The third National Forum for Family Accommodation (FOS), which will be held from 15 to 17 November in Zadar, will bring together some 1,500 representatives of family accommodations from all over Croatia – becoming a meeting place for providers of tourist services in households, and for Croatian producers and suppliers of products and services for family accommodations.
“This year we have a different and innovative approach and we decided for the Forum to connect with the action HGK Buy Croatian – Croatian products for Croatian tourism”, said Director of Tourism for HGK Leila Kresic-Juric at a press conference on Nov. 4, reports HRTurizam.
On the same occasion, the President of the Community of Family Tourism for HGK, Nedo Pinezić, said: “The community of family tourism gathers micro-entrepreneurs in all forms of family accommodation in the tourism industry, in more than 80,000 households and 300,000 people working in this industry. This has a serious economic potential to boost economic growth and the employment of young people. “
The Forum will be focused on issues that need to be picked up at the national level, including: the flexibility of services in the business, the categorization and the introduction of national branding, the question of utility charges, and destination management. Family microentrepreneurs in tourism should also provide favorable financing, especially through HBOR.
“We want the host family accommodation to give concrete and effective tools to manage their business,” said Kresic-Juric, and announced the participation of the Minister of Tourism Gari Cappelli and head of the European Association of Family Accommodation, Carlos Villar Lassen, at the Forum.
“The Forum will bring together producers and consumers of Croatian products, for which there is a demand in family accommodation. For example, according to the survey, among the more than 700 small and micro entrepreneurs in this branch of activity, 35% were interested in the services of finance and insurance, with the same amount for garden furniture and equipment, 32% for expert consultation, 31% for products for decorating and refurbishment, 30% for furniture, 28% for textile products and so on. We have customers for high-quality Croatian products that are ready to immediately buy them,” said Pinezić, noting the intention of the community to become members of the European Association of Family Accommodation, which brings together 20 million tourist beds in Europe and is very influential in the European Commission.
“In the first ten months of 2016, according to E-visitor, Croatia recorded 81,000 household family accommodations, with 492,000 basic beds and 120,000 beds from other types of establishments, of a total of one million beds in commercial activities. During this period, 30 million tourist nights were recorded in family houses and 4.7 million arrivals,” concludes Iva Puđak Mihajlovic from the Croatian Tourist Board, and sponsor and partner of the Forum.
