Domestic Tourist Companies Turn to Google

All leading and most important institutions in Croatian tourism are collaborating with Google, which, following global trends, expects continued growth in demand for their services this year.

This was highlighted in an interview with Hina by Joško Mrndže, the director of Google for the Adriatic region, who added that in recent years they have recorded an increase in demand for Google services in Croatian tourism, which he considers a logical consequence of the tourism sector’s orientation towards the internet, and thus Google as the globally leading search engine.

In tourism, all channels and media provided by the internet are increasingly being utilized, not necessarily just advertising, as for most partners in the commercial sector, Google functions as a distribution and sales channel, and advertising is an integral part of better and stronger positioning of tourism products and services, emphasizes Mrndže.

This, as well as the general importance of having an online presence, is increasingly and better understood by the Croatian tourism industry, which, he believes, can greatly benefit from using Google services to strengthen competitiveness both in promotion and as a service to guests who have come to Croatia.

An example of this is the already launched services for navigation in Croatia such as Street View and Google Maps, as well as the Google AdWords tool, which helps hoteliers, renters, and other service providers to very precisely define target groups, specific cities, regions, or countries where they want to advertise with very measurable results and the possibility of calculating the return on invested capital.

Mrndže also notes that the presence of the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) as the umbrella national tourism institution on the internet and all other participants from the commercial sector contributes to the overall awareness of Croatia and its offerings leading to better recognition in global markets.

As the internet is very dynamic, he recommends that tourism companies have a quality and relevant website and continuously monitor trends, innovations, and user behavior, stating that globally 70 percent of all tourism searches begin on the internet, of which 60 percent are on search engines, primarily on Google, and that by the end of this year it is predicted that about 50 percent of all global internet connections will be via mobile devices (smartphones and tablets).

He considers this also as good guidelines for further actions of tourism companies and institutions, as in the long term, he says, it will not be enough to just have a website, but it needs to be adapted to the mobile search format.

Last year, there was a significant increase in the number of queries for Croatia on Google in the travel category compared to 2011, primarily from Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland, Italy, Austria, and France, and Mrndže believes that this growth in ‘Googling’ for Croatia will continue this year, linking it to the intensified online national tourism promotion by HTZ and services of the commercial tourism sector, as well as Croatia’s entry into the EU.