HTZ: Entry into the Football World Cup Final Contributes to Country Promotion

Croatia is in the spotlight of the global public due to its entry into the final of the Football World Cup, which contributes to the promotion of the entire country and tourism, and the effects of additional promotional activities are already visible in significant increases in website views and the profiles of the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ) on social media, according to the director of the HTZ Main Office, Kristjan Staničić.

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“Croatia’s entry into the Football World Cup final is a historic result that has ‘echoed’ around the world, and it has also contributed to an increase in visits to the HTZ website by more than 250 percent compared to the same period last year. The highest traffic to the site came from the markets of Italy, the USA, Russia, India, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Poland, and the Netherlands,” states Staničić.

He also emphasizes that audiences worldwide have warmly received the new, shortened version of the HTZ promotional video “Ambassadors of Croatian Tourism” (featuring Croatian athletes and artists), in which only footage of Croatian football players has now been retained.

Staničić reveals that during HTZ’s mini-campaign on its YouTube channel on Wednesday, the day of the semifinal match, this shortened version of the video was viewed more than 250,000 times in a few hours before and after the match, while after Croatia’s victory and entry into the final, the views of that video increased by a total of 161 percent.

On the social network Facebook, this video achieved nearly 75,000 views during and after the match, while posts on HTZ’s global page on that network were seen by more than several million people.

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The visibility of HTZ’s posts reaching a million people in one day was also achieved on Instagram, where, as on Twitter, HTZ has been posting in recent days and weeks, following all the matches of the Croatian national team with two-way communication with numerous fans around the world.

On Twitter, for example, there were over 2 million impressions and more than a thousand congratulatory messages and support notes, and many celebrities from around the world, including numerous actors like Russell Crowe, also reached out via that network.