Zadar quickly expects to open the newly reconstructed Duke’s Palace (Kneževe palače), and by summer the reconstruction of palace Cedulin should be completed. There are also plans for the arrangement of the city market, and the reconstruction of squares St. Francis and Three Wells (Trg Sv. France and Trg ti bunara).
Poslovni.hr reports on January 24, 2017 that Zadar County this year expects further growth in tourism with new investments in facilities, infrastructure, and amenities. But while investments aren’t all, in order for Zadar to become a desirable destination throughout the year, they will need to create experiences, said the director of the county Tourist Board Mihaela Kadija.
“Zadar County ended 2016 successfully, with 11.5 million overnight stays which is more than in the year before, and continued growth is expected this year which will certainly contribute to a number of investments in facilities, infrastructure, and amenities. We are looking forward to ivestments in existing hotels, camps, and other facilities in the private and public sector, including the promotion of other tourist communities in the county, support from travel agencies and other partners, education for family accommodation, and cooperation with the media, agents and others,” says Kadija.
Of the many projects, Kadija highlights the importance of creating experiences for tourists, which is the point of the many promotional materials from the Tourist Board of Zadar County. General brochures of the Zadar region and a number of newly issued brochures for products of special interest such as camping and active holidays are just some of the offers. For example, there are brochures to help you “Experience the Zadar Region” and even “Zadar Bike Magic” brochures to help you bike through the 96 tracks in the county that have a length of 3,200 kilometers.
Soon, trail tourism will even get a boost with the planning and production of the project Zadar Trail which will include walking trails for different groups as a promotion of rural tourism.
“The goal of all the activities is to present a differentiated offer of the Zadar region with products that have the greatest potential – such as outdoor / active and nautical, cultural and rural tourism – to which the common denominator is ‘experiential tourism’ for all. We look at the number of tourist niches, such as cycling tourism, as a prerequisite for year-round tourism which is independent of weather conditions, has good motives for the arrival of tourists, and is an opportunity for businesses to create value,” adds Kadija.
Since the accommodation offer of Zadar county ‘rests’ on family accommodation – which makes up 58% of the total accommodation and 43% of the total overnight stays – the county Tourist Board has launched a “Welcome” brochure with the same name, within which carries out marking quality or ‘labeling’ this type of accommodation.
“Family accommodation is strategically important for tourism, the economy, and the standard of people in the county, and that trend imposes the need for quality management. To differentiate between themselves and renters, we have created a trademark quality of this accommodation. We currently have over 120 club members in this segment, for which we have conducted training with further focus on their specialization for sub-brands for the offer of city, rural, family and bike.”
Noting that the Zadar County conducted numerous and various investments in tourism, Kadija named some of them, such as the Amusement Park Mirnovec on 45,000 square meters near Biograd, whose opening was announced for this season with an investment of 15 million euros, or that this year should also see the opening of the Almayer Art & Heritage Hotel on the Zadar peninsula.
British tour operator Neilson will be coming to the Bluesun hotel Alan in Starigrad and will specialize in active holidays which the hotel will offer from May to October. The Falkensteiner group in Zadar this year begins their camping business by investing in the reconstruction of the camp Borik. In June they will operate under the name Falkensteiner Premium Camping Zadar which will boast a five-star campsite with 323 pitches, 100 mobile homes, outdoor swimming pools and other facilities.
One of the best camping resorts in Croatia – Zaton Holiday Resort – will build two more golf courses for minigolf and feltgolf (a type of mini-golf), thus becoming a kind of Croatian miniature golf center. This year they will hold three major world sports events organized by the World Minigolf Federation and the Croatian miniature golf association.
Zadar also quickly expects the newly reconstructed Duke’s Palace, and by the summer the reconstruction of the palace Cedulin should be complete with modern multimedia facilities. In addition, there are plans for the arrangement of the city market, the reconstruction of the squares Sv. Frane and and Tri bunara, while the end of the year should should see the finish of the passenger terminal in the new port of Zadar Gaženica, in which close to 31 million euros was invested. This will be a new ferry port of Zadar which will have terminals for domestic ferry traffic and cruise ships on 24,000 square meters.
There are also investments by the Dogus group in Zadar to have first Hyatt hotel in Croatia – the Regency Zadar Maraska – which is worth about 100 million euros and should open in 2018. Autocamp Punta Nova in the municipality Povljana on the island of Pag will also see a 139.3 million kuna investment for a five-star campsite with 500 camping pitches and 85 camping sites, with four sanitary facilities and 250 mobile homes for a total of 2,200 people.
