The congratulations were extended, among others, by the secretary-general of the European Commission of the World Tourism Organisation, Luigi Cabrini, and the vice-president of the World Travel and Tourism Council's (WTTC) department for corporative development, Ufi Ibrahim, who spoke at the seminar "Croatia in the Global Tourist Environment".
Cabrini said that Croatia's tourism had been improving every year and that this year's six-percent increase in arrivals was a great success considering that many leading European tourist countries had recorded only mild increases or even decreases.
Croatia has managed to maintain its six-percent share in the southern European tourism market and earn an average of 761 euros per tourist, which is around 100 euros more than in other countries of that part of Europe, Cabrini said.
Ufi Ibrahim of the WTTC, whose Tourism Satellite Accounting on direct and indirect effects of tourism on the overall economy has also been conducted by Croatia since 2002, said that in the last two years Croatia had managed to increase the share of tourism in GDP by 13 percent on the annual average.
According to WTTC estimates, the number of employees in tourism this year increased by 3.3 percent in relation to last year, accounting for 29 percent of the overall employment.
A representative of the German Association of Travel Agencies (DRV), Hrvoje Roncevic, warned that Croatian prices on the German market were too high, which was the reason why the number of German arrivals had increased only mildly this year. Roncevic added that more should be done to improve the quality of services and the balance between prices and services, as well as the competence of tourist managers.