could make Croatian tourism more sustainable and prolong the season year round. Globally, adventure tourism is perceived as the fastest growing segment, and many countries, including our neighbouring countries, are embracing that fact, and they brand themselves as active and adventure destinations.
In Croatia we are mostly a seasonal business, although most of the activities have a year round perspective, particularly land based activities like cycling, hiking, rock climbing. There is still some infrastructure missing to be able to achieve the full potential of the destination, but hopefully as the sector gets stronger, the infrastructure and investments would follow.
We could be one of the leading adventure destinations in the EU due to favorable climate – compared to other countries, preserved nature and amazing landscapes.
2. Eternal Glory was filmed in Croatia, Lonely Planet named Cetina in top 40 European experiences. Do you feel that finally the world is learning more about the adventure playground of Croatia?
Although there are more different adventure activities present in Croatia than 20 years ago – specially rafting on Cetina and other Croatian rivers – the word never came out into the world saying that Croatia is an adventure destination. Luckily in the last decade things started to change with some new providers willing to join their knowledge and to find ways to spread the word to the world. Those are mostly small business and their initiatives to promote their activities and destination through the prism of adventure. Projects like Eternal Glory are more than welcome in order to show to the world that we are so much more than previously mentioned sun and sea.
People who are connected to activity and adventure can see that potential, and it is our job to make others see the same thing, especially decision makers in governmental institutions.
3. You have been a successful director of an adventure tourism business for more than a decade. Has that been a bigger challenge as a woman, and what are your experiences?
Although in some occasions it did make my life bit more complicated being a woman, I don’t like to see that from that perspective. It would be just another challenge to deal with. Definitely not something that would make me give up or trust less in myself and doubt my decisions.
4. Cycling tourism in particular seems to be growing in popularity – tell us a little more about that.
Luckily cycling tourism grows stronger from year to year. I read an article recently saying that cycling is a new golf. So Croatia should use that trend as much as possible. In my opinion, a great job was done with the Tour of Croatia project. I enjoyed watching every single stage of the race in 2015, not purely because of cycling but also because of the fact that Croatian natural beauties were broadcasted live in amazing production to worldwide audience.
But besides Tour of Croatia there are other cycling events that also get attention, like 4 islands MTB race or the Trans Dinara MTB race.
There are several cycling tour operators in Croatia offering guided or self-guided tours, covering different regions.
5. People, perhaps understandably come for the beach as their main reason to Croatia. What can they experience in a day away from the beach?
Depending of the region they chose for their holiday while in Croatia, the choice of adventure day trips is growing every year. Local activity providers can match most of the guest requirements for an adventure; from soft to hard adventure. But they would definitely experience Croatia from a different perspective, no matter which activity or tour they choose. If they spend a day with a local guide they would learn about many different aspects of the destination, visiting different places they would be able to understand better what is the true Croatia, and if we add a gastronomical experience in small local taverns to that, it is something they could NEVER experience on the beach. So if they are travellers, not necessarily hard core adventurers, they would quench their thirst for knowledge and they would immerse deeper in the destination.
Or why not combine beach and activity in summer season, such as sea kayaking. It is a great combination of activity and time for swimming.
6. Kayaking to a UNESCO World Heritage Site from Split, or getting lost in the bays of the Pakleni Islands sounds divine. Tell us a little about kayaking, especially for first timers.
Sea kayaking has been present in Croatia for more than a decade. There are not many locals who enjoy that sport, but hopefully that community will also grow stronger in the future. From my point of view Croatia is an amazing sea kayaking playground. 1244 islands, crystal blue sea, beautiful nature and a wonderful climate makes Croatia a sea kayaking paradise. In 2015 National Geographic included sea kayaking in Croatia in its list of top 10 Mediterranean adventures. The Adriatic can be wild and weather forecast has to be followed daily, but it is so much safer compared to some other open ocean destinations. So this makes it a great choice for beginners and yet it can offer enough challenge for advanced paddlers.
Beginners can find a choices of day trips from Split, Hvar, Dubrovnik, while experienced sea kayakers can join multi day adventures: Hvar, Vis, Lastovo, Kornati national park, Elafiti in Dubrovnik region, Kvarner and Northern Adriatic, pleanty of choice.
7. Are you happy about the way adventure tourism is officially promoted, and what would you suggest to improve things?
I am not happy yet, but we are trying to change that. At the moment there is no proper consistent official promotion focused on Croatia as adventure destination. Most of the efforts done so far were private initiatives, partly supported by local tourist boards. One such private initiatives finally made a breakthrough and this year Croatia National Tourist Board is sponsoring a regional ADVENTURE TRAVEL TRADE ASSOCIATION event in Macedonia.
Even better was the fact that it was announced during the ATTA world Summit held in October 2015 in Chile in front of all key players in the Adventure tourism business. It was such a great feeling to see the Croatian logo on a screen on such an important global event for our industry. And this was the first time that I felt that our efforts are making some difference. So hopefully this is just the beginning with so much more to follow.
There is still plenty of space for improvement and how to make some projects happen faster. But most important is to establish better cooperation between the private sector with and the national tourist board and Ministry of Tourism, and to make them understand our needs in order to grow the industry and reach our full potential as a destination.
8. Give us five must-try adventure activities for that next holiday in Croatia.
Sea kayaking as number one being my personal favorite. One day or multiday there are plenty of choices. Multi day adventure to Kornati NP or Lastovo would be a great choice.
Hiking – places like Paklenica NP, Velebit, Biokovo are just some of amazing mountain ridges of stunning nature and vistas in Croatia. If you prefer light hikes, than some island hopping and hikes on Brac, Hvar or Korcula island are great choice.
Cycling – Plenty of cycling options are available. Specially self-guided tours in different regions like Istria and Dalmatia. My favorite one in Dalmatia is self-guided tour from Split to Dubrovnik because it covers all the best places in the region.
Trail running – this is a new star in the Croatian adventure travel sky. No matter if you join an organized tour or decide to join one of the amazing events such as 100miles of Istria or Dalmatia Ultra trail you will enjoy every step of the trail. Different sceneries, variations of terrains, vistas on islands and Adriatic Sea make our trail amazing experience.
Sail & action programs – finally one of the concepts to combine force of the sailing and charter industry with adventure industry. Being on the mother-ship during the tour makes the island hopping and visiting different places so much more comfortable and than on each island you join different activities: cycling, hiking, sea kayaking. So you get best from both worlds.
To learn more about adventure tourism in Croatia, check out the video below or visit the &Adventure website.
