Croatian tourism minister Anton Kliman is meeting with a strong Chinese tourism delegation on June 6, 2016. According to the press release from the Ministry, Kliman is meeting with the president of the Chinese national tourism administration Li Jinzao and his colleagues. This is the first time such a high-level Chinese tourism delegation is visiting Croatia and during their stay, they will discuss the possibility of intensifying the tourism relations between two countries.

 

"Since the number of Chinese tourists in Croatia has been rapidly growing for the last several years, relations between our countries have become very important, and that is why I am visiting Croatia this year during my annual European tour", said Li Jinzao. Along with Croatia, he will visit the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation.

 

During his stay, Jinzao will also open an exhibition at the Lisinski concert hall on June 7, 2016, and today's meeting is also an opportunity to discuss the possibility of organising a large scale meeting of several tourism ministers in Croatia as a part of the China +16 initiative. 

 

Chinese tourists started discovering Croatia in larger numbers back in 2014, and if we know this country will achieve more than 160 million travels a year by 2018, it is easy to understand why this is such an important market for every tourist country.  They prefer organised tours and when they travel to Europe they like to visit several countries or 6-8 destinations. However, in the last year it is noticeable they are lowering the number of destinations during one trip and now they are opting to 1-3. Their most important activities during travel are sightseeing, gastronomy and shopping. Two of those we can easily offer and shopping options are improving so we hope they will find everything they're looking for. 

 

In 2015, Croatia had 203 000 arrivals from Chinese administrative regions Hing Kong and Macau as well as the Taiwan province with 269 000 overnight stays which is a 39% increase compared to 2014, and with current bookings and arrival announcements, in 2016 we can expect this number to go over 300 000 for the first time. In other words, if you're working in tourism, it's time to learn a few Chinese phrases!