World Tourism Day is celebrated on September 27th. On this occasion, the Split Tourist Board is organizing a concert titled “Goodbye Summer” held on the riva. This also marks the end of the event “Split Litnji koluri”.
The fun begins on the central stage at 16.30h and will go on well through midnight. Performances will be had by 14 male and female choirs, 3 KUD’s, 2 orchestras, a string quartet, cellist Majda Goluža, 18 entertaining bands, the Split majorettes and the Children’s Choir Srdelice.
Split had a record tourist season and has become one of the most desirable destinations in the country. Compared to last year’s August, there was a 32% increase in overnight stays, and the first 8 months saw a 25% increase in arrivals. Most guests were from the UK, Germany and the US.
”In September, we saw a trend of growth in tourist traffic. These excellent results are the result of continuous work by tourist workers and all involved institutions. Tourism is, so to say, an activity that involves a large number of actors, and this is the reason why joint activities and coordination are the key to be a successful tourist destination,” stated Alijana Vukšić, Director of the Split Tourist Board, adding that we also expect a successful postseason that will justify the status of Split as the best year-round destination in Croatia for 2015.
“We have numerous study groups of agents, journalists and bloggers who are increasingly interested in Split outside of the season. Most tourism operator’s work continues throughout the year, with offers our tourists will not miss. We are continuing to encourage events in the post-season, and it should be noted with the City break project iSplitCard card, which provides additional benefits to tourists who visit us in this period of the tourist year,” says Vukšić.
These excellent tourist results were achieved in the entire Split-Dalmatia County, which saw a 9% increase in the number of overnight stays and arrivals. Joško Stella, Director of the County Tourist Board, points out that sustainable tourism, which primarily benefits the local population, is his one wish in this area. There will be a theme of doing studies and strategies to this form of tourism held in the future, regardless of the number of visitors.
“Our goal is to increase arrivals in the post-season and pre-season so we can develop selective forms of tourism, such as cultural tourism, active vacation, food and drink, medical tourism, and especially cycling tourism. We have made maximum efforts, created maps, invested in education and are already seeing results. Our goal is to integrate tourism into the local community, and not only increase the number of overnights and arrivals, but also increase revenues for individual entrepreneurs. There is no doubt that the figures in the tourism industry continues to grow, but this growth must be a balance,” Stella says, adding that it is extremely important to protect our natural resources.
“Clean water, clean sea, natural beauty, fauna, cultural heritage, Dalmatian hinterland, is all we have to protect, but also to attract more tourists. It is now easy. Given how things are going and what kind of voice we have in the world, it is clear that we have positive momentum, but because of that we have to be more careful,” warns Stella.
The last five years has annually recorded an extension of the post-season for three to five days.
“We expect that this year will be a little bit more (in the post-season), for now we have filled the hotel capacity for the 10th month in Split,” adding that “if we will not be the best country in terms of the postseason, then we will certainly be at the top,” concludes Stella.
Source: Dalmacija News
