With tourism to Croatia from South Korean booming, combined with increased trading prospects between the two countries, The Korea Times reports on February 12, 2017 that Croatia will open an embassy in Seoul this year.
It is one of the more surprising tourism boom stories in Croatia, but also one of the most successful – the huge rise in numbers of tourists from South Korea, a surge which has come on the back of several reality TV shows filmed in Croatia, including The Romantic, which followed ten single Koreans travelling around a romantic European country with breathtaking beauty – Croatia.
According to The Korea Times, in 2011, 33,000 Koreans visited Croatia. The number jumped to 74,001 in 2013 and 264,110 in 2014.With a steady increase over the past five years, the figure for last year is expected to rise 14 percent from a year earlier, to 400,000.
There has also been strong rumours of a direct link between the two capitals from Korean Air, and in an interview with TCN, South Korean Ambassador Hyung-won Suh, the ambassador talked in more depth about the increasing trade between the countries.
“Despite the fact that we have had an impressive increase in Korean tourists, Croatia is less well known here,” said Croatian Ambassador to Tokyo, Drazen Hrastic (who also covers Korea) at the Lotte Hotel Seoul on Feb. 8. “Koreans are visiting Croatia because of our well-preserved nature and rich cultural heritage. And they are also coming because of the people. They feel comfortable and feel welcomed in Croatia.
“We have a number of high-quality products we would like to bring to the Korean market, such as wine, olive oil, meat products, fish products and especially tuna that we are exporting to the world,” Hrastic said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaPkp59UI94
