The first office of the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) in China was officially opened in Shanghai on Monday by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

“Our opening up to China, and to Chinese tourists… is a very important part of Croatia’s tourist promotion effort,” Plenkovic said at the opening of the HTZ office in Shanghai’s business district.

The Croatian delegation accompanying Plenkovic on his working visit to China attended the official opening ceremony along with HTZ director Kristjan Stanicic and the head of the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK), Luka Burilovic. The HTZ office was opened on HGK premises in Shanghai.

This year, around a quarter of a million Chinese tourists will have visited Croatia, Plenkovic said.

According to data published by the eVisitor system, in the first ten months of 2018, Chinese tourists generated some 216,000 arrivals, up 43 percent on the year, and 315,000 overnight stays, up 42 percent on the year.

“During this visit I’ve had the opportunity to better understand China, and I’ve seen how well Croatia is seen and accepted. I am very optimistic and I believe that we can count on even higher numbers in tourism, in trade and even better overall relations,” Plenkovic said.

The director of the new office, Franka Gulin, said China is the largest global market in every sense and that this fact represents the greatest challenge to Croatia as a relatively small European country.

In 2016, Chinese tourists generated 122 million tourist trips in the world and spent US$109.8 billion, with an annual growth of about 5 percent.

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