January 25, 2020 – The Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ), which is at the New York Times Travel Show from January 24 to 26, said that Croatia is among the most sought-after tourist destinations, based on the results of market research and the booking announcements by major tourist associations.
Glas Istre reports that HTZ Director Kristjan Stanicic also visited the fair, along with the tourist boards from Zagreb, Dubrovnik-Neretva, Split-Dalmatia, Zadar and Lika-Senj counties, who are also presenting their offer in New York, HTZ announced.
“Presenting the Croatian tourism offer at the New York Fair is of strategic importance, especially if we know that the US market is one of the most important distant markets for Croatia, from which we generate the largest tourist traffic.
The continuation of American Airlines flights between Philadelphia and Dubrovnik will further stimulate US tourist traffic this year, and the ultimate goal we are intensively working on is stronger air connections between the US and Croatia,” said Stanicic.
He noted that 655,000 arrivals and more than 1.8 million overnight stays were recorded in Croatia last year by American tourists, which represents an annual increase of 12 percent.
During his stay in New York, Stanicic met with representatives of Travel Show Marketing Group, a company that specializes in independent events and brings together tourist entities, buyers and sellers in forums they organize around the world. The topic of the meeting was related to the possibility of Croatia hosting the Travel Agent Forum in 2021, when it is estimated that the forum would bring together 90 European suppliers and travel partners and about 150 US travel agencies.
“This year’s appearance at the New York Times Travel Show reaffirmed Croatia’s popularity as a leading growing destination for Americans and announced another successful year with double-digit arrivals and overnight stays from the US. Croatia is truly one of the most desirable tourist destinations, supported by the market research results and booking announcements by major travel associations such as USTOA, Virtuoso, Signature Travel Network and Travel Leaders Group, and numerous articles in leading US media such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, Financial Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, USA Today,” said Ina Rodin, director of the HTZ New York office.
A meeting was also held with representatives of the platform and mobile application TravPRO MOBILE, the first of its kind in the market to connect mobile learning and sales. It is an agent training and sales consulting program designed to help agents sell destinations more effectively. Currently, they provide services to more than 60,000 professional travel advisors from the United States and are also collaborating with China’s leading B2B travel agency, Dragon Trail Interactive.
Otherwise, major trends in Americans’ travel last year include multi-generational travel, discovering new destinations and authentic experiences – or “Live Like A Local” experiences, “transformational” travel, responsible tourism, active tourism, and cruises. Americans in Croatia especially love visits to natural and cultural attractions with a focus on UNESCO sites, nautical tourism, active holidays, and especially visits to locations where the famous HBO series Game of Thrones was filmed, as well as one-of-a-kind gastronomic experiences. Americans visit Dubrovnik, Split and Zagreb most.
The New York Times Travel Show is visited by more than 35,000 visitors who view the offer of more than 700 exhibitors from 175 countries around the world, making this fair the largest tourism fair in North America.
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