Food production and processing is an essential sector of Croatia's economy and growth of the tourism sector is an opportunity for increased competitiveness of that sector, HGK's Zelimir Kramaric said.
With that in mind, he added, the "Gourmet Croatia" project was launched aimed at promoting domestic gourmet and wine products as a globally recognised tourism product, that is, to brand food through tourism.
Goran Buturac of the Economics Institute spoke about the significance of the food industry in Croatia's exports, industrial production and economy, stressing that the food industry generates around 24% of the total production in the industrial sector.
"The food industry is the primary industrial branch in Croatia in exports and as such it is an unavoidable factor for the successful development of industry and economy in general," Buturac said.
The conference was presented with some good examples of food branding such as IQ-Istrian Quality.