Minister expects 7% rise in tourist trade in 2018

Croatia's Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said on Friday that tourist trade would likely increase by 7% this year, with some destinations probably seeing double digit increases to up to 20%, however, the situation in the infrastructure could make the forthcoming tourist season more complex. "That would mean some 20 million tourists, with over 11 billion euros in revenues. However, the current state of affairs in the infrastructure will make the season more complex in organisational and other terms," Cappelli said, addressing a conference of the UHPA, a voluntary national trade association of Croatian travel agencies in the coastal town of Crikvenica.

The minister recalled that a new programme for promoting Croatia as an attractive destination for airlines was launched six months ago, and therefore a 20% increase in air flights could be expected.

More flights from Germany, Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Austria and Slovenia have been envisaged.

He said that this year, the tourist season starts earlier (with Easter being on 1 April) and will be wrapped up later, as a result of which this season will be 30 days longer.

The minister commented on a change in the structure of guests visiting Croatia, with more and more couples without children visiting the country in search of new programmes.

UHPA President Tomislav Fain said that all indicators showed that the tourist season in 2018 would be a record high and underscored that credit went to all stakeholders in the tourist industry and praised synergy of the public and the private sectors.

Now we are reaping the fruits of our labour in the last 20 years, Fain said.

(Hina/FaH)

News