The 101st meeting of the Board of Directors of the European Travel Commission (ETC), the most important and oldest international tourist association in Europe, was held today in Dubrovnik. The topics of the meeting included, among other things, the presentation and analysis of the achieved tourist results at the European level in this tourist season, as well as the analysis of ETC marketing activities and market research.
The Minister of Tourism and Sports Nikolina Brnjac addressed the audience with a video message, while the meeting was opened with an introductory speech by the President of ETC Luís Araújo from Portugal, who expressed gratitude and satisfaction for the excellent reception in Dubrovnik and Croatia.
“In these circumstances and times, the most important thing for us is to open tourism and countries, and that was main focus of this meeting. I notice better and better tourism trends, tourism is recovering, but we still have to reach the results from 2019, which was a record year for many European countries. We exchanged our experiences and knowledge, and Croatia is a great example of how to react in these circumstances”, said Araújo.
As part of the presentation and analysis of tourism results at the European level, the Director of the Croatian National Tourist Board and ETC Vice President Kristjan Staničić addressed the audience, emphasizing that this year Croatia is significantly closer to the results achieved in record and pre-pandemic 2019. “Thanks to ETC for choosing Croatia to host this meeting. It confirms and recognizes the excellent results achieved this year, but also in the past year, in very challenging circumstances. Our country is among the most successful in Europe in terms of achieved tourism results, which is the success of the entire tourism sector, but also the Government of the Republic of Croatia. We are currently at about 77 percent of the results achieved in the same period in 2019. We will follow new trends and adjust our activities to be even more successful in the future", said Director Staničić, adding that the continuation of good tourist trends in the country is expected during the off-season.
The meeting was also attended by ETC Executive Director Eduardo Santander, Magda Antonioli from Italy, also an ETC Vice President, as well as representatives of national tourism organizations of the following countries: Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Slovakia, Monaco, Montenegro, etc.
“Our main task is cooperation and coordination, and the foundation of all our activities is research and knowledge exchange. Society is changing and we in tourism must adapt to these changes and trends. Croatia and Spain cannot be directly compared, there are certain differences, but we must all work together because only in this way can we all be even better and more successful together", concluded Santander.
It is important to note that the ETC was founded in 1948 with its headquarters in Brussels, and in addition to national European tourism organizations, it also brings together associate members from the private sector, i.e. agencies, carriers and other tourism service providers. The main goal of the ETC is to improve tourism policies at the level of the European Union and to further promote Europe as the world's leading tourist destination.
