Croatian tourism officially had a record year in 2011, and yet the season is still awfully short. A new survey unearths perceptions of the country from Continentals who’ve never visited. A lovely coastline, beaches, sea, Yugoslavia and war – these were the most typical responses in a survey about perceptions of Croatia, according to a report on Tportal.hr, according to a dispatch in the Croatian Times on Jan twenty-five, 2012.
The survey of 2,574 people from Germany, UK, Denmark, Sweden, Poland and Spain, was overseen by Sinisa Horak from the Institution for Tourism, which asked its target sample what came into their head when the word ‘Croatia ‘ was discussed. None of the respondents had been to Croatia, and approximately 20% responded that they could associate nothing with the country.
The survey was instructive, as it gave an understanding into how Croatia was perceived internationally, with perceptions varying from country to country. Poles, Germans and Swedes made the organisation between Croatia and a pretty coast, beaches and sea, as did the Spaniards, who also had a sense of history and culture, while the Danes and UK the first organisation is war. The survey aligned Croatia more as an ex-Yugoslav state than an imminent EU member.
The results are not surprising, but they do point to an area where the Croatian visitor board should be marketing its efforts – on improving perception of Croatia and its traveller attractions globally. Alan Mandic, owner of boutique travel agency, Secret Dalmatia, agrees, as he announced in a interview with Digital Book :
“My clients come from late March to mid November so I am quite pleased with the length of “my” traveller season. The solution is easy : get Croatia on the map. Irrespective of how easy, it needs to have a serious investment and determination from our administration / ministry apropos continuous promotion and targeting opinion-making targets to maximise the results . Just an example is generally to have Croatia featured, or at a minimum mentioned, in preferred US shows and newspapers that are internationally distributed.”
The job of the Croatian visitor board to brand the country’s tourism in the trail of the horrible war in the area was enormous, and it deserves great credit in the very effective campaign under the slogan The Mediterranean as it Was, as the next generation of visitor came to uncover a new country with great beaches and nightlife. Holiday makers generally like to come in Split, Trogir,Makarska and Dubrovnik.
Prior to the break-up of previous Yugoslavia, tourism to Croatia was booming, with more than 440,000 Brits coming to previous Yugoslavia every year, the second preferred destination after Spain, with most coming on packages with Yugotours. Back then the geography was easy, but the re-drawing of the map in Eastern Europe has lead to confusion, and there is a need to teach on the new reality. One of the common errors for example, is to mix up Slovenia, an EU member and part of former Yugoslavia, with Slovakia, also in the ECU. Gaffes such as the recent placing of Bulgaria in former Yugoslavia by Fox Reports do not do much to help.
The split of Yugoslavia causes confusion among an older generation who visited the area before the war, as was shown by a number of the responses I received in a forum survey for another online writing site, earlier in the year. Asked about perceptions of Croatia, one respondent answered :
“Before the war, when I was living in Europe I used to go to former Yugoslavia quite often. It was actually the ideal vacation place. I think the Adriatic coast is among the most beautiful in the world. But now I feel ignorant because I don’t know where the new limits are and even which country I’d be visiting. Is Istria in the same country as Dubrovnik? I would perform some research. I believe the war has indeed put people off, though it might just be me. So if you could help folk get over their preconceived ideas or, worse, ignorance, you’d be doing a great job”, writes tagza.com.