For the first time ever, the Croatian Tourist Board organised the presentation of Croatian tourism in Australia. The presentation and the workshop were attended by 70 Australian tourist agents and seven largest tour-operators in Melbourne. It was organised together with the Tourist Board of Slovenia, under the title “Experience Croatia, Feel Slovenia”.
Kristjan Staničić, the Croatian Tourist Board’s director, commented on the event, saying that the number of people attending made everyone at HTZ very happy, as presentations and workshops are held so often. Last year, more than 243,000 people visited Croatia from Australia, which is a significant growth of almost 15 percent when compared to the year before. Australians visit Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Split the most, and those three destinations see almost 70 percent of all Australian arrivals.
But, HTZ presented Istria, Slavonia and other regions of Croatia in Melbourne as well. In 2019, the growth compared to the same period of 2018 is around 7 percent.
11 Croatian tourism organisations participated at the presentation and the workshop: The Dubrovnik-Neretva County Tourist Board, Rijeka – European Culture Capital 2020, Croatia Airlines, the City of Zagreb and the Dubrovnik region’s tourist boards, Katarina Line Cruises and Tours, Atlas Plus, Navigare Yachting, Bagatin Clinic, Aronda Adriana Travel, and Olivari. Four Slovenian partners were also there to present our neighbours.
Australians have been travelling much more lately, and many factors contribute to that: a strong Australian dollar, globalisation, which lead to lower airfare prices and made travelling to Europe simpler. They are known to be active and adventurous on their travels and stay in their European and American destinations for longer (which makes sense).
Most Australian tourists come from New South Wales, which is where the presentation is going next: after the first presentation in Melbourne, Croatian and Slovenian tourism will next be presented in Sydney on July 4th – it wouldn’t make much sense to make the journey just to have the one presentation!
Read more tourism stories on TCN Travel page.
