Bajs: 2008 a record year, in 2009 a fight for every guest

In Croatian tourism, 2008 saw record results, as evidenced by data from the Croatian National Bank indicating that in the first nine months of last year, tourism generated 6.8 billion euros, approximately 10 percent more than in the same period of 2007, said Tourism Minister Damir Bajs today.

With this financial result in the first nine months of 2008, the total foreign exchange income from tourism exceeded the 2007 level, which amounted to 6.7 billion euros, Minister Bajs stated at a press conference. He expects that the data for the fourth quarter of 2008 will also show good financial results for tourism and that the entire year of 2008 will exceed the projected 7.1 billion euros in tourism revenue. Bajs emphasized that with such financial results, tourism in 2008 accounted for 22 percent of the total GDP, marking tourism not only as a strategic branch of the Croatian economy but also as one of the most competitive Croatian activities. He reminded of numerous programs initiated by the Ministry of Tourism, highlighting that last year the Ministry allocated nearly 40 million kuna for support and co-financing various tourism projects.

Four important tourism laws were also adopted, three defining the status of tourist boards, and one regarding golf, which was included in last year’s work program. For 2009, Bajs announced that Croatia will compete for every guest based on quality, adding that there are currently no signs of reduced bookings from foreign markets, but more will be known in March when the season begins. He highlighted the primary goal for this year as repeating the results from 2008, which would be a significant success considering that this year is marked globally as very challenging and difficult for tourism due to the economic crisis. He expects that enhanced promotional activities, for which nearly three times more funds than last year are planned through cooperation between the private and public sectors, will contribute to tourism this year, amounting to 173 million kuna for advertising and other measures. He announced that at the end of this week, the first tranche of several tens of millions of kuna will be approved based on the competition for joint advertising with the private sector. (H)