The forum, entitled "The Experience Economy in the Service of Economic Growth and Development", was organised by the British Embassy in Zagreb. It brought together about 300 representatives of the tourist industry, culture and creative industries from Croatia and the United Kingdom, where the experience economy accounts for more than seven percent of GDP.
The event was opened by British Ambassador Andrew Dalgliesh, Croatian Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli and Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Korzinek, who all said that the forum was an excellent opportunity to launch cooperation between British and Croatian professionals from marketing, tourism, culture and other sectors in creating experiences in Croatia that would attract more than the present 630,000 British tourists to Croatia, as well as British investors.
Describing the experience economy as a shift in thinking and a matter of personal experience people were willing to pay for, Dalgliesh said that the UK already had an impressive experience in this area which it wanted to share with others.
The aim of this forum is doing business with Croatia in the experience economy which can certainly contribute to the development of the Croatian economy in a similar way it has contributed to the development of tourism in the UK which is expected to be worth more than 250 billion pounds by 2025, the ambassador said.
Cappelli expressed satisfaction with an increasing number of British tourists visiting Croatia. Last year their number was 20 percent higher than in the previous year and this trend continued in the first two months of this year, he added.
The UK's experience with the experience economy is extremely valuable to the Croatian tourism industry because it is based on innovation which we also want to achieve, Cappelli said. He noted that British investors were already creating an experience economy in Croatia by investing in their project on Obonjan island off Sibenik.
Cappelli said that Croatia's tourism development strategy until 2020 encouraged creating experiences and innovative products as a crucial concept of services that are important for the future.
Both Dalgliesh and Cappelli believe that Brexit will not have a negative impact on the tourist trade in their respective countries but will probably open up other paths of cooperation between the two economies.
Obuljen Korzinek said that the experience economy was a much broader concept than cultural tourism and creative industries. She announced that work would soon begin on a cultural strategy that would also include creative industries.
Keith Thomas, CEO of London-based leisure business consultancy Petersham Group, said that leisure and entertainment, history and culture, shopping and gastronomy were the most important segments of the experience economy. He said that the UK's experience economy was worth 117 billion pounds, accounting for 7.4 percent of GDP, and was growing three times as fast as other sectors, or 5 percent annually.