PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS doo - American Chamber of ...
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS doo - American Chamber of ...
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS doo - American Chamber of ...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
16<br />
<strong>American</strong> <strong>Chamber</strong> <strong>of</strong> Commerce in Croatia YEARBOOK 2010<br />
Don Hudspeth, Vice Chair<br />
<strong>American</strong> College <strong>of</strong> Management and Technology<br />
Mission statement:<br />
• act as a private sector, multi-disciplined interest<br />
group that can provide balanced support for<br />
local and national government tourism agencies in<br />
Croatia<br />
• to serve as a consultative body as required by<br />
those agencies<br />
• to assist in shaping and developing long-term,<br />
destination-specific tourism strategies and associated<br />
action plans.<br />
The <strong>American</strong> <strong>Chamber</strong> <strong>of</strong> Commerce’s<br />
Tourism Committee was established in February <strong>of</strong><br />
this year to tackle the issue <strong>of</strong> a long-term strategic<br />
approach to the development <strong>of</strong> the Croatian tourism<br />
industry, both on the coast and inland.<br />
The committee doesn’t see itself as being<br />
some kind <strong>of</strong> alternative to the existing agencies<br />
charged with tourism development but to act as a<br />
private sector partner to provide multi-disciplined<br />
expertise for public sector agencies, to serve as a<br />
consultative body as required by those agencies<br />
and to assist in shaping and developing long-term,<br />
destination-specific tourism strategies and associated<br />
action plans.<br />
The committee is focusing specifically on<br />
Dubrovnik and Zagreb as being the key brands in<br />
feeding business elsewhere in their specific markets.<br />
To look at it simplistically, Dubrovnik and<br />
other coastal areas suffer because the season is<br />
too short. This problem is exactly the same as that<br />
faced in France, in Spain, in Portugal and a host<br />
<strong>of</strong> other countries. Cannes started tackling this in<br />
the 1930s with the introduction <strong>of</strong> an all-year resort<br />
marketing campaign and events like the film festival.<br />
Barcelona proved that sport, trade fairs and<br />
conferences together with strong branding could<br />
result in a 12-month season. In short, there is plenty<br />
<strong>of</strong> history to look back on and cherry-pick the<br />
right approach for our resorts.<br />
Zagreb simply doesn’t feature as a player<br />
in city tourism: in 2008 and 2009, Zagreb filled less<br />
than a fifth <strong>of</strong> the number <strong>of</strong> hotel rooms occupied<br />
in Budapest. HVS ranks it 34th out <strong>of</strong> 36 cities measured<br />
in its European Hotel Valuation Index and it<br />
has had a compound annual growth rate <strong>of</strong> -7%<br />
between 2000 and 2009.<br />
The city has excellent raw materials to deliver<br />
growth for business related to city breaks, discretionary<br />
business tourism and destination-driven<br />
transient corporate visits – it’s clean, it’s safe, it’s<br />
friendly and it has some world-class facilities and<br />
infrastructure.<br />
The committee sees its short-term objective<br />
to convince local and national politicians that they<br />
have an active role to play in uniting and leading<br />
stakeholder groups in formulating and delivering<br />
against tourism strategies. Moreover, political leaders<br />
need to be persuaded to work to eliminate an<br />
over-complicated and punitive business environment<br />
and to make the connection between wealth<br />
creation and the social agenda, in the minds <strong>of</strong> the<br />
wider population. In short, the political establishment<br />
can help by promoting and living the mantra<br />
that tourism is everyone’s business.<br />
Trade and Investment<br />
Committee<br />
Boška Trbojević, Chair<br />
Coca-Cola HBC Hrvatska d.o.o.<br />
phone: 385 1 2480 247<br />
boska.trbojevic@cchellenic.com<br />
Trade and Investment Committee was initiated<br />
in late 2008 with the main aim to help improve<br />
the business competitiveness <strong>of</strong> Croatia.<br />
The Committee members believe that it is<br />
both possible and necessary to reform the business<br />
environment in a way that benefits domestic<br />
and foreign business in Croatia, the state, customers<br />
and consumers alike and that economic development<br />
involves a collaborative process involving<br />
the private sector, government at multiple levels,<br />
universities, labor and civil society.<br />
As the largest international business association<br />
in Croatia, which includes many international<br />
companies doing business in Croatia the Trade<br />
and Investment Committee <strong>of</strong> AmCham Croatia<br />
suggests a more systematized means <strong>of</strong> dialogue/<br />
communication with state institutions, in order to<br />
better implement and improve various changes to<br />
the business environment in Croatia.<br />
Steps the Committee has taken so far:<br />
• identified issues that are burdening different<br />
businesses in Croatia