The tourism offer of Klis District makes its way into more tourism agencies programmes
On the tourism development of Klis District and envious results of the tourism season, we spoke with Tonči Glavina, director of the Entrepreneur Incubator Klis, published in Dalmacijanews.hr on September 29, 2016.
“The development of a tourism destination truly is a long term and arduous job. We were quite aware of this in Klis District when we decided to systematically develop tourism and create a destination some three years ago. Besides the ancient Klis fortress, Klis District three years ago had no tourism infrastructure, not a single tourism product, practically no accommodation. The only tourist arrivals were day guests at the Klis fortress, around 10.000 annually. At that point we had only 200 overnight stays in the district annually. Due to a practically inexistent accommodation offer and relatively small number of businesses in the district, income from tourism fees and accommodation tax were negligible,” said Glavina.
“In three years, with the synergy effect of Klis District, Entrepreneur Incubator Klis and Tourism Board we have built the foundations of a tourism destination that is already giving promising results. In cooperation with Split-Dalmatia County and Conservation Institute, over four million Kuna have been invested from EU funds into Klis fortress. Over 200 km of new cycling trails have been opened in the district.”
“Through the Klis Cultural Summer, active tourism and Christmas Advent many interesting performances and events were organised. Klis gastronomy, most known for the Klis lamb, is today represented through many tourist tours and manifestations. Instead of standard ways of promoting a destination, tourism of Klis District was presented to the world and tourists for the most part through joint advertising, digital marketing and specialised portals in foreign languages. Currently we are working on two projects whose goal is additional development and presentation of the destination, the construction of the Interpretation Centre Klis and new access road to the Rajčica well in Nisko. Both projects are co-financed with funds and external finances from the Tourism Ministry to Agriculture Ministry and Rural Development Fund.”
“With the revitalisation of Klis valley we are trying to create conditions for the development of agro tourism. In the end, our goal is for the development of the public tourism infrastructure to be matched by the development of private tourism infrastructure. This is happening today as in Klis District we have over 20 accommodation facilities which are predominantly attractive villas, with several due to open for next season. In the development strategy of Klis District we have planned a hotel construction in Klis which we hope will be opened in the next several years. From the starting 200 overnight stays in 2013, in 2016 (to this date) we have over 5.000 overnight stays. We hope to grow in this rate in the future. From 10.000 sold tickets at the Klis fortress three years ago we have grown to over 30.000 this year.”
“All this motivates us to work harder to make Klis District recognisable as the new tourism star in Dalmatia’s sky,” concluded Glavina.
