HTZ Acknowledges Crisis in Tour Operator and Emitting Markets

Although satisfied with the results of the tourist season in the first eight months, members of the Council of the Croatian Tourist Board expressed concern at Tuesday’s meeting about the situation in the emitting markets – Germany, Italy, and the UK, which have recorded stagnation or a decline of up to 20 percent this year.

Croatia has reportedly met forecasts, with a two percent increase in the number of tourist arrivals and seven billion euros in revenue, although final results will be known after the end of the post-season. Council member and CEO of Poreč Riviera, Veljko Ostojić, emphasized that Istria, as the most visited Croatian region, did not experience the peak season in August, as it has in recent years, indicating a shortfall of Italian tourists during the feragoste.

– The next season will be even more complex, and additional efforts are needed to define the situation in our most significant markets. We must anticipate economic and tourism trends in those countries and consider redefining sales channels. Some markets cannot be replaced by others, – Ostojić pointed out. He added that hotel revenues are increasing due to capacity renewal, but their costs have risen by 35 to 40 percent this year as a result of rising energy and food prices.

With rising costs, hoteliers have also increased their prices, leading to a crisis in negotiations with tour operators who do not accept their pricing policy and are terminating contracts. Minister of Tourism Damir Bajs emphasized that Croatia will have six new five-star hotels and 18 four-star hotels next year, and that this year, 5.5 billion kuna has been invested in the hotel sector alone. He added that stagnation in the growth of tourist numbers is also being recorded by competing countries such as Greece, France, and Spain.

HTZ Director Niko Bulić announced a forecast for next year of a two percent increase in physical traffic and a three percent increase in financial revenue, which would mean that Croatia would earn around 7.3 billion euros in revenue from this season. Bulić presented the Council members with a proposal for the HTZ Work Program for 2009, the biggest novelty of which is the redistribution of funds from traditional to online advertising. The budget of the national promoter of Croatia amounts to 238.5 million kuna (10 million more than last year), of which 10 million kuna will be allocated for online promotion, eight more than before.

A special e-marketing service will also be established within the HTZ system. HTZ will participate in 10 fewer fairs than last year, and at the existing ones, it will modernize the visual appearance of the stands, which have been criticized as uninventive and unattractive.
– We have also reduced funds allocated to CNN and Eurosport, and in addition to these two, we will advertise on BBC World and Euronews.

We are also introducing new brochures for rural tourism, spa and wellness offerings, and hunting, and we will save about one and a half million kuna on the organization of Croatian Tourism Days, which we will now do with partners HGK and HRT, – concluded Bulić.
A summary of the Croatian tourism marketing plan strategy for 2008-2012 was also presented to the Council on Tuesday; however, due to delays in its finalization, funds for marketing tools recommended by the Strategy were not included in the HTZ business plan, so they will only be incorporated into HTZ’s work next year.  (Željka Laslavić)