[Business Travelogue] How the Split Agency Calvados Club Prepares the Ground for a Successful Tourist Season

A great adventure in the western Balkans, a wine tour with tastings in Pelješac, tasting oysters near Ston, a route from the Alps to the Mediterranean, diving in the Dubrovnik archipelago, private truffle hunting in Istria, is just a small part of the offer of the Split travel agency Calvados Club, specialized in luxury and experiential tourism. Attractive tours to renowned and hidden destinations in the region have successfully attracted overseas guests with deeper pockets for 21 years, and judging by tourist reviews on the internet, there are none who, after that experience, did not wish to return and, perhaps even more importantly, recommend to friends to travel with the Split agency that leaves nothing to chance.

Calvados Club was founded in 2001 by Tomislav Milinović, 'runaway' from the unromantic world of commerce who began traveling the world as an undergraduate in business management and over time turned a great passion into a big business. Today, the agency is among the leading companies in the luxury and experiential tourism segment, which is based on creating luxury programs tailored to the client. It is a member of prestigious global associations such as Virtuoso and Travel Leaders, and has won many Croatian awards such as the Golden Kuna, Tourist Flower, and Business Rise, as well as foreign recognition awarded to it by Virtuoso in 2019 for the best DMC (Destination Management Company) in the world.

Business Results Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

In 2019, they achieved the best business result in the company's history with a revenue of almost 65 million kuna and a gross profit of 9.4 million kuna. The growth and development of the company that they planned on the wings of those results was disrupted by the pandemic. In 2020, their revenues plummeted to 6.6 million kuna, and they operated with a loss of 1.2 million kuna. Although this is a drastic decline, the result is actually decent when considering that their guests generally do not come from Europe, but their main markets are the USA, Canada, Brazil, and Australia.

– In 2021, business revenues were slightly over 45 million kuna, and the expected gross profit is 6.6 million kuna, which is actually 68 percent of the pre-pandemic revenue of 2019. We are very satisfied with the achieved results, especially considering the entire issue of travel during the pandemic – emphasizes the founder and CEO of Calvados Club.

He also explains that the pandemic particularly affected tourism companies that worked with overseas guests because they have to plan their travels significantly in advance.

– Numerous factors were not on our side: constant uncertainty about the possibility of traveling or returning to their country, unstable flight schedules, and clients' distrust in paying for trips in advance are just some of them. Two out of five key markets were completely closed for business in 2021. Epidemiological measures prevented Australians from traveling to Europe, and Croatia did not allow entry to Brazilian citizens – says Milinović, who expects a revenue growth of 25 percent this year compared to 2019. This is an optimistic but cautious forecast as the current Year-to-Date indicators are significantly above those plans.

Success Does Not Come Easily, It Must Be Prepared

The fuel for optimism is also the fact that millennials and members of Generation X have embraced the 'new normal' in the travel process. However, boomers are hesitant and still approach it with a degree of caution. Thus, business results will depend precisely on them. Calvados has therefore focused on adapting to this generation, simplifying booking processes, cancellation conditions, and in collaboration with insurance companies, secured their investments.

A strong recovery does not leave anything to chance, especially when the planned annual revenue growth rate is at least 20 percent per year. To achieve these results, the most investment will be made in networking, digitalization, education, and marketing, and this year alone, the agency will participate in eight of the most significant global luxury tourism fairs. Their goal is to strengthen competitiveness and increase market share in targeted international markets by participating in these fairs, and significant funds for this have been secured from European funds.

– In addition to maintaining our position as a leader in the North American markets, our goal this year is to reaffirm the Australian and Brazilian markets, and the focus is on finally entering the Middle Eastern market. We have been working on that project for several years. We have prepared for the special requirements of clients from that market and adapted our experiential programs to them. We expect good business results this year from that, for us, new market – said Milinović, whose team used the two pandemic years for activities for which there is never enough time in normal times – they worked on online education for their foreign partners, developed new products, and as always, promoted Croatia as a destination for luxury and experiential tourism.

Calvados has 24 employees, and now two new jobs have been opened. During the pandemic, no one lost their job, and the number of employees even increased, which the director is extremely proud of because he considers his team, as he says, capable, educated, and motivated young people who can achieve great things, to be the greatest achievement. Although bitter, the pandemic experiences did not shake them. The company, having learned from the experience of the great global economic crisis of 2007 and 2008, has already learned to plan and manage crisis situations.

– This pandemic was a challenge for which we were quite prepared. We had our own capital that allowed us to weather a longer period of business inactivity. Additionally, we must not overlook the support from Croatian institutions, which significantly contributed to reducing losses. We greatly appreciate that, and it gives us confidence that doing business in Croatia does not necessarily have to be challenging – concludes the Split entrepreneur, who is currently closely monitoring reservations and, after the stormy sea, looks forward to business calm.

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