Croatian American View
A Croatian Holiday
By John Peter Kraljic

As mid-summer kicks into gear, Croatia anxiously counts the number of tourists visiting the country. So far, the numbers have been under whelming, with only certain parts of Dalmatia seeing an increase in the number of tourists compared with last year. This past weekend has seen a sudden up tick in foreigners entering the country, but many suspect this may be as a result of recent price decreases instituted by some hotels in Istria in desperation to fill their rooms.

It is of course too early to come to any conclusions regarding this year’s tourist season. We can all certainly be happy with the numerous articles which have appeared concerning Croatia in the English-language press over the past few months. Why has this positive press not led to more impressive results?

Such a question is difficult to answer. However, the Croatian tourist industry continues to suffer from a lack of overall vision of what is required and needed to make it a first class operation. In the spirit of the season, I thought it would be helpful to discuss some of the things I see which can use improvement.

Air Connections. I’ve written and spoken about this for at least 5 years - Croatia needs to have direct air connections with North America in order to tap into the American and Canadian markets. Longer term, such connections are necessary for Asia as well. Croatia can no longer simply rely on the German and Italian markets - German and other European tourists can just as easily (and perhaps cheaply) hop on a flight to Florida as they could take a drive to Croatia. And for all of Croatia’s beauty, its hotels (see below) cannot compare with those in Florida!

Croatia must have a world-wide vision in this era of globalization. It must attract tourists from throughout the world, not just from those in its backyard unless it wants to only rely on those seeking a quick weekend getaway.

The Length of the Season. When one thinks of visiting Italy, Spain, France or Greece, one is not constrained (other than as a result of personal issues such as school schedules) to only visiting those countries in the summer. Spain, for example, has a large amount of tourists visiting it throughout the year, concentrating on the European market to fill its beaches during the summer while successfully marketing its cultural heritage to Americans and other overseas visitors during the rest of the year.

Croatia’s tourist industry, in contrast, completely shuts down. While I don’t have the figures, I would not be surprised if at least 90% of the hotels along the Adriatic coast shut down after October 1. The cultural and historical gems of Dubrovnik, Korčula, Hvar, Split, Trogir, Zadar, Pula, Poreč, Istria, etc., are just as beautiful and awe-inspiring during the winter as in the summer. And what about Zagreb? There is absolutely no reason Croatia cannot invest resources to become an all-year destination.

Hotels. There is much need for improvement here. Many hotels have not been refurbished since the 1980s. I have stayed in supposedly “top” hotels whose carpeting and furniture are frayed. Part of the problem is the shortness of the season. With only three to four months in which to make money, many hotels simply don’t make enough. Moreover, many hotels have yet to be privatized and there are no hotel chains with any presence on the coast at all (although a Hilton is set to open in Dubrovnik in the next few months).

Service. This is a perennial complaint. I have to admit that service has substantially improved over the years especially in restaurants. Not only are the staff generally very friendly, but the range of food offerings has greatly increased. My only “pet peeve” - why don’t waiters in Croatia write down what you are ordering? When I was in Croatia several weeks ago, I went to a number of top restaurants. More often than not, the waiter failed to bring at least one of the items I ordered for the simple reason that he seemed to have an aversion to using paper and pencil!

Elitism. Croatia’s tourist gurus continuously proclaim the need to attract the “elite,” to have “elite tourism.” This is done without even knowing who the “elite” even is and why basing an industry on the “rich and famous” is a good thing. A perfect example of the absurdities to which some people have gone to attract the “elite” recently occurred on the Brioni Islands where a polo match was organized. The intent - to attract the “elite,” of course! Istrian politician Ivan Jakovčić justified the organization of the match and the expense involved by noting the “free publicity” the event generated. Last time I looked on Google, not one English language publication in the world mentioned the event!

Croatia needs to reject this starry eyed view of the wealthy as being some sort of panacea for all of its ills in tourism. Not that there is anything wrong in attracting and welcoming to Croatia those who are raking in money! But, the true “elite” that Croatia must reach out to and attract are the millions of upper middle class tourists – people who really are “working stiffs” like everyone else but with enough disposable income for whom spending $300 per day for a vacation is not a problem. It is tourists like these that should be Croatia’s target audience, not assorted multi-millionaires whose impact on Croatia’s economy can never be more than exceedingly small.

Of course, to attract this type of tourist, Croatia must take care of some of the problems noted above. Moreover, it must avoid the pitfalls of countries like Spain which allowed their coastlines to be degraded by over building. Croatia and its citizens must remain cognizant that the failure to maintain the country’s pristine natural environment would be disastrous to tourism – one more reason to question why so many Croatian bigwigs want to risk environmental disaster by supporting the institution of the oil-exporting JANAF project in Omišalj in return for a relatively paltry $30 million a year. The obvious but as yet unasked question is whether someone’s pockets are being lined to buy support for what has to be one of the stupidest ideas to come out of Croatia.

Hopefully, those with a clearer vision will prevail on this issue and place Croatia’s tourism industry on the right track.