July 20, 2019 – How does the perception of Croatia as a good value destination for British visitors compare with its competition. A new survey featured in the Daily Mail has more.
Perception is everything in the modern age, and in order to best understand where Croatian tourism stands in relation to its competition, getting an understanding of how Croatia is being presented to would-be tourists is essential for our tourism chiefs.
And it doesn’t look good…
One of the most read English-language media in the world with 53 million unique visitors a month, has published a price comparison for a family holiday for ten popular destinations, seven of which are in Europe.
And Pula, Croatia is the most expensive of all.
It is also the only destination where prices increased.
In fact, last year, according to the survey by M&S Bank, Pula was cheaper than four of the European destinations mentioned.
Not any more.
As prices have gone down elsewhere – more than 20% in the Algarve, according to the survey – prices went up in Croatia.
You can read the article and the methodology here. For me the stand out sentence was:
Bulgaria and Turkey benefit from both affordable accommodation and low-cost options for eating out.
So if the Croatian tourism strategy is to pack people in with its sun and sea offer, the perception for Daily Mail readers is that there is much better value elsewhere.
Reduce the VAT on restaurants, I hear you cry. And you are correct.
But isn’t the problem a little deeper than that?
Croatian tourism needs a reset, at least in my opinion. Here is how I would do it.
