The first national campaign to promote rural tourism, called "Experience the local. Explore rural Croatia!", was formally launched in the village of Bukovlje near the eastern town of Slavonski Brod on Tuesday.
"The aim of the campaign is to show all the riches of rural Croatia, which constitutes more than 80 percent of the country's territory and where more than half of Croatia's population live," the Minister of Tourism and Sport, Nikolina Brnjac, said at the launch of the campaign on the Savus farm in Bukovlje.
The campaign includes 12 thematic videos covering all tourism services on offer in rural areas. It aims to attract both domestic and foreign tourists and contribute to the development of those areas.
The campaign was jointly launched by the Ministry of Tourism and Sport and the Croatian Tourism Board (HTZ) in cooperation with the Croatian Rural Tourism Association and associations for cultural and adventure tourism and family accommodation.
Rural tourism will be part of the future sustainable tourism strategy, Brnjac said, noting that since 2016 more than HRK 14 million (€2m) has been invested in the development of cycling tourism and more than HRK 40 million (€5.3m) has been allocated for the development of public tourism infrastructure across the country.
"We will continue to direct most of the funds at developing continental tourism, because more and more tourists now want to stay in the countryside, away from mass tourism," Brnjac said.
HTZ Director Kristjan Staničić said in a message that rural tourism has become a much sought-after tourism product during the present pandemic. Citing the results of a survey, he said that this type of tourism will become even more sought after in the years ahead as both domestic and foreign tourists are increasingly interested in exploring undiscovered destinations in Croatia.
(Hina)
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