Every community must decide for itself what and how much it wants from tourism and accordingly plan the space and necessary infrastructure, in which its residents, as well as the public and private sectors, must be involved, and the state is there to assist by co-financing projects, says Minister of Tourism Gari Cappelli.
Reflecting on this summer’s criticisms of tourism due to pressures on communal and other infrastructure caused by the arrival of more tourists than ever before to the Croatian Adriatic and questioning the guidelines for further development of domestic tourism, Cappelli stated that the only basis for this development should be a long-term sustainability model and quality.
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‘Due to potential needs for about 10 to 12 thousand new jobs in tourism next year due to the opening of new facilities and extending the season, we plan to organize job fairs in tourism by the end of this year, and possibly some bilateral agreements with neighboring countries regarding the potential need for importing labor for next year.’
– We now have rapid growth in the number of overnight stays and slower growth in revenue, and while some would like it to be different, there has been a certain ‘split’ and misunderstanding in some areas, whereby the local level should think more about this and determine tourism development so that both residents and tourists are satisfied. Without that, there is no success, Cappelli assessed in an interview for Hina.
He emphasized that long-term sustainable development is not a cliché, but a whole series of measures and standards promoted by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) that everyone who develops and plans tourism should implement.
He lists the main definitions of sustainable tourism development – destination management in cooperation with all who live and work there, the economic value of tourism, its socio-cultural impact, and its environmental impact, which he believes everyone in their communities should understand themselves, rather than being ‘advised from above’.
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For example, he states, the Ministry cannot accurately know how many tourists will come where, how much water is available in that place, or the capacity of power substations for electricity and other local details important for accommodating tourists.
– It is known that accommodation facilities, including private accommodation and large hotels with many stars, have been built in numerous places on the Adriatic, and this has often not been accompanied by the construction of public and other infrastructure. According to UNWTO, there are more than 100 parameters in a destination that need to be monitored every year for tourism to be sustainable. The island of Lošinj has managed this well, which it has applied, and Istria has been doing similarly for years, systematically and in synergy with everyone, Cappelli said.
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He adds that an increase in quality also brings higher prices, and thus consumption, especially since in Croatia, as he believes, there is room for this, as high quality already exists, and prices in many segments of tourism and hospitality are still lower than in competing countries.
He also announced that a stronger development of tourism is now following in the country’s continent, which is also in the Ministry’s program, and he hopes that this will be included in spatial and all other plans at the local levels.
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All these topics are discussed during field visits in the Adriatic and other regions. They emphasize that the Ministry and the state can define the guidelines for tourism development at the national level through strategies and similar documents and do a lot to relieve traffic, ferry, and other ports by expanding tourist traffic to the pre and post-season and to as many places in Croatia as possible, but what is important for each individual destination must be defined by itself.
– Certainly, better and higher quality organization of all processes is needed for the development and better management of tourism, and through the drafting of a new law on tourist boards, which is in process, regional and county tourist boards will be given more space for independent management and financing, as well as more money in the distribution from, for example, the residence fee than before, Cappelli said.
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– Due to potential needs for about 10 to 12 thousand new jobs in tourism next year due to the opening of new facilities and extending the season, we plan to organize job fairs in tourism by the end of this year, and possibly some bilateral agreements with neighboring countries regarding the potential need for importing labor for next year, as stability, timeliness of finding, and quality of labor also contribute to sustainable development and long-term success of tourism, concluded the Minister of Tourism.
