LONDON -- Croatia will double its tourism operating budget next
year to $17.5 million, said Nik Racic, deputy director of the
Croatian National Tourist Office in Zagreb.
Nearly 90% of the budget is earmarked for marketing, which is
much needed following the war in neighboring Kosovo, Racic told
Travel Weekly at the World Travel Market here.
Although Croatia was not involved in the conflict, a great
number of tourists stayed away from the region last summer, he
noted, hurting the country's recovery from the Bosnian war earlier
in the decade.
Croatia received 4.1 million visitors last year, mostly from
Europe, but only an estimated 2.8 million this year, the tourist
office announced. Arrivals from the U.S. numbered 29,000 this year
and 33,000 in 1998, Racic said.