The representative office of the Croatian Tourist Board in Italy has organised a traditional Christmas get-together with representatives of the Italian media. The special program was prepared in cooperation with the Istria Tourist Board in Milan at the premises of the Conde Nast cooking school, which includes the magazines Conde Nast Traveler, Vanity Fair, Vogue, GQ and La cucina Italiana.
The Christmas gathering was attended by more than 50 Italian journalists specialising in tourism, B2B and gastronomy, influencers and bloggers who had the opportunity to prepare traditional Croatian holiday dishes with an emphasis on the Istrian region. Consul General of the Republic of Croatia in Milan Stjepan Ribic also attended the event.
“A large number of Italian journalists, bloggers and influencers who attended today’s traditional Christmas gathering confirm the excellent market position of our country on the Italian market. We absolutely hit the mark with the prepared program that included a food and wine presentation, because gastronomy is one of the products that Italians, as great gourmets, pay a lot of attention to. There are also numerous Advent programs that will attract Italian guests to Croatian destinations during December, and we expect the continuation of the good trends during the next year as well.” said Viviana Vukelic, director of the HTZ Representative Office in Milan, adding that the presentation was also attended by former cyclist and well-known TV personality and influencer Ignazio Moser.
“We are pleased to have Istria present in this pre-holiday season in the capital of fashion, design, and world luxury brands. It is a European metropolis, the second largest city in Italy, its financial centre, the richest city, and that is why it was an exceptional opportunity for us to present ourselves to the Milan audience through our cuisine. Thanks to the initiative of the HTZ Representative Office in Milan, we organised a great Christmas cooking show that did not leave anyone indifferent, and as it is known that flavours are etched in the memory for a long time, I believe that this will be a trigger that will encourage the distinguished guests present at the ceremony to visit Istria already during the upcoming holiday festivities, given the richness of the hotel offer and the large number of colourful and fairy-tale Christmas markets throughout Istria.” said Marko Marković from the Istria Tourist BoRD, who awarded Domenico Carulli a gift voucher for a weekend in Istria as a thank you for more than 20 years of loyalty and summer vacations in Istria.
The gastronomic presentation was led by chef Goran Parapatić from the famous konoba Nono in Umag, and the menu included, among other things, carpaccio and tagliata from boškarin, pljukanci with boškarin, fuži with grouper, and Istrian pršut from OPG Jelenić from Žminja, as well as the prestigious extra virgin olive oil Mate and the wines of the famous winery Degrassi from Savudrija.
In Croatia, according to data from the eVisitor system, more than 920,000 arrivals and 4.1 million overnight stays have been made from the Italian market so far this year, which represents an increase of 112 percent in arrivals and 86 percent in overnight stays compared to last year. At the same time, Italians spent the most overnight stays in Istria, Kvarner and the Split-Dalmatia County, and in terms of destinations in Rovinj, Medulin, Novalja, Poreč and Mali Lošinj.
