Tourism Minister Cappelli says he is not worried.
Croatia’s Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said in Opatija that he was not worried about the latest data on the number of tourists, and added that Croatia has its tourist market. The media reported that, in the first half of July, Croatia was visited by 165,000 fewer tourists than in the same period last year, reports Večernji List on July 25, 2018.
“We have to offer quality and increase prices, and not count whether there are two tourists more or fewer,” the minister said, adding that since the start of this year, despite the information which has been published, there have been six to seven percent more guests than last year, while in the past two years the growth was about 20 percent. “The neighbouring countries are coming back, but we do not have to worry. Croatia has its market and will always have its quality,” said Cappelli.
According to the media, while the number of tourists fell by 165,000, the number of overnight stays grew by one percent. The July drop followed six months of growth. In the first six months, the growth was 11.97 percent in the number of arrivals and 10.30 percent in the number of overnight stays.
Experts say there is no reason for panic. Damir Krešić, the managing director of the Tourism Institute, said that the number of overnight stays in July was growing and therefore there was no contraction in the tourism industry. Still, the growth in the number of overnights is not at the level from the past years. Krešić explained that Turkey and Greece, which had political instability, returned to the tourism market this year.
Krešić pointed out that Croatia continued to be well-positioned with regards to the strong competition in the Mediterranean market. The drop in the number of arrivals in July was a consequence of bad weather and the World Cup. He also warned that we cannot expect the growth of between 15 to 20 percent each year, because that would be unrealistic since there is not enough capacity and infrastructure. “We need to focus on the tourist year and not the tourist season, and on quality instead of on quantity,” said Krešić, adding that increasing quality would bring increased spending.
Siniša Topalović, director of the Horwath HTL office in Zagreb, said that July’s tourist numbers were not a bad result since it was not possible to expect a year-round high growth rate. “We need to stop counting the arrivals and overnight stays in the high season, and concentrate more on the pre-season and post-season, where we lag behind our competitors,” Topalović said.
He also warned that Croatian hotels have increased their prices, but that has not been followed by an increase in the quality of service and the destination experience. “Our general tourism growth cannot come from increases during the main season, but from growth in the pre-season and post-season,” concluded Topalović.
Translated from Večernji List (reported by Josip Bohutinski).
