- CREN - Croatian Real Estate Newsletter

For start, we asked him to assess the current state of play in the tourismindustry?Due to the predominant model of transition and the still existing obstacles, Croatiantourism has not changed the seasonal business model inherited from the socialistperiod. In order to overcome this, significant investment is needed, with largeinternational players, who would invest in hotels and tourism infrastructure. These arethe reasons why hotel businesses are still below the average occupancy levels andaverage prices in competitive countries. The occupancy rate of hotels is less than 50percent, and average revenues per room amounting to approximately EUR 19,000does not satisfy their interests.What should be the orientation of Croatian tourism?Croatian tourism has to be oriented towards providing high quality for its guests, ithas to be able to offer more than the sun and the sea, and in order to achieve this, itneeds major investment in tourism infrastructure and management and marketingsoftware. Croatia should not opt for mass construction of tourism towns, such as inTurkey or Northern Africa, but it has to be smart in restructuring its inherited assets,and create new quality at existing locations. It has to focus on sophisticated guestsfrom Europe and the world, and it has to offer them a new quality of accommodation,and a stay with content, above all it has to provide an experience. Naturally, this isnot easy to achieve, nor is it possible to achieve it quickly, but Croatia has to makethis decision now, and start working towards it systematically, in order to catch upwith the leading tourism countries, such as Austria, France or Italy.For quite some time, you have been working on a strategic marketing plan forCroatian tourism for the next five years. What are the position and the vision ofCroatiantourism?The vision from the marketing plan is to become a strong lifestyle destination for theMediterranean and Europe, and we still have time to do this, because we still havenot used up all our trump cards. In order to achieve this vision, it is necessary quicklyto create a smart business environment for tourism, make significant investments inraising the standard of accommodation facilities and create new tourisminfrastructure, such as golf courses, theme parks, events, wellness centres etc. Allthis, parallel to promoting domestic agricultural product brands and typical Croatianfood and drinks, would become the cultural trade mark of Croatia as a destination.The sun, the sea and reasonable hotel accommodation areno longer sufficient. New attractions are necessary, one hasto be able to offer a new quality of accommodation, newcontents and experiences.CREN - Croatian Real Estate Newsletter / March 2009. 19 / 30