Feb 21 2012
Croatian Tourism Officially Had A Record Year In 2011, And Yet The Season Is Still Very Short.
Croatian tourism officially had a record year in 2011, and yet the season is still awfully short. A new survey uncovers perceptions of the country from Continentals who’ve never visited. A beautiful coastline, beaches, sea, Yugoslavia and war – these were the commonest responses in a survey about perceptions of Croatia, according to a report on Tportal.hr, according to a dispatch in the Croatian Times on Jan 25, 2012.
The survey of 2,574 folks from Germany, UK, Denmark, Sweden, Poland and Spain, was overseen by Sinisa Horak from the Establishment for Tourism, which asked its target sample what came into their head when the word ‘Croatia ‘ was mentioned. Not one of the respondents had been to Croatia, and approximately twenty percent replied that they could associate nothing with the country.
The survey was instructive, as it gave an insight into how Croatia was understood globally, with perceptions varying from country to country. Poles, Germans and Swedes made the organisation between Croatia and a beautiful coast, beaches and sea, as did the Spaniards, who also had a sense of history and culture, while the Danes and British the 1st organisation is war. The survey aligned Croatia more as an ex-Yugoslav state than an imminent EU member.
The results are not surprising, but they do point to an area where the Croatian visitor board should be promoting its efforts – on improving awareness of Croatia and its tourist attractions internationally. Alan Mandic, owner of boutique travel agent, Secret Dalmatia, agrees, as he announced in a interview with Digital Book :
“My clients come from late March to mid November so I’m quite pleased with the length of “my” traveller season. The solution is straightforward : get Croatia on the map. Irrespective of how straightforward, it needs a major investment and perseverance from our government / ministry apropos continuous promotion and focusing on opinion-making targets to maximize the result. Merely an example is to have Croatia featured, or at least mentioned, in preferred US shows and papers that are internationally distributed.”
The task of the Croatian tourist board to brand the country’s tourism in the aftermath of the horrible war in the area was immense, and it merits great credit in the very effective campaign under the slogan The Mediterranean as it Was Once, as the next generation of visitor came to learn a new country with great beaches and nightlife. Visitors mostly like to come in Split, Trogir,Makarska and Dubrovnik.
Prior to the split of former Yugoslavia, tourism to Croatia was booming, with over 440,000 Brits coming to former Yugoslavia each year, the second preferred destination after Spain, with many coming on packages with Yugotours. Back then the geography was straightforward, but the re-drawing of the map in Eastern Europe has lead to bafflement, and there is a need to educate on the new fact. One of the common mistakes as an example, is to mix up Slovenia, an EU member and part of previous Yugoslavia, with Slovakia, also in the EU. Gaffes such as the recent placing of Bulgaria in previous Yugoslavia by Fox News do not do much to help.
The split of Yugoslavia causes bewilderment among an older generation who made a trip to the area before the war, as was evidenced by the replies I received in a forum survey for another online writing site, earlier in the year. Asked about perceptions of Croatia, one respondent answered :
“Before the war, when I was living in Europe I used to go to previous Yugoslavia quite often. It was actually the ideal holiday place. I suspect the Adriatic coast is among the most beautiful in the world. But now I feel ignorant because I am not sure where the new limits are and even which country I would be visiting. Is Istria in the same country as Dubrovnik? I would need to do some research. I suspect the war has indeed put folks off, though it might be me. So if you might help folk get over their prejudged ideas or, worse, stupidity, you’d be doing a great job”, writes tagza.com.
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