Minister of Tourism, Gari Cappelli, and Director of the Croatian National Tourist Board’s Head Office, Kristjan Staničić, presented the recent tourism figures on Tuesday.
In the first nine months of this year, some 18 million tourists visited Croatia, spending nearly 101 million overnight stays, which records a growth of 6 percent in visits and 4 percent in overnight stays compared to the same period last year. Considering the positive announcements thus far, Croatia can expect growth of 5 to 6 percent in 2018, reports HRT on October 9, 2018.
These figures were presented by Minister of Tourism, Gari Cappelli, and Director of the Croatian National Tourist Board Head Office, Kristjan Staničić, on Tuesday after the session of the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ), pointing out that in August, they increased tourist arrivals by almost 8 percent and overnight stays by almost 4 percent.
“The first days of October also show an increase over the same period last year, and we believe that by the end of the year, apart from the expected physical growth, we will note an increase of tourist revenues to a total of 12 billion euros from domestic and foreign tourists. That we are on the right track is confirmed by the results during the first six months of this year, when tourism revenues grew 10 percent,” Cappelli said.
Apart from the results of the current season, the HTZ Tourism Council’s meeting discussed the promotion for next year.
Cappelli reported that he would aim to gain a greater understanding of tourism and legal changes by the end of this year, and will organize several professional conferences in Croatia so as to approach the sector and the public as transparently as possible.
He announced that by the end of this year, the proposal for a law on tourism land is expected from the Government, as well as that a call for tenders for the development of a new tourism development strategy is expected soon, given that the current strategy is valid until 2020.
Staničić also pointed out that discussions on the framework of work programs and key activities of the Croatian Tourist Board for 2019 were discussed.
“More than we are currently promoting small and family hotels as a specific feature of Croatia’s offer, we have decided that the budget for joint advertising of the private and public sector for the next year amounts to HRK 26 million,” he said, highlighting that the tender for this advertising is already in progress and will run until October 15th.
Staničić also said that we have seen growth in all key markets this year and that will continue to expand activities in all markets in 2019, and continue to promote Slavonia next year.
