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24. 02. 11. - 21:00

24. 02. 11. - 21:00

Croatian tourism may get unexpected boost from unrest in north Africa

Croatian Times

Croatian tourism could benefit from recent unrest in Egypt and Tunisia as hundreds of thousands of German travellers intending to go on holiday to those states are now looking for more stable alternatives.

Some 90,000 already switched their plans to Spain and Turkey just last week, but many more are also expected to come to Croatia’s Adriatic coast.

Even without the added bonus from north African destinations, the sales of Croatian package holidays are up from 20 per cent over last year’s numbers. It is almost certain that Croatia will host at least 50,000 more German guests it did last year, when 1.6 million visited.  Egypt had 1.2 million German visitors in 2010.

The director of German tour operator ID Riva Tours specializing in trips to Croatia, Selimir Ognjenovic says that Germans are hungry for travel.

"The crisis in Germany is a thing of the past. Germans will be travelling in 2011 as they did during the most prosperous years. We are currently registering a 24 per cent increase in sales of holidays to Croatia."

Ognjenovic says that the peak months are filling up fast, but that the season’s success will be measured by the numbers for May. The tour operator warned that they are in need of attractive packages for target groups such as pensioners and young couples without children.

But even the north African countries are presenting their offers at the Munich travel fair where they are receiving the support from the official German policy backing those states. The countries are also destinations for German capital.

The first charter flights have already departed for Tunisia, and others have been planned to Egypt in March.

But price battles have already started, the daily Vecernji List writes, Tunisia has already halved its prices, with 7-day packages going for 199 Euros. Plane tickets from Germany to Croatia alone 220 Euros for the same period.

Mitja Kocevar, the regional director of FTI tour operator, is optimistic however. She says Germans like to travel with a car, and Croatia is a close, family-friendly destination. The company hopes to bring some 40,000 German travellers there this year, 10,000 more than in 2010.

Tag cloud sales  operator  destinations  unrest  German  director  pensioners  travellers  Tunisia  Croatia  Ognjenovic  price  Egypt  Africa  Euros  holiday  numbers  tourism  Croatian  states

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