Started in 2017, Croatia's annual conference on year-round tourism gets its third outing this month. A forum to discuss ways of combating seasonality in Croatian tourism, the event attracts the industry's biggest players - from political figures to international tourism experts, culminating in a day of fascinating talks and seminars.
The Croatian Tourism 365 event takes place on Tuesday 24 September.
Tourism is one of Croatia's greatest success stories, with numbers of visitors rising each year. But this success is somewhat limited to 80 days in the summer season. For the rest of the year, some of Croatia's most popular destinations are unused and undervisited by tourists. In the coastal area of Croatia, 86 million overnight are registered, but only 4.8 percent of overnight stays occur in the entirety of continental Croatia - a vast swathe of the country, with two percent taking place in the inland capital of Zagreb.
Presenting the insights and experiences of over 30 prominent regional and international experts, The Croatia Tourism 365 conference invited 300 participants to its last edition - from reps of large hotel groups to travel agencies, tourist boards and global leaders. Last year's event hosted four tourism ministers from Croatia who presented radical new ideas and practical solutions, each unveiling strategies to combat seasonality.
The conference aims to explore opportunities and potential to advance year-round tourism in Croatia, learning from the success of neighbouring and EU countries. Another aim is to develop the concept of continental tourism through a collaborative process involving key representatives, financial institutions, private businesses and outside experts from the Southern European region and EU partners.
This year's panellists include the Director of the Croatian National Tourist Board, Kristjan Staničić, Founder and CEO of Creative Tourism Network, Caroline Couret, Global Business Director of Horwath HTL London, James Chappell, Director of ITB Advisory Berlin, Bruno Walter, Board member of Jadranka and co-founder of Acquaint, Marko Lukičić and CEO of Atlas and adriatica.net Group, Tomislav Varga and many others from across Europe. See the full list of speakers here.
The event hosts an increasing number of foreign experts from countries as diverse as Slovenia, Portugal, Albania, Austria, Hungary, Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina. They will share their knowledge and positive experiences in discussion panels, with one aim of the conference being to look at how Croatia may be able to replicate the success of tourism destinations like Bilbao, Montenegro, the Vulcano resort in Austria and the growing sector of boutique tourism in Slovenia.
The Croatian Tourism 365 takes place at the Sheraton Hotel on Tuesday 24 September.