As Novac writes on the 10th of January, 2020, although there is no access to the sea, the municipality of Kastelir-Labinci in Istria has been seeing a real tourist boom in recent years. Last year, with a capacity of 2,050 beds in 431 types of tourist accommodation, it achieved as many as 90,000 overnight stays, marking an increase of 17 percent when compared to 2018. In addition, it recorded 9,500 tourist arrivals, equal to a jump of 20 percent in arrivals in 2019 compared to one year earlier.
Local portal Glas Istre writes that the reason for this boom in Kastelir-Labinci is in the new tourism development strategy for the period 2019 – 2025, adopted at the end of last year, which aims to double the tourist traffic in five years. Interesting summer events, which involve everything from culture to gastronomy to sport, are just some of the moves that prompted both the municipal administration and the local tourist board to approach the future development of tourism more thoughtfully and with more concrete plans.
One of the more important goals outlined in this strategy is the planned capacity increase of about one hundred beds per year, with the aim of increasing their occupancy to 70 days a year. This would increase the number of overnight stays at the end of the planning period from the current 90,000 to about 170,000, which is almost double, but it also wants to increase spending per night from the current 30 to 50 euros. The municipality of Kastelir-Labinci wishes to brand its tourist offer according to the principles of balanced development, which is sustainable and in harmony with nature, respecting ecological standards and with an emphasis on the authenticity of both the environment and what’s in it, as well as ample food and beverage offers.
The strategy proposes a number of new types of touristic content that should increase the attractiveness of the tourist offer of the entire Kastelir-Labinci region, and some of the ideas are original in themselves on the wider Istrian regional scale. For example, the establishment of a botanical garden has been proposed, and there is even the possibility of a zoo with indigenous animals living there. These are just two of the things that could potentially be in the works for Kastelir-Labinci.
In addition, a number of trails are proposed to improve the area’s cyclotourism, which has gained a lot of momentum with the establishment of a bike centre, and the desire is to improve the trekking offer or running trails through nature, as well as to arrange paths for go-karts for guests who might be adrenaline junkies.
The tourism development strategy also recommends the development of adventure and hunting tourism, followed by horse riding schools as part of health and rehabilitation tourism, and also with the possibility of equestrian sports. Excursion tourism is proposed to be further enriched by the construction of a system of observation points for the environment, and the authors of the strategy consider the area of this municipality to be a convenient location for summer children’s camps in a vegetatively rich and naturally diverse environment.
One of the highlights in the new proposals of Kastelir-Labinci’s tourism strategy is the promotion of gastro-tourism.
A particular eno-gastronomic niche set out in the strategy is organic farming, that is, the supply of food and drink from organically produced foods. The offer of indigenous souvenirs is also something that is lacking in this area and should be developed with the incentive to open souvenir shops and themed boutiques.
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