If you believe our National Tourist Board, Croatia will waste your time
Language is a beautiful thing, but one slip up and it can get you into some very stormy waters. Croatian National Tourist Board got a taste of what happens when you don’t think before you type on February 15, 2016. What seemed to them as just another Facebook post promoting the breathtaking natural riches of Croatia became one of the most embarrassing public moments HTZ’s had in a while (and trust me, they’ve had quite a few, especially when it comes to Twitter language bloopers). So, what’s all the fuss about? Take a look at this screenshot and you’ll be able to figure it out for yourself in under 3 seconds.
Croatia will waste your time!
Deciding which of the 8 national park is your favorite 🙂#CroatiaFullOfNature pic.twitter.com/mB7SzjL9vY— Croatia Full of life (@Croatia_hr) February 15, 2016
To make matters worse, the very same post was published on their facebook page too, so now over 1 million followers know that the people we pay handsomely to promote our country can’t write a simple sentence in English. Even worse, those who have never visited before might even think Croatia will waste their time (and money). As a tourist, how would you react to following sentence: Before you visit Croatia you should know…Croatia will waste your time…Deciding which of the 8 National parks is your favorite!????
Before you visit Croatia you should know…Croatia will waste your timeDeciding which of the 8 National parks is your favorite!#CroatiaFullOfNature
Posted by Croatia Full of life on Monday, 15 February 2016
It didn’t take long for the comments to start flooding in and for the national media to cover the new HTZ blooper. Here are some of the comments from their Facebook followers:
It’s now been 5 hours since the posts went live and we are yet to hear a single word from HTZ. An apology, maybe even comment on it being a joke, some sort of a reaction. But we got nothing, nada, zilch. It is obvious they know they made a mess of things because some comments on their Facebook page have been erased but they should have at least taken the effort to say oops..our bad. However, let’s look at the bright side – HTZ has been talking about a viral campaign for years and they finally have one. Now if they could only figure out how to produce a positive one, we’d be golden!
Best comment of the day came from the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service
Dear tourists, #Croatia is #fulloflife, and we will not waste your time. On the contrary, We will save your life!… https://t.co/j9RBapvh2g
— Hrvatska GSS (@HrvatskaGSS) February 15, 2016
Screenshots: Croatia Full of Life Twitter and Facebook
HGSS Twitter
