Kristjan Staničić, CNTB: Where one invests in quality, there are no problems with achieving good results
This year, the fact that large destinations have higher tourist traffic, such as Zagreb and Split, came to the fore, said Kristjan Staničić, director of the Croatian Tourist Board. This year, he adds, there has been an increase in domestic guests in the pre- and post-season. There is also an increase in distant markets, the USA, China, Korea, Australia. The Minister of Tourism Gari Capelli, the director of the Croatian Tourist Board Kristjan Staničić, the director of the Zagreb Tourist Board Martina Bienenfeld, the president of the HGK Family Tourism Association Martina Nimac Kalcina and Sean Lisjak from the HGK Marina Association were guests at the Open. The structure of everything that is happening in both Zagreb and Croatia actually shows that we are not stagnant and that we have very good results so far compared to what we planned, said Martina Bienenfeld, director of the Zagreb Tourist Board. For Zagreb, we forecast growth of between 2 and 5 percent, Zagreb currently has 3% more arrivals and 4% more overnight stays, so we are at the level of Croatia, and Advent is yet to come. “About 33% had a better season, 33% the same, 6% said they had a great season. 25% said they had a worse one. This means that there was still a large occupancy, people were satisfied. As for those who had a 25% worse season, I think that there is a limit when a part of the renters has to ask themselves what they are doing wrong and why they were poorly filled in the peak season”, Said Kalcina. “The result is very clear. At the moment we have 4 percent more arrivals, 2 percent more overnight stays, but most importantly the financial results are better than last year. It is fiscalized that in catering services, accommodation services, agency services, even 13% more, and when we add this some average is about 8% more, about 600 billion and XNUMX million kuna is more fiscalized than last year”, Said the minister. The Minister supports everything that can make progress in tourism. In addition, he points out that one of the most important laws on tourist land will follow, which, he says, will be sent to the procedure very soon. It, he adds, enables over 3 billion of new investments, employment and what comes with it. “We can actually say that we are a destination of 365, and we record about 100 registered guests every month from the beginning of the year until the end, which is actually very good. In the summer months a lot more. For us, these are guests who continue their vacations in another destination in Croatia, but the rest of the year, these first six months and after, now what awaits us are guests who come to Zagreb on purpose because they discover the capital.She added. “Nautics does not have great challenges that it cannot cope with. What I always emphasize is that within some legal solutions to bring new preconditions for new steps in nautical as such, ie the marina where we will open the possibility of additional earnings. All our marinas are more or less adequately filled, 98% is the occupancy of marinas”, States Lisjak. In continental tourism, the increase in arrivals is 30%, the minister said. He points out that it is planned to invest 575 million kuna in tourism in five Slavonian counties. “Two important messages emerge: where there is investment in quality, there is no problem with selling capacity and achieving prices. And the second is the extension of the main tourist season to the pre-season and post-season, which is one of our strategic goals”, Said Stanicic. “After a few years, this year we are seeing an increase from Russia, Ukraine, France, Brazil. Thus, the World Cup affected the visibility of Croatia and the strengthening of the brand’s strength in the global emitting market. I think that the Croatian National Tourist Board, together with the ministry, thanks to our footballers for their success, used it well for promotional purposes.” Nautics is going in the direction we expected. With about 17 thousand berths for guests whose structure does not change so intensively, with all the investments that marina owners make, we achieve the results we have planned, claims Sean Lisjak, Association of Marina HGK. “But unlike Croatia, the structure of our guests is significantly different. The most numerous guests are from South Korea, the most numerous per night are guests from the USA. The Germans are traditionally second to us, however, the structure of our guests in the top ten are guests from all over the world, and the least actually European”, Explained Bienenfeld. As for small renters, the vast majority were well filled and this shows that there is still a great deal of interest in private accommodation. The information she receives about the season is positive, said Martina Nimac Kalcina, president of the Family Tourism Association. What was the highlight of the tourist season? Why did we have a slight minus in July and growth in August? Have we succeeded in striving to have tourism all 365 days a year? What do we do for promotion in our country and in the world? Are we threatened by competitors in the Mediterranean? What will the next season be like, will we lower prices and increase the salaries of employees in tourism? Do we have enough workers? All indicators show that we have planned well and with quality, the minister added. “There were about 800 more people in Croatia this year. I avoid those physical numbers, the financial results are important to me, which were very good. So we changed the laws, went to recategorization. Where there is investment, there are results – in campsites, hotels and private accommodation far greater occupancy. If I say that St. Peter in the woods villas with pool have 160 days occupancy I think I said it all. They are 50 km from the sea.” If we were to evaluate the tourist season by physical indicators and by what happened in July, it would be that something was wrong, however, nothing new is happening that has not happened before, commented the Minister of Tourism Gary Cappelli on the July minus . Source / photo: Croatian Radio and Television