The Association of Croatian Travel Agencies (UHPA) in its response today to media reports about the restructuring of the adriatica.net group emphasized that the involvement of companies predominantly owned by the state in this process could raise many doubts about transparency and the freedom of market competition, even if there is a justified business interest.
In UHPA’s response, or rather its Management Board, it is stated that the Ministry of Tourism and the Croatian Government must not ‘pressure’ state companies in this regard, adding that travel agencies, members of UHPA, justifiably wonder whether they can also expect the same form of support if they find themselves in a similar position as adriatica.net. They also consider it inappropriate to declare only one group of travel agencies ‘of special state interest’, namely those that have evidently been brought into this situation by poor decisions of their management.
They do not support the concept of relying on a single national tour operator, whoever that may be, as it not only makes no sense due to the risks it brings but is also not in line with the strategic direction of creating a larger number of destination management companies. Assessing that the adriatica.net group does not have the importance in the market that is attributed to it in the media, UHPA notes that its members account for the vast majority of inbound and outbound traffic of travel agencies in Croatia (not specifying how much), and that even in the event of failure in the recapitalization of the adriatica.net group, they are capable of dealing with all the challenges that lie ahead of them. (H)
