The decision to allocate HRK 10 million for marketing and PR activities abroad was adopted at the 49th session of the CNTB Tourist Council attended by Gari Cappelli, Minister and CNTB President, and Kristjan Staničić, CNTB Managing Director in addition to the Tourist Council members. The aforementioned refers to funds that shall be allocated for the organisation of promotional activities and events, media advertising, marketing projects with domestic and foreign tour operators and agencies, and workshops, trainings and presentations with domestic and foreign buyers in 16 outbound markets: Germany, UK, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovenia.
At the session, Mr Capelli emphasised the importance of cooperation between all tourism stakeholders concerning the realisation of the set goals. “We are all well aware that tourism is a dynamic business, trends tend to change, and we can face the challenges only by finding the solutions and working together. The manner in which Croatia is presented worldwide is important, and that is why we are allocating additional funds”, said Gari Cappelli, Minister of Tourism and added that a working meeting of all key stakeholders in the tourism system shall be held in Slavonia ahead of this year’s main season.
Mr Staničić emphasised the importance of promotional activities. “At the beginning of March, we are initiating the implementation of the first campaign for this year aimed at the promotion of the preseason that will take place until 15 April in 12 markets we consider key, among which is Germany, in which we have started a large-scale campaign on 11 German TV channels”, said Kristjan Staničić, CNTB Managing Director.
The session included the presentation of information on the current status of the outbound markets with emphasis on Slovenia, Italy and Germany since the directors of the CNTB representative and branch offices also attended the session. Metka Bradetić , Director of the CNTB representative office in Slovenia, said that the Slovenian market is promising in terms of planned arrivals, and that continuous efforts are being invested into developing promotional activities aimed especially at the promotion of Slavonia and health tourism.
Viviana Vukelić, Director of the CNTB representative office in Italy, said that the year is off to an active start. “It is important to monitor the market circumstances and react accordingly by implementing special campaigns. However, in terms of PR activities, it is key to make our country as recognisable and to be as active as possible, which we plan to do in accordance with the Operational Programme”, said Mrs Vukelić, while Romeo Draghicchio, Director of the CNTB representative office in Germany said that the market is promising in terms of planned arrivals since Germans value Croatia as a destination, and that the most intensive period in terms of booking is ahead.
The indicators concerning arrivals and overnight stays from the beginning of the year are positive and a slight growth trend in tourist traffic is visible. The e-Visitor system recorded 456 thousand arrivals, which is an 8 percent growth, and 1.2 million overnight stays, which is 3 percent more that the same period last year. Furthermore, the largest increase in the number of arrivals and overnight stays in January was recorded for Finland, Belgium, Sweden, followed by the Netherlands, Ukraine, Poland, Slovenia, UK and the remote markets of the People’s Republic of China, the USA and Canada.
