Let the Ministers of Tourism and Construction Go to Italy to See How It’s Done

I read a post by Davorin Štetner on LinkedIn in which he asks, ‘Are we falling in tourism?’ and ‘Have we cut off the last branch we are sitting on?’. He states that while on vacation he contemplated our tourism and concluded that foreign tourists can be attracted if three main criteria are arranged (in order of importance): 1) beauty of the country/location, 2) service, and 3) price.

Štetner further explains that one negative criterion does not necessarily mean the demise of the tourist season, but two negatives are already a threat. Croatia has fallen on two criteria in recent years – service and prices. Prices are too high, and service, generally speaking, does not keep pace with their growth. However, I would, at least based on my own experience, highlight Istria and the Kvarner region, where service is at a higher level than in Dalmatia.

Tourists Are Not Fools

He goes on to provide a personal example where he experienced poor service, although I would like to point out (and I believe Štetner would agree) that there are certainly good examples of high service in Dalmatia, even though prices are indeed steep. But it was clear to all of us who were at our sea this year that restaurants were the first to be hit. They were unusually (half) empty, although a good connoisseur of Makarska’s tourist trends told me that there are about as many guests as last year, so apartment and hotel owners will not feel a significant drop. However, he adds, prices in restaurants have risen much more than accommodation prices, and the consequences are visible.

Still, my esteemed interlocutor shares the opinion that we are generally (including accommodation) too expensive for competitors, who offer high service at a lower price compared to that in Croatia. As one person said, why go to Croatia when in Turkey they almost carry you to the beach, and you pay less for all that.

Štetner continues: ‘Prices have skyrocketed, and service in most places has remained the same or has worsened. Tourists see this, and that is why I think we are not in a good position if we do not make radical turns. No one has a problem paying more for good service, but we are turning into a large deep fryer! Kudos to the few who strive, invest, and work towards excellence, but there are far too few of them. In the absence of skilled labor, the easiest solution is to hire a foreigner who has never seen a kitchen, train them in two or three days, and there you have it. That may have worked before, but today it is over. People are not fools…’

I would say that in this case, the owners of apartments, hotels, and restaurants are mostly to blame, and the state cannot do anything about it. Or perhaps it can through a media campaign suggesting to these businessmen to think about their future, because if they drive away guests with poor service and steep prices, it will take a long time to bring them back. However, there is one thing the state can positively influence (including local authorities), as our observer of Croatian tourism rightly fears that we could soon nullify the third criterion of tourism success – the beauty of the country/location. In other words, ‘we are on the path to losing both the first and most important – beauty – through wild, excessive concretization.’

How Italians Do It

Two weeks ago, I visited Apulia (Puglia), a region in southeastern Italy. I was in Bari, Alberobello, Monopoli, Matera, Polignano a Mare, and I also visited Ostuni, Locorotondo, and Martina Franca. I will not write to you about the beauties of these cities; anyone who goes will not regret it… But I want to say how the Italians have preserved their historical cores, even restoring some traditional houses and offering quality accommodation for the same price as in Croatia. They have not disrupted old places with concretization and the wildness of apartment complexes.

It’s not that there aren’t Italians who would do the same as Croatians, but the state and local authorities did not allow it. I remember when I enjoyed the beautiful panoramic view of Siena (Tuscany); the beautiful old buildings where people live stood out because the local government in that city prescribed how high buildings could be constructed. However, our state and local authorities do not care about that, even though they could do a lot there. That is why we are threatened with losing another asset – beauty.

POST SCRIPTUM

There is another seemingly insignificant beauty of Italy. Specifically, in the old town of Bari, you can often peek into someone else’s house while walking. On the ground floors, people open their doors wide while sitting at a table in the kitchen covered with a colorful plastic tablecloth, watching TV or, for example, a woman peeling potatoes. Or they bring chairs out in front of their apartment and chat with their neighbors in those narrow streets, laughing, making noise… They are very similar to Dalmatinians, only there is less and less of that in Dalmatia. For example, in Dubrovnik and Split, more and more locals are moving to the periphery and renting out their properties in the center to tourists.