Now, when Croatian tourism is practically at a standstill because of the pandemic, it is the right time for a new development cycle focusing on new investments into high quality accommodation, greater engagement and repositioning of destinations, Horwath HTL consulting company told a press conference on Tuesday, state agency Hina reported.

Partners from this consulting company Katarina Milicevic and Sinisa Topalovic said that the pandemic has shown just how important tourism is to everyone and that is why the approach to its recovery is also important.

Speaking about the need for a new development cycle, the two consultants said that this does not only refer to investments in building new accommodation and other facilities and infrastructure but also to improving legislative incentives to investment and better addressing development problems through the tourism policy.

“Tourism in Croatia has the advantage of its geographical and transport position as well as the country’s membership of the EU, which has improved Croatia’s market position and image. However, during the pandemic and with huge increases in turnover, everyone is faced with new challenges and there are opportunities for us to make faster and better progress much sooner, but together, both the public and private sector,” Milicevic said.

She believes that once again tourism showed its resilience in 2020, but also that Croatia has become a so-called drive-in market in Europe. However, if the quality of the accommodation structure does not improve, it will be difficult to increase the average and overall income per guest.

She said it is important for Croatia to define what it really wants from tourism, citing three main objectives in a development cycle.

One is to promote high-quality tourism in Croatia and the region since not much can be expected from distant markets yet. Secondly, to establish strategic development themes, destinations and hotels, and thirdly, to subsidize investment by SMEs in tourism, Milicevic said.