180 Applications Received for the Director Positions of 10 Foreign Offices of HTZ

A total of 180 candidates applied for the positions of ten directors of foreign offices of the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ), it was stated on Wednesday at a press conference at the Ministry of Tourism.

The Director of the HTZ Main Office, Kristjan Staničić, said that the decision on the selection of directors will be made in the next two to three weeks, emphasizing that there is a significant amount of work ahead in processing the applications. He also noted that the greatest interest has been shown for the director position in Italy.

>>>HTZ Announced Competitions for Directors of 10 Foreign Offices

Of the total number of candidates, nine arrived after the application deadline, and four were submitted in a manner not prescribed by the competition. The selection committee is currently evaluating all applications and will conduct interviews with candidates, after which they will provide a proposal for appointments to the HTZ Tourist Council.

The competition lasted two weeks and ended at the end of August. Both HTZ and the Ministry of Tourism are pleased with such a large number of applications, stating that it demonstrates significant interest in these positions.

They did not disclose details about the applicants, but they believe that reviewing the documentation and applications will confirm their expectations that candidates for these positions will be professional, educated, and proactive individuals who will implement an active promotional policy in all 10 offices, in line with the goals of Croatian tourism policy.

A Three-Year Mandate

Competitions were announced for all HTZ offices whose directors’ employment contracts expire in September this year. These include the directors of offices in Italy (currently Branko Curić in Milan), France (Danijela Mihalić Đurica in Paris), Poland (Bojan Baketa in Warsaw), Benelux (Ivan Novak in Brussels), and Germany (including the director of the office in Frankfurt, Romeo Draghicchio, and the head of the branch in Munich, who is currently absent).

Directors are also sought for offices in Russia (currently Rajko Ružička in Moscow) and the USA (Ina Rodin in New York), as well as in Hungary (Marin Skenderović in Budapest) and Slovakia (Nora Henterova in Bratislava), where the offices are currently managed by office heads without the status of directors appointed by the HTZ Tourist Council.

According to the competition conditions, interested candidates must have completed a specialist graduate professional or graduate university study, at least three years of work experience in tourism and/or marketing, actively know one world language, and know another language or the language of the country where the director’s duties are performed, as well as submit at least one written recommendation from previous employers.

>>>HTZ’s Promotional Campaign Will Unite the Private and Public Sectors

They must also be familiar with the tourism market for which the office or branch is responsible, have passed a professional exam for working in a tourist office, and if they do not have it, they must pass it within one year of starting work. They are also expected to submit a work program for the office or branch for the next calendar year.

Candidates had to send their applications exclusively to the email address specified in the competition, as applications received in any other way, as well as those incomplete, unclear, and submitted after the deadline, will not be considered.

Directors of offices and branch heads will be appointed for a three-year mandate, with the note that HTZ reserves the right to change the city of the office/branch headquarters during the mandate period.