You have heard me well – external and internal relations at the level of Croatia as well as individual municipalities, cities, counties or tourist regions.Talking and visiting many individual tourist destinations, tourist representatives often complained to me about the lack of understanding of their tourist councils. And the final question of all questions: What can be done to make the strategy come to life? What we need now and in the future is such an up-to-date and effective interdepartmental body, but also regular four-month analyzes and discussions at all levels of how far we have come and how we will solve, I deliberately repeat, what has not been resolved so far. And so persistently, persistently further to – fulfillment. In this area, not only in the field of tourism but also in other economic areas, we have not celebrated, although there are praiseworthy issues in tourism itself, at least as far as, say, the realization of the strategic marketing plan is concerned. After the rumors about the launch of the initiative itself and after the heated discussions and obligatory lamentations of respected tourist opinion makers, everything usually falls silent. Otherwise, if we get bogged down in the swamp of our local or regional destination maneuvers, insatiable spatial appetites and resentment, we can immediately sing about the new strategy: “In vain your efforts, musicians!” Therefore, in the end, a sincere and well-intentioned recommendation to the Minister of Tourism and Sports and the Government of the Republic of Croatia – New strategy for domestic tourism development until year X with a set of accompanying operational documents for individual years will make sense if it determines and offers frameworks pave the way for a new understanding of tourism in the whole society and innovative and year-round tourism products and projects with built-in added value under the denominator: “Happiness helps the brave!”(Good luck to you!) Concise, short and clear. Let’s start with the first: What kind of strategy do we really need? Therefore, the new strategy should clearly and unambiguously set first of all the key and achievable principles and criteria of the approach to tourism development – globally at the country level and locally in various selected segments. We don’t necessarily have to do it all – everything. We have no time or people for that, much less money. Let’s be brave and decide what and why we work somewhere, learn to cooperate with neighboring destinations, be cooperative and exchange ideas, projects and ultimately the guests themselves so that if they stay in one – visit another destination and thus complete their experience as a product of common and advance projected cooperation of several destinations or administrative units. It is questionable to ask whether such a document, given the dynamics and intensity of disruptive world changes, should be worked on until 2040 or limited to 5 years or until the end of 2025. I support a shorter period. I also wish that the strategy as a supporting document does not have more than thirty pages, and that every year for the next year, until the end of, say, July of the current year, more precise action plans for the next year are adopted. Let’s learn to save our own and others ’time, let’s concentrate on what matters. Honor to those who have moved away from what I will say, but I had the impression that a significant number of previous offices of tourist boards have turned into, allow me that freedom, the PR departments of their presidents – mayors, mayors and prefects. With dynamic and interactive cooperation of all government departments. It would not be exclusively related to the aegis of “sustainable tourism” because sustainable tourism is only a starting and important prerequisite for the mix of selected selective and more complex types of tourism with an emphasis on year-round business and tailor-made products with added value. the needs of the guests whose soul we need to empathize with. As much as possible. Author: Edvin Jurin The previous one, adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia on April 26, 4 under the full title “Strategy for the Development of Croatian Tourism until 2013” was valid as the name suggests until 2020. Therefore, the need for a new one becomes an urgent need. Focus on internal and external relations The answer is clear: short, concise and clearly guiding. Let us not be slaves to quantity (read the number of pages) but to quality. This way of thinking is the hardest thing to get rid of. I remember an “inspired” response from a client of one of the public sector strategies to my question why he insisted that the document, which had been worked on for a really long and thorough time, be a book in print, and not, say, a CD. The answer was literally: “There should be a book, and the thicker it is, so that when someone comes and asks me what we did, I can throw that heavy book on his chest. So let him think then what he will ask me’. ” Therefore, such documents often end up in drawers, are not used and become literally an artifact of one moment of one time of one client. The US version called “National Travel & Tourism Strategy” from 2012, with defined targets of 100 million tourists and spending of $ 250 billion by 2021, then signed by John Bryson, Secretary of Economy and Ken Salazar, the Secretary of the Interior has barely forty pages with all the introductions. For that, it is necessary to pay attention to the structure and potential of members of tourist councils at all levels, which means their most careful choice, but also ongoing education. Especially at the local level. Tourism has become too complex and interactive for key decisions on its development and implementation of certain specific activities to be made at a flat rate or by “breaking over the knee”. Like when the desert wind in Clint Eastwood’s western films, with the unsurpassed music of the recently deceased Ennio Morricone, dusts the deserted street, which is then covered by oblivion. As if nothing had ever been agreed. What was missing in the public and in the field was a systematic and real comparative presentation of what was achieved from the planned strategic and what was not. With mandatory inquiries: “If not – why not? Was it unrealistically planned? If not unrealistically planned, what obstacles have hindered the realization? What needs to be done to make the unfulfilled come true?” First: What kind of strategy do we really need?Second: What should take precedence in that strategy?Third: What can be done to make the strategy really and fully come to life? As far as external relations, ie interaction with a specific market, are concerned, I often used to ask people in tourism in certain destinations: “Can you tell me what audience you work for? Describe to me the profile of your current or desired guest? By age, social and cultural and other preferences and needs?”The answer was almost as a rule – silence.Instead of just talking about the types of tourism, we are talking about people – guests. Let’s study generational and interest profiles and create scenarios for different situations. Because, trends are created by consumers. The thread adorns the work Preference in such documents should be given to a balanced mix or ratio of internal and external relations or action policies to be achieved. I am a supporter, like everyone else, who loves tourism and who likes to think about tourism, for a document like this to be drafted. But I am an even more ardent advocate that such a document be applied. And not to work on an alibi strategy – and then to adhere to these key determinants little or not at all. According to the principle: “Let it be in our drawer.” Instead, hymns about the transfer of tourist arrivals and overnight stays were offered and are being offered. And we all knew that a lot of things more creative and innovative or environmentally sustainable in the destinations themselves did not come to life. We have not seen or at least perceptively seen that an intergovernmental body for cross-sectoral monitoring of the implementation of the previous strategy has come to life, ie the Inter-Ministerial Expert Council for Tourism according to the previous strategy (p.60). Here, tourism failed to impose itself on the older ministerial brothers in the Croatian government, especially in the areas of finance, labor, urbanism, construction and spatial planning, and environmental protection, as expected by the profession. Happiness helps the brave Under certain conditions of course, Not wanting to prejudge things, I ask three possible questions for this occasion. And three possible answers. Even the sparrows on the branch sing that Croatia needs a new strategy for tourism development, as one of its more dominant economic branches. I want to believe that there will be needs for that – there won’t be. They are no longer just times for that. This has led many to spend their resources on a “copy paste” basis: “We do this because it is done by the municipality, city or county next to us”. And not because of what we do, market and business necessary and more importantly – economically justified.
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