​Chinese tourists interested in Croatia, but complain about lack of direct flights, visa regime

Croatia has everything Chinese tourists are looking for - from the cultural, historical and and natural heritage to being autochthonous, having great gastronomy, folklore, modern festivals - and this year already Croatia expects an increased number of Chinese tourists, although problems regarding the visa regime, lack of direct flights and tourist brochures in Chinese remain.

This was said at the first regional conference on the Chinese tourism market, held under the auspices of the Croatian Tourism Ministry, and organised by the Zagreb-based consulting company ProConcept and the Singapore-based advertising agency IPPWorld.

The conference brought together Croatian and regional travel agencies and other professionals already working or want to work with the Chinese market.

According to figures presented by ProConcept director Andreja Gazdek, in 2018 'only' six percent of the Chinese population had passports, which is approximately 80 million people and it is expected that by 2020 approximately 200 million people will have travel documents. The Chinese can enter 36 countries without visas, including Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and obtain visa for 44 countries upon the entry.

"Croatia is not among these countries, visas are necessary and this is an obstacle to the arrival of Chinese tourists." Gazdek said adding that it was unbelievable that only one person in the Croatian Embassy in China is dealing with visas.

As a result, the Chinese are visiting Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and other countries more often that they do Croatia, Gazdek said.

In 2011, Chinese tourists made 11 million trips abroad and in 2018 that number rose to 160 million. Half of those trips were made to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and the rest was worldwide, mostly to Europe, Gazdek said, adding that Croatia should seek its opportunity by publishing guides, menus, brochures, etc. in Chinese. (Hina)

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