Accommodation facilities of the highest category are the future of Croatian tourism! Is your object a thing of the past?
Where is Croatia today and what will happen to “our” tourism? How to prepare for the upcoming 2021 season and are we up to it? Are your accommodation facilities up to the mark?
“According to the latest European Travel Commission (ETC) survey entitled” Monitoring sentiment for domestic and intra-European travel – Wave 5″, we see that, despite the pandemic and all existing obstacles to travel within the bloc abroad, Europeans’ desire to travel remains strong.˝ The European Travel Agency is a non-profit organization responsible for promoting Europe as a tourist destination in third markets and although it brings us positive news, we can still see in this research that Croatia fell to a low 09th place as a tourist destination in Europe. We were overtaken by Turkey, and behind us are only Malta and Albania in the Mediterranean (there is no data in the research for Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria).
The above research and the trend of change show that, although we are one of the top desirable countries and we are still in the top 10 countries, we must not be deceived anymore because we are very low on the list. This is one of the relevant indicators of the upcoming 2021 season and each after, and it is necessary to build a national tourism strategy for the crisis years in the future so that in 2020 it would not happen again. The key to change is to strengthen all regions of Croatia, not only those on the Adriatic but also the continental ones. Croatia is much more than Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria, and Zagreb and its potential are currently immeasurable. If you live in these regions in Croatia and plan to invest in tourism, I recommend reading the blog to the end.
According to all indicators of tourist accommodation capacity, Croatia lacks a minimum of 100 high-category accommodation facilities (primarily hotels whose current share in total accommodation capacity is only 10.3%, and of this 10.3% only 9% are 5-star hotels). This is exactly one of the solutions and opportunities for the development of the tourist offer in Croatia. I believe that they should be built in rural areas of Croatia and on smaller islands, which are now in high demand, given that after the COVIDA-19 pandemic, mass tourism will not be so attractive due to safety aspects until universal awareness changes. “Safety” is currently the current trend and the higher the object category, the higher the level of safety. In addition to the need to build new high-end facilities category, it is also necessary to re-categorize the existing accommodation facilities, especially apartments and private rooms, whose share in the total number of accommodation capacities is 66.2%. If we consider that 30% of these apartments are uncompetitive and outdated, we can only predict how this will be reflected in the coming seasons, if the entire sector of private renters does not decide to take a step forward, which must follow the destination itself. If you do decide to take that step forward, Aego can help with its services and guide you.
In addition to accommodation capacity, another major shortcoming of the tourist image of Croatia is the lack of expertise and mass construction of facilities that do not follow the ever-changing global tourism trends, which you can read in the blog ˝Most common mistakes in the construction and categorization of tourist facilities ˝. If we take Turkey, which overtook us on the list of “most desirable countries to travel”, let us try to ask ourselves what does Turkey have, and Croatia no longer? The answer is very simple; top-class tourist facilities, work to strengthen the quality of service and can be said to respond quickly to all challenges. In 2019, in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Education, 10 schools specializing in tourism knowledge and skills will be opened, while in Croatia the interest in service professions is systematically declining. We wonder why? Let us look at the average owner of an accommodation facility or restaurant in their neighbourhood during the tourist season. Workers in these facilities work for a minimum of 12 hours and more, for a slightly higher salary than the Croatian average, very often without a day off, housed in apartments/flats that are not even suitable for storage. On the other hand, we have ideal conditions with the employer, who is tidy in all benefits but cannot find a quality workforce because in previous years the same power was exploited, and few decide to work for a private company. All these situations are very solvable, and the desired frames can be set very quickly, and Aego can certainly help you with that so that you do not find yourself in the same situation. In addition to advising on how to improve your accommodation facility from the construction aspect, we will also point out the necessary changes from the business aspect and offer solutions tailored to your business and capabilities.
If we look at the current situation, the pressure on this industry is very strong now, and we must be aware that this same industry in Croatia brings 20% of GDP, which will be a topic in future blogs. If we do not join this wave of change now, when the whole world is adjusting to the “new normal” in the tourist aspect, I think that the next wave will sink us and that after 2021 we will be much lower than the current 09th place, which currently only saves, unlike the quality of service and accommodation we offer. Finally, if this blog is for you and you are thinking of changing an existing or opening a new accommodation facility in Croatia, be sure to make it a top category. Given the future of tourism and changes in trends and desires of tourists, surely such a facility will only pay off in the long run. If you do not know how to start or are not sure if you need to change anything at all, Aego can help you analyse the situation and raise that small but very important scale – for you locally, and then for Croatian tourism globally. Schedule a free consultation and see how together we can make your accommodation capacity – top and profitable.
