Croatian, Russian tourism officials meet in Moscow

Croatian Tourism Minister Darko Lorencin held talks in Moscow on Thursday with the Russian Deputy Culture Minister for tourism, Alla Manilova, and they agreed that Croatia had all the prerequisites for better tourism results on the Russian market.

They discussed concrete activities to improve Croatian-Russian cooperation in tourism, Lorencin's ministry said.

He said the Russian market was very important to Croatia and that, in the wake of visa requirements and other circumstances on the Russian tourism market, additional steps should to be taken to attract Russian tourists.

Manilova said Croatia was a very interesting destination for Russian tourists and that the shoulder seasons had the most potential for progress.

She said closer cooperation would contribute to the realisation of joint interests, and that the Russians were mostly interested in family vacations and health tourism. She said services in Russian would be very helpful.

Lorencin also talked with Sberbank deputy CEO Sergey Gorkov about possibilities of investing in Croatia. He said two Russian investors were interested in the Kupari resort project.

Gorkov agreed with the minister that Croatia was very interesting to Russian tourists because of similar languages and cultures as well as the nice climate, adding that Croatia could compete with Turkey for Russian tourists.

Lorencin today wrapped up a two-day visit to Moscow.

(Hina)