TOURISM MINISTER TALKS TO REPORTERS & TOUROPERATORS IN BUDAPEST

BUDAPEST, May 26 (Hina) - Croatian Tourism Minister Ivan Herak on Wednesday met some 60 Hungarian journalists and touroperators in Budapest. He said that this year, Croatia expected a significant number of tourists from Hungary, one of Croatian tourism's priority foreign markets. Additional promotional campaigns are necessary, and Hungarian marketing companies will partake in the new projects, Herak said. Additional promotional activities could bring a considerable number of Hungarian tourists to Croatia despite the negative consequences of the Kosovo crisis, the tourism minister said. He recalled that 130,000 Hungarians visited Croatia in 1998, accounting for 805,000 overnight stays. Herak said Croatia and Hungary were complementary in tourism, and pointed that on faraway markets, the two countries present their offer as one destination. Asked about tourist services' and fuel prices in Croatia and the currency of the kuna, Herak said that as the minister of tourism, he could not set the prices, which he said was an issue up to each tourist company. "Some of these companies have adapted, and the market will either commend or punish them," Herak said. As regards fuel prices, he said he hoped the Croatian government would not adopt a motion for higher fuel prices, adding the current fuel price in Croatia was lower than in Hungary. A stable kuna rate is one of the most important goals of Croatia's macroeconomic policy, and Herak stressed significant changes should not be expected in that respect. Some 660,000 Croats visited Hungary in this year's first three months, while an annual 3.4 million cross the border, more than 80 percent to shop. (hina) ha