CNTB believes that the new approach is simpler, which means it will bring better results in 2018.
The Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB) has announced a tender for joint advertising in 2018, which will include a simpler concept, with county tourist boards and CNTB representative offices abroad playing a more active role in the process. The tender will close on September 15, SEEbiz.eu reported on August 14, 2017.
The public tender for joint advertising in promotional campaigns in the public and private sectors in 2018 has been published by the CNTB Head Office, and applications can, depending on the model, be sent to the addresses of 13 continental and seven coastal counties and the City of Zagreb, which will then be consolidated and sent to the Head office, which will serve as a means of avoiding double entries.
County Tourist Boards will also monitor the implementation and payment to all partners as it is connected to their destination, which means they will be direct partners of the Head Office. Direct partners can also include accommodation facilities, DMC travel agencies, airlines, tour operators and ‘smaller’ partners who have the opportunity to show their role in branding and promoting destinations.
Croatian National Tourist Board Head Office will allocate a total of HRK 22.5 million (VAT included), divided into two basic advertising models – the destination promotion of coastal counties and the City of Zagreb and the destination promotion of continental counties, each model having three ‘sub-models’ for advertised the general offer of coastal destination and Zagreb and accommodation options and other forms of tourist services in the continental part.
As part of this type of advertising, CNTB Head Office will combine advertising funds with tourist boards, country’s private sector and foreign partners, and funds will be distributed according to the specific county’s share in the total number of overnight stays in 2016. This means that the majority of the HRK 22.5 million from the CNTB Head Office fund for advertising will go to coastal counties and the City of Zagreb (HRK 16 million), while the 13 continental counties will get a total of HRK 6.5 million, which is more than last year.
Tourism Minister and CNTB President Gari Cappelli said that this meant that county tourist boards and CNTB representative offices abroad would now play a more active role in the process, especially in cooperation with tour operators and airlines interested in destination promotion.
“The goal of the new concept of joint advertising is to develop and position Croatia as an avio destination, especially in the pre and postseason, because we will have a tourist season throughout the year, not just during summer,” Minister Cappelli said.
The CNTB Head Office CEO, Kristjan Staničić, said that the Head Office continuously analyses the advertising processes and effects of promotional campaigns, and it is in contact with the relevant Ministry, tourist boards, CNTB representative offices abroad and partners in Croatia and abroad in order to improve joint activities and achieve even better results.
“It is extremely important to keep track of the market situation and strengthen our cooperation with partners in order to achieve common goals in a timely manner and to keep up to date with new trends in advertising. I believe that this new concept will result in a bigger interest from our partners in advertising our destinations and products as well as coming up with additional projects, which contributes to Croatian tourism, strengthening its brand, and making the pre and post season last longer, in accordance with the goals of our strategic marketing plan,” Mr Staničić said.
Another big change is the fact that cooperation with air carriers and tour operators with organised programs for Croatia will no longer be included in joint advertising, but they will become part of strategic projects, separate from the joint advertising, which will be implemented at the national level in cooperation with tourist boards and other partners interested in destination promotion, with CNTB representative offices being actively involved in the process.
For this reason, the Head Office has also published a separate tender for the implementation of strategic promotional campaigns in select foreign markets in 2018, addressing potential airline partners and foreign tour operators who want to intensify their programmes or extend the period of operations in Croatia in the pre and postseason, with a tendency of further growth In the next three years.
“This is a process in which promotional campaigns would be conducted in strategic markets in cooperation with the partners we mentioned, which we would also like to invite to apply with their suggestions and submissions. CNTB foreign offices are already working on it, contacting and collecting applications from interested parties, and each representative office is in charge of setting the deadlines for submissions, taking into account the specifics of the market,” CNTB Head Office spokesperson said, adding that the amount for the implementation of strategic projects will be determined as part of the CNTB 2018 annual programme.
Translated from SEEbiz.eu.
