The outlook for Croatia's tourist trade in 2018 is positive, but the industry should be ready for many challenges that lie ahead, such as the activities of competitor countries and the capacity of local infrastructure for further tourism growth, the Tourism Business Council of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) warned at a meeting this past week.
"All announcements for next year are very good, indicating that it should be another good year. However, we should pay attention to what is going on in the neighbourhood and on the global market, and most of all we should maintain the quality of tourism supply and services," Council chairman Franco Palma said.
Palma praised this year's results in almost all areas of the tourism sector, emphasising the importance of investment. He said that private investment in the hotel industry made it the chief driver of development and added that he expected investment to continue at a similar rate next year.
The director of the UPUHH hotel association, Iva Bahunek, agreed with that, saying that more attention should be devoted to the relationship between tourists and local communities in order to avoid criticisms of excessive tourism.
"The private sector and hoteliers are investing a lot and we are doing our best to improve the business. Since we cannot expect much from the government, hoteliers will continue to be the drivers of tourism," Bahunek said.
Commenting on prices at Croatian hotels, she said that compared with other countries in terms of quality, Croatian hotels still offered lower prices and good value for money.
This year Croatia recorded increases in the number of tourist arrivals and overnight stays in all months except March, and Igor Borojevic of the Croatian Tourism Board said that December 2017 would certainly be better than December 2016 because of a larger number of Advent events across the country.
"With over 18 million tourist arrivals and more than 100 million overnight stays, this is a record year. We have recorded increases from all markets, especially from Poland and the United Kingdom, while the only market from which a fall in the number of overnight stays was recorded was Italy, but we believe that will change next year," Borojevic said.
(Hina)
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