The tourism industry likes to bang the drum a lot when it comes to Croatia’s continental tourism, and concrete moves are being made in Lika.
While Lika is picturesque and mountainous, it’s stark contrast when it comes to Dalmatia, skin deep beauty aside.
Croatia is so much more than just the sea, and until those involved in the country’s tourism industry truly grasp that (and the fact that such a move naturally implies much more work), the wealth of potential this country truly has will continue to go ignored purely because a large part of it happens to lie away from the alluring coastline.
The Adriatic sea needs very little promotion, yet almost all of the tourism promotion within the country (and indeed outside of it) is directed at it. Constantly. As the rest of the country and its endless list of respective undiscovered gems live on in the shadow of Dalmatia’s many yacht sails, stagnation creeps ever closer.
Tourism trends change, and as we witness the gradual recovery of some of Croatia’s arch tourism rivals, such as Turkey, we can only bang our collective heads against the wall at the thought of our very shallow obsession with eVisitor figures and the classic three month ”sunshine and sea” holiday window to which we’ve shackled ourselves. That worked in the past, and last year was indeed an incredible one in terms of the tourist season, but what goes up must come down.
Lika is one area of the country that a great many foreign tourists have never heard of, and sadly so. Located in the continental part of ”green Croatia”, Lika has a hell of a lot to offer, but with little to no real promotion, it’s difficult to being anything to fruition. It seems, however, that a breakthrough for Lika’s would-be tourism story has finally occurred.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 13th of September, 2018, in the area of Lika-Senj County in Vrhovine Municipality, the Big Bear Plitvice Resort has been built, the facility is a modern camping ground with a 20 million kuna label.
Lika native Zvonimir Petričević is the person behind this praiseworthy project, and it’s expected that the project will be finished in April next year, with the very first tourists arriving that same month. Numerous local people have already managed to gain employment owing to the new facility, all of whom are happy to be able to deal with the world of luxury tourism in Lika, as opposed to somewhere on the coast or abroad. The bottom line for this ambitious new project is to showcase Lika’s various traditions via the means of an excellent offer, and this kind of tourism is becoming more and more popular across the world.
It is also important to point out that Lika-Senj County hasn’t had such a high quality camp until now, and this tourism investment in green, scenic Vrhovine will likely become known as the best campsite in the wider area from the Plješivica mountain, all the way to the Adriatic sea. The Republic of Croatia has also provided important support to the project’s implementation through Hamag Bicro.
The facility’s full name, Big Bear Camping Resort, will have 100 accommodation units available. There will be 32 mobile homes and 60 sites for campers. A reception, an ethno shop, a souvenir shop and a top ethno restaurant serving traditional Lika liqueur, food and other products which can seat as many as 150 people.
The mobile homes located here are equipped with modern amenities and will have almost everything you could realistically need.
The close vicinity to the popular Plitvice Lakes (NP) and other local natural and historical attractions have long been a drawing point for tourists from all over the world and from all walks of life, and the enrichment of the otherwise almost entirely overlooked continental region of Lika will surely be the natural next step owing to this ambitious, large, and more than welcome investment in the area’s tourism story.
