December 5, 2019 – Dubrovnik tackles the winter blues with restaurant promotions, seasonal flights, and a packed winter program for guests.
HRTurizam reports that given the increasing number of international and domestic flights during the winter months and the interest and increase in the number of visitors, this winter, the Dubrovnik Tourist Board prepared promotional activities and printed a monthly leaflet “Winter restaurants” containing a list of open restaurants, pizzerias, and fast food during December. The leaflet includes special working hours, so that guests are as informed as possible and that outdoor restaurants are better promoted.
The Tourist Board also conducted a Facebook campaign in a dozen foreign markets with the most significant number of guests coming to Dubrovnik during the winter months, as well as locally for visitors located in Dubrovnik.
The leaflet can be downloaded at the Tourist Board website, at the Tourist Information Offices of Pile and Gruz, and in all open Dubrovnik hotels. You can see the leaflet here.
Furthermore, during the 2019/2020 winter season, the Adriatic pearl will be connected with the most foreign destinations so far, seven in particular.
Thus, Croatia Airlines, in addition to its scheduled flights to Zagreb, will run a connection from Frankfurt, British Airways from London, and Vueling from Rome and Barcelona. For the second time in the winter, LOT will connect Dubrovnik and Warsaw, Aegean Airlines from Athens, while Turkish Airlines will continue to operate from Istanbul.
Of course, content must be the primary motive for arrivals. Thus, the City, the Tourist Board, and the Dubrovnik Summer Festival have prepared a cultural, entertainment, gastronomic, and music program for visitors of all ages as part of the sixth edition of the Dubrovnik Winter Festival, which will run until January 6, 2020.
This year, the City decided to reduce the public area for catering tables and chairs by 10% for all facilities that use 25,00 m2 or more. Also, the lease term of public areas has increased to 5 years, which will certainly bring some security to Dubrovnik caterers.
To prolong the tourist season, the City has also proposed a measure that should encourage restaurant owners in the Old Town to work in the winter months.
Following the new amendments to the Decision on the lease of public spaces in Article 6, a paragraph on rent exemption for caterers in the Old Town has been added if the caterers operate in the winter months.
The measure refers to a rent exemption for caterers predominantly serving meals (restaurants, taverns, pizzerias) in the historic core, if they carry on with their business from December 1, 2019, to February 29, 2020.
Goran Rihelj writes that this Dubrovnik winter story is finally meaningful and connected, but there is still a lot of room for growth. This is only the first step and a prerequisite for strategic development and therefore long-term success, since tourism and the concept of the destination are much more than accommodation and restaurants.
A well-rounded tourism product and strategic development is the only real path to sustainable development; a term Croatia is just discovering and learning. Rihelj adds that in the 21st century, everything is available to us, we have all the potential, preconditions and resources, and it is up to us to connect all the dots and tell our authentic story. While everyone is fighting for every tourist, both globally and in a strong and competitive European market, those who are innovative, creative, proactive and are primarily concerned with market development will prevail.
Rihelj continues that supporting Dubrovnik is the first step towards a complete story, but the real work is just beginning – from the website to expand the tourist offer to the entire Dubrovnik area through integrated tourist products. In particular, Peljesac, for example, has and offers excellent facilities and products that chronically lack in the Dubrovnik tourist offer, and which complement each other perfectly. That is why, Rihelj adds, that Dubrovnik should use its media and financial power to promote and develop the wider area, not just itself. That is where the winning formula lies in how to extend the number of days guests stay in Dubrovnik or Dubrovnik-Neretva County, as tourist spending increases and, most importantly, offers quality and authentic content to guests. Content that directly affects the guests’ level of overall satisfaction with the destination.
Rihelj concludes that we have high expectations from Dubrovnik as Croatia’s top destination, which has to be one of the signposts for how and in what direction Croatia develops. Dubrovnik must be a leader in tourism.
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