The representatives of the HTZ (Croatian National Tourist Board) offices in Frankfurt, Milan and Ljubljana confirmed that the current booking results in those countries are more successful as compared to the same period last year.
In 2006, Croatia expects to register 1.6 million tourist arrivals from Germany, 1.2 million from Italy and 1 million from Slovenia.
Zlatko Deželjin, head of the German office points out that one must take in consideration the current economic crisis in Germany. At the moment Germans are planning to visit all tourist regions, except for Dubrovnik which seems to be too expensive for their taste. He also described the ‘best’ tourist: 55+ years of age, with a stable income, traveling quite often and spending an average of 1153 euros per person. Germans are mostly looking for vacations which include tracking and biking.
Klaudio Stojnić, head of the Italian office pointed out that the number of Italian visits had reached the pre-war results. Italians are mostly interested in the regions of mid-Dalmatia and Dubrovnik. Their favorite vacation time is the month of August and they are mostly complaining about not enough kindness and high prices of transport and food.
Goran Blažić, head of the Slovenian office describes the Slovenian tourists as being mostly satisfied with the service they get in Croatia. They mostly arrive already in July.
Regarding this year’s new VAT rate of 10% introduced in tourism, there has not been a lot of criticism on the German, Slovenian and Italian market which shows that Croatia may expect another successful season along with high quality guests who chose Croatia for a pleasant vacation destination.