Representatives of a dozen foreign travel agencies and airlines attending a conference held as part of the Croatian Tourism Days 2011 in Sibenik on Thursday expressed satisfaction with this year's cooperation between the public and private tourist sectors in Croatia, while Tourism Minister Damir Bajs announced similar measures for next year and a new model for joint advertising activities in remote markets. Bajs, who is also president of the national tourism board HTZ, said at the meeting with representatives of travel agencies that cooperation with them had resulted in an increase in organized tourist visits, notably in the pre- and post-summer season.
Representatives of some foreign travel agencies said that they recorded a mild drop in visits to Croatia in July and August, but that they saw increases of above ten percent in the pre-summer season and even higher increases in the post-summer season.
Representatives of HTZ offices operating abroad announced good projections for next year in almost all markets.
Croatian Tourism Days, a traditional annual meeting of tourism workers, this year brought together in Sibenik around 2,000 participants who were also acquainted with a project for a central accommodation search portal for Croatia, which is already partially active on the HTZ web site. There are plans to put information on all available accommodation in the country on the portal in the next two years.
HTZ Main Office assistant director Marin Kraljev said the HTZ Facebook page - www.facebook.com/croatia.hr - now had 400,000 fans, nearly twice as many as last October. (Hina)