Approved first 9.7 million kuna for joint tourism advertising

A special committee of the Ministry of Tourism and the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) today approved the first tranche of 9.7 million kuna for 29 out of 30 applications received from domestic and foreign travel organizers for the joint advertising competition of the public and private sectors announced at the end of last year, aimed at enhancing tourism promotion and the overall season this year.

The approved amount relates to two out of a total of five models for joint advertising, specifically the pooling of state funds with those of domestic and foreign travel organizers in the pre and post-season. A total of 21.3 million kuna of state funds is planned for these two models, meaning that 45.5 percent of these funds were approved today. Presenting the first results of the competition at today’s press conference, Minister of Tourism Damir Bajs expressed satisfaction with the response from the private sector, which will double the mentioned amount of the first tranche to 19.4 million kuna based on the joint advertising model (1+1).

Of the 29 approved applications, two-thirds were submitted by foreign organizers through domestic agencies, while the rest were submitted by domestic agencies themselves. Among them, as stated by the director of the HTZ Main Office Niko Bulić, are all the most significant market ‘players’, with the highest number of applications coming from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Austria, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Russia. Minister Bajs announced that he expects the first contracts for this first tranche with partners to be signed as early as next week, when the funds would be immediately approved.

He particularly emphasized that domestic travel organizers and agencies will immediately receive 50 percent of the contracted funds, with the remainder to be paid upon fulfilling all conditions. Foreign organizers can only receive this ‘advance’ through their Croatian partner agencies, he added. Given that the competitions for joint advertising are still ongoing (until January 21), Bajs expects a good response from partners for other models of this work, which will contribute to a solid tourism year in 2009 overall. He also announced that a new tranche of joint advertising funds will be approved on February 6. The Ministry and HTZ, or the state, has planned a total of 35.3 million kuna for all five models of joint advertising with the private tourism sector, tourist boards, and other economic entities for this year. (H)