An Individual Approach to Every Guest is the Key to Success in Tourism

The era of mass tourism has passed, when tourists fell like manna from heaven, and it is time to use all the knowledge we have gained and unite all our resources from the production of organic food, textiles, and other industries, and approach each guest individually and with gratitude.

This was concluded by the panelists of the fifth Entrepreneurial Café, held via the ZOOM application this Thursday on the topic – tourism after the pandemic. 

Davina Ljubičić Đirlić from Heritage Hotel FERMAI shared her experience of making quick decisions and adapting to frequent changes in market competition. Heritage Hotel Fermai has recently become part of the exclusive Accor MGallery boutique hotel collection, a leading global hospitality group based in Paris,  but that has not helped them solve the problem of the “short season in Croatia, especially without guests from distant countries like the USA, Australia, and China.”

– Guests seek a break from reality and an escape into travel; they want normalcy and relaxation and view our country as one that can provide them with isolation through heritage hotels,  a villa in the hinterland, or a boat just for them,” Davina emphasized, adding that this year should be better than the previous one and that these unfortunate events in Eastern Europe have taught us to be cautious as tourism is a fragile industry sensitive to all changes.

The key figure of the Etnoland Dalmati theme park in Pakovo Selo, Joško Lokas, commented with a smile that the pandemic has taught all entrepreneurs what our fixed costs are and that 2020 represented an accelerated finance course for everyone in tourism. 

He believes that we have all learned a lesson from these pandemic turbulences – we have become more modest and welcome every guest with gratitude. He is also satisfied with the change in trends, stating: ‘Once tourism was directed towards the sea, everything was concentrated along the coast or on the islands, and for some time now, tourism has been intensively developing in the Dalmatian hinterland. People wanted to isolate themselves and be far from the crowds.’

The third panelist, Miroslav Jeličić-Purko, president of the Supervisory Board of Stanovi Jadran d.d., spoke about the opening of the luxury heritage hotel Armerun on the Šibenik waterfront amid the corona crisis, emphasizing how we have unjustly neglected neighboring markets for years, such as the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary.

– Obviously, we have forgotten that they surpassed us long ago in GDP and purchasing power, making us a cheap destination for them that they could reach by car, especially at a time when almost all air transport was halted,” said Jeličić-Purko.

He sees potential in digital nomads, of whom there are more and more in the world, noting that they are no longer just people from the IT sector, but also writers, journalists, and many artists who seek a pleasant environment and good internet for their temporary residence.

– The maps of the world in tourism will be red or green, depending on the vaccination rate of the population. Croatia is currently at 55%, while competing countries like Portugal are at 85%, and thus we will be a poorly ranked region –  Jeličić-Purko emphasized.

A major problem, according to him, is also the lack of workforce, especially considering that 11 million people in tourism lost their jobs, “and we could not find workers anywhere during the season.”

All panelists concluded that we must change ourselves for the betterment of all.

The moderator of the webinar, Krešimir Budiša, director and founder of UHY Consulting and STech Accelerator, concluded that tourism, although sensitive to changes on a global level, is a very resilient branch of the economy that recovers quickly and gets back on its feet. He wished the participants a successful and as long a season as possible and announced a new webinar scheduled for March 8 on the topic of Women in Entrepreneurship.

This was the fifth of a total of eight free online panels as part of the project “STech Standard – Entrepreneurship at Your Fingertips,” realized with funds from EU sources, aimed at organizing gatherings of experienced entrepreneurs and those who wish to become one to exchange experiences and provide advice to avoid beginner mistakes.