Interview by Antonio Mazzucchelli & Carla Tropia
With the season drawing to a close, it’s time to take stock. To look at what happened in this summer still perturbed by the pandemic situation, Camping Business met Adriano Palman, director of the Croatian Camping Union (KUH). An authoritative voice, given that over 90% of the structures in the country adhere to the association, which can well tell the trend of this last tourist period.
Camping Business: The time has come to take stock of the 2021 season. How did it go in Croatia?
Adriano Palman: The evaluation is definitely positive, the season has restarted in a great way. We had about 15 million overnight stays compared to 254,000 beds in our campsites. In percentage terms, this 2021 has collected an excellent 177% of overnight stays compared to 2020, while compared to 2019, which is the pre-Covid reference year, we are at 87 percent. So, there is still some catching up to do, but we are still very satisfied if you consider that this year the season started around June 15-20 and not from May 1st.
In terms of attendance, we then noticed some interesting movements: Germany continues to score the highest number of visitors, followed by Slovenia, Austria and the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the number of Italians has dropped in the past two or three years and the number of tourists from Poland and the Czech Republic has increased, and this year, for the first time, exceeds that of Italy.
The mobile homes have been sold out practically since the beginning of the season, while the situation is different for pitches, we have to push a little to find customers, play with prices…
Camping Business: What is the Covid situation in Croatia now? How did the campsites deal with this period: did they follow a shared protocol, or did everyone act according to their own sensitivity?
Adriano Palman: I would say that the health situation is very similar to that of other European countries such as Spain, Italy or Germany. Obviously, all the campsites are equipped to comply with the basic safety protocols, but the Ministry of Tourism has done even more, preparing a set of stricter measures, with the recognition of a special label for those who follow them. And to our great satisfaction, many campsites have signed up. The goal was to let customers know that we respect the rules and that in our facilities they can feel safer than at home. And this effort paid off: there were no problems, and the season went very well.
Camping Business: Speaking of campsites, what evolution has there been in Croatia regarding their ownership? We know that here too there is a centralization in some large groups, but is this policy of acquisitions continuing?
Adriano Palman: In reality, unlike Italy, Spain and Germany, there have always been large groups in Croatia. What happens now is that one large group acquires another one. It is certainly a positive thing on the investment front, because access to capital is clearly facilitated. In fact, in the last 10-15 years we have seen large investments, which have transformed our facilities into high quality campsites. Large groups move quickly, they do not hesitate, indeed there is almost a competition to see who will be the best.
The downside, however, is that in Croatia there is a lack of family-run campsites, with a more personal soul, where you feel an extra touch, a certain attention to detail. Campsites like this are difficult to find, even if some small structures, around 30, have begun to invest in quality and are beginning to be recognized in Europe. There is certainly a growing demand for these campsites, but it is a sector that we still need to develop and find the place it deserves.
Camping Business: What contribution does the Federation make to its members, large or small?
Adriano Palman: Our association moves at 360 degrees. First of all, it has an active lobbying role on everything that has to do with laws and regulations which affect our sector. It can be said that a third of our business is concentrated on this. Precisely for Covid-19 we had a continuous dialogue with the Ministries and institutions to participate in the decisions to be taken: for example on which borders to open first, the tourists of which nations to accept on our territory and with whom to make bilateral agreements. The priority has always been to arrive at shared, quick, but above all effective and feasible decisions.
Then, of course, we also face more specific problems for us, such as that of the tourist territory that did not belong to the companies, a problem that derives from the old nation, Yugoslavia.
The second thing we take great care of is promotion: we are present at fairs, we work with journalists, we collaborate with our tourism bodies where they are present in Europe, we help all the structures to promote. For example, we have prepared two different brochures, one dedicated to larger campsites, the other to smaller ones, to highlight the different development and promotion needs.
Finally, we also push a lot on the front of “education” and “training”, organizing trips to see how the best European campsites are structured or conferences in which we talk about the most important practices adopted around us.
Davide Damiani – RePower