First Split, now Plitvice Lakes joins the 2015 Million Club.
As many as 18 days earlier than last year, the Plitvice Lakes National Park welcomed its millionth visitor this year. Edward Glansford, a young 24-year-old from North Yorkshire in England, was quite surprised when the director of the National Park Natalija Božičević, after he bought a ticket for himself and his three years younger girlfriend Jamie Wilford, asked him if he had a moment. When she told him that he was the millionth visitor to the National Park this year, he was pleasantly surprised, reports Vecernji List on September 3, 2015.
“The fact that we have welcomed our millionth visitor this year as many as 18 days earlier than last year demonstrates that we have more visitors than ever, actually, 16 percent of them more than last year. In August, the greatest number of visitors came from Germany and Italy, followed by Japan and Korea. We are working on our infrastructure to provide guests with a safe and fun visit”, said director Božičević.
“We did not expect there was someone who records the number of visitors. This is our first visit to Croatia, and we will stay for a few days. After Zagreb, we have come to Plitvice since we saw on the internet all the information about this wonderful place, which is the most visited tourist attraction in Croatia. Later, we will go to Split and Dubrovnik”, said Edward.
They have received as a gift four free tickets to all national parks in Croatia, which can be used by the end of next year, as well as Plitvice souvenirs which were handed over to them by director Božičević and environmental protection minister Mihael Zmajlović, who said that the ministry has invested more than 400 million kuna in visitor infrastructure in various national parks. “Plitvice Lakes National Park has a new spatial plan, which provides for new entrances to the park, new trails and walkways, in order to relieve the most attractive locations within the park”, said Zmajlović.
The National Park Service rangers in the park received their first badges. Ten of them who work as park rangers and nature protectors in Plitvice and who care about the visitors were given special nature guards badges which are valid in all the national parks in Croatia. The most attractive badge with the number 007 has received by Katica Poljak who has been working in Plitvice for almost 15 years.
