Following a successful debut year in 2017, Zagreb is set to host Croatia's second conference on year-round tourism. The Croatian Tourism 365 event will take place on Tuesday 25th September.
Croatian tourism is one of the country's great success stories, with numbers of visitors rising year upon year. But these successes occur only during 80 summer days. For the rest of the year, most tourist facilities remain unused. In the coastal area of Croatia, 86 million overnight stays happen, but only 4.8% of overnight stays occur in the whole of continental Croatia, with 2% of that taking place in the city of Zagreb.
This second year for the conference aims to present and discuss potentials, opportunities, positive practices and solutions for the development of year-round tourism across the whole of Croatia and to develop suggestions on how to stimulate and develop it. The sponsors of the conference are the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian Chamber of Economy, and the conference is supported by almost all Croatian tourist associations. It will address the director of the Croatian National Tourist Board, Kristjan Staničić, and Minister of Economic Development and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia, Zdravko Počivalšek, director of Tourist Board Zagreb, Martina Bienenfeld, director of the Croatian Tourism Association, Veljko Ostojić, executive director of the European Tourism Health Summit, Lejla Krešić-Jurić, President of SLO CRO Business Club, Saša Muminović and many others from across Europe.
The increasing number of foreign experts in attendance will this year come from countries like Slovenia, Portugal, Albania, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Serbia, Ireland, Bosnia and Herzegovina. They will attend and 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 off season tourism successes attained in neighbouring countries like Austria, Hungary and Slovenia. The conference is expected to welcome attendees working in the tourism sector from throughout the whole country and will take place at Zagreb's Sheraton Hotel.