During the expert presentation held the day before yesterday as part of the Sports Conference at the Hypo Center in Zagreb, interesting views were presented regarding the development and future of sports tourism in Croatia.
The debate on the future of sports tourism was attended by Goran Šprem, former handball representative, Dalibor Bilić – Executive Director of Corporate and Sports Tourism at the tourism company Uniline, and Damir Čustonja – the head of the domestic student sports association.
During the presentation, it was highlighted, among other things, that sports tourism is one of the fastest-growing segments of the tourism offer, especially in the operations of specialized and large travel agencies. This significantly follows global trends according to which some countries, such as Turkey, have very effectively profiled and are now globally recognized in this segment of the offer.
Dalibor Bilić from Uniline pointed out an interesting observation that Croatia is already ready to reach the desired rank and become an elite destination for the preparation of athletes, sports clubs, and national teams. Moreover, in recent years, the tourist and sports infrastructure has reached a level that makes such a development highly possible.
Furthermore, he believes that in the coming years, primarily through quality cooperation among all tourism and sports entities as well as local and regional governments, and with the support of the Croatian Tourist Board and the Ministry of Tourism, this type of domestic tourism offer will achieve great success, thereby significantly complementing the domestic tourism offer and extending seasonality.
According to business plans and cooperation with key partners, such a development is possible within the next two to five years.
