Croatia and Slovenia are looking to finally shake off their ‘war-torn’ image and restore public confidence in the region as a viable and attractive holiday destination.
The Balkan conflict, which resulted in the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1991, badly affected tourism despite the fact that the troubles in Croatia were over relatively quickly and Slovenia escaped violence altogether.
But it is only this year that Cosmos has returned to Croatia – after almost a decade of absence – and Thomson Breakaway has introduced the country for the first time this year.
Further support comes with the launch of Holiday Options’ 56-page Dalmatian Riviera brochure and stronger coverage by leading specialists Transun and Captivating Croatia.
Cosmos product manager short haul Michele Poli said: “We felt now was the right time to go back. We have a simple programme, but plan to develop twin centres in time.
“We fly just to Dubrovnik. The hotels in the south have recovered and most have been refurbished, so product quality is good. It’s fairly well-priced and the flight isn’t too long.”
Holiday Options has launched its Croatia programme after success with Corsica and Sardinia. “Croatia complements our client portfolio perfectly,” said managing director Hamish Manson.
“Its topography is not dissimilar to Corsica and like Corsica it’s not overrun by mass tourism. A small core of our clients were looking for somewhere different and Croatia fits in well.”
An absentee from Croatia this summer, however, is Panorama. “We gave it two years and it didn’t work,” said sales and marketing director Martin Young. “The British public seem confused as to where it is and any mention of Yugoslavia puts them off.”
Captivating Croatia’s sales and marketing director Chris Mansell said the ongoing political problems in Serbia’s Kosovo region are not helping: “We have to explode the myth that Croatia is near the trouble area. It’s far away.”
However, the publicity generated by Prince Charles’ visit to the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, and Lake Bled last November has helped to generate interest in both Slovenia and Croatia, according to Balkan Holidays product manager Carl Sayonas.
Slovenia has gained increased lakes and mountains coverage this summer and operators are also developing interest in its coastal resorts, Portoroz and Piran.
Balkan Holidays has stayed loyal to Portoroz for some years; this summer there is competition as Crystal and Thomson have added both resorts to their destination list, and First Choice has introduced Portoroz for the first time.
Crystal’s Eastern Europe product manager Stevan Popovich said: “Lake Bled and Kranjska Gora are well-known. Now people are finding the Slovenian resorts make great two-centre holidays.”
The Croatian National Tourist Office hopes the increases in both mainstream and specialist programmes to Croatia this summer will go a long way towards returning the country to the tourism levels it enjoyed before the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1991.
It believes that this year’s UK visitor numbers will top the 100,000 mark, compared to 80,000 in 1998.
Slovenia also expects to break the record it achieved last year, when the number of UK visitors doubled to 55,000, from 25,000 in 1997.
Almost a decade on from the break-up of Yugoslavia, Croatia and Slovenia are once again attracting the interest of major operators