New leadership for the active members of the adventure tourism community.
“Adventure tourism is one of the key segments of tourism which contribute to the development of the pre and post-season. All the input we receive through the activities of the Adventure Tourism Community (ZPT) are important to recognise actions necessary for the development of the Community, and information from the field is also crucial in our negotiations with state institutions in order to secure the conditions for unencumbered development of this propulsive form of tourism,” said Antonia Urlić, director of the Tourism Sector of the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK) during the opening of the plenary and election session of the Adventure Tourism Community of HGK.
As the previous leadership’s mandate expired, a new one was chosen at the session. Iva Bencun, a representative of the companies Feral Tours and Zadar Outdoor, both based in Zadar, was elected as the new President of ZPT, while her deputy will be the previous President, Laura Popovac, director of the VMD Adventure Travel agency. New members of the Community by region and activity were also elected.
“We thank you for the trust vested in us and hope we will cooperate well. It is in my interest, as it is in the interest of all of us, for adventure tourism to be developed in the direction of global trends, in which this form of tourism has shown growth rates of up to 65%. I am personally convinced this sector has a great future and further potential,” said Bencun.
Popovac congratulated her successor and pointed out that it’s important for the Community to be dynamic and include as many people as possible.
“A good example is the cooperation on the Tourism Services Law which defines the conditions of work in adventure tourism, where members of the Community worked with the Tourism Ministry intensively since 2012. Our proposals were mostly adopted, which shows the strength of this Community and its members. An expert committee with HGK, appointed by the Minister, will determine which certificates are necessary to perform certain activities. HGK will also determine special conditions for individual activities of active or adventure tourism, as well as for manifestations with such activities,” said Popovac.
Some of the topics included long term education undertaken by HGK together with the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, with over 200 participants completing the courses this year, then a specialised education held in cooperation with the largest association of adventure tourism ATTA, followed by an announcement of the continued promotional activities for adventure tourism in 2018.
