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Leading entrepreneurs and business people from the region met in Cavtat on Monday for the third "Summit100 Business Leaders of Southeast Europe: A New Deal for a New Age" to address cooperation possibilities aimed at making national economies more competitive and strengthening the potential of the entire Southeast Europe. Opening the two-day event, Croatian Employers Association (HUP) president Ivica Mudrinic said the world of today was characterised by globalisation and digitalisation. Competition from faraway countries and new brands are threatening business and progress, making regional cooperation a natural state for relatively small economies and markets, he added. Therefore this conference should be a starting point for improving cooperation as a foundation for a better and more secure future for our citizens, Mudrinic said. 

Croatian Culture Minister Andrea Zlatar Violic and Azerbaijani Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfaz Garayev Mursal signed in Dubrovnik on Thursday a programme for cultural cooperation between the two countries. The programme envisages support to all forms of cooperation in the mutual interest based on the exchange of cultural values and promotion of direct cooperation between institutions, associations and professional organisations, as well as on the exchange of art and culture experts. The Azerbaijani minister said after the signing ceremony that the programme referred to cooperation in 2014, 2015 and 2016. It heralds future cooperation in areas not covered by the programme, Garayev said, adding that he was confident that the cooperation would grow closer and broader.
 

A total of 3.95 million tourists vacationed in Croatia in the first six months of this year, an increase of 6.6% compared to the same period of last year, and they generated 15.96 million overnight stays, up 4.7%, Tourism Minister Darko Lorencin said at a news conference in Pula on Monday. Foreign tourists accounted for 3.4 million arrivals, up 7%, generating 14.21 million overnight stays, an increase of 4.3%. Domestic tourists accounted for 550,000 of all tourist arrivals, up 3%, and they generated 1.74 million overnight stays, a 7.6% increase. Lorencin said that the pre-season's results were excellent. "We have a competitive product and Croatia's rating as a tourist destination has been improving continually, which should encourage us to be even better and more competitive and to give our guests at least a reason more to visit," the minister said.

Croatia is the most popular destination for Slovenian tourists, with 1.1 million Slovenians having visited the country in 2013, with 62% of all private trips abroad having been made to Croatia, which is traditionally among the most important tourism markets for Slovenia. This was said at a meeting held by Croatian Tourism Minister Darko Lorencin and Slovenian Minister of Economic Development and Technology Metod Dragonja, held in Groznjan, Istria County, on Friday. The two ministers discussed the tourism cooperation between the two countries, notably with regard to cooperation on remote markets. Lorencin and Dragonja described the cooperation on third markets as very successful, saying that in the coming period the cooperation would be stepped up on the markets of Japan and Brazil.

Tourism and Community Development’ is the theme of this year’s World Tourism Day (WTD). The theme underscores the potential of tourism to promote opportunities for communities around the world, as well as the role that community engagement has in advancing sustainable tourism development. The official celebrations will be hosted by Mexico in the city of Guadalajara (27 September 2014). This year’s WTD theme is ideally timed to contribute to the debate on tourism’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN development blueprint after 2015, which places a high priority on local participation. “Each time we travel, use local transport at a destination or buy products from a local market, we are contributing to a long value chain that creates jobs, provides livelihoods, empowers local communities, and ultimately brings in new opportunities for a better future”, says UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, in his official WTD message.

Croatian Tourism Minister Darko Lorencin has said that early season is proceeding according to plan, adding that the World Cup only slightly influenced the number of arrivals. The results of early season will be known in the first week of July when the Tourism Ministry will receive concrete figures, Lorencin said in the Istrian town of Brtonigla on Thursday, at the opening of the Istralandia water park. It is too early to make any comments, the minister said, adding that tourist turnover was recording rises in all tourist destinations. "Financially speaking, last year we recorded an increase of five percent. I expect this year to be a record year or at least close to the record 2008 year when the tourist sector generated an income of EUR 7.4 billion," Lorencin said.

"Total Inland Dalmatia", a web portal promoting the cultural heritage and scenery of the Dalmatian hinterland, was initiated on Friday by English blogger Paul Bradbury and the local authorities in Sinj, a town in the hinterland of the biggest Croatian Adriatic city of Split. Bradbury, who has already launched portals "Total Hvar" and "Total Split", said that bloggers would post a few reports daily on the latest web portal. Some 4,000 articles in English are expected to be produced in this way annually.

The Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) has, as part of its Internet campaign "Visit Croatia. Share Croatia", launched a sub-campaign on its website, "15 reasons to visit Croatia after the World Cup in Brazil", promoting Croatia's destinations and tourism in many languages. Currently there are six stories on the HTZ website, aimed at bringing more tourists to the country, while other stories will be put up for the duration of the World Cup in Brazil. The stories are "Croatian Copacabanas", "Zadar and the Croatian National Football Team," "Battle Dances Moreska and Capoeira," "Split and the Croatian National Football Team," "Brazilians in Croatia," and "Zagreb and the Croatian National Football Team."

The Executive Council of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has decided that it will hold its 100th session in the spring of 2015 in Rovinj, Croatia, the Croatian Tourism Ministry said on Friday. The decision was made by the UNWTO Executive Council at a session which is being held in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and which is also being attended by a Croatian Tourism Ministry delegation led by Minister Darko Lorencin. Croatia had competed to host the UNWTO Executive Council session against Egypt and Jamaica, which makes its having won all the more important, the Ministry said.