"That's not my topic." Maybe that's exactly the problem with Croatian tourism

Hotels, camps, apartments, agencies and tourist boards are all part of the same system. In tourism, we have to look beyond our own sector.

In tourism there is no "someone else's topic"".

At HrTurizm, we write about tourism development every day. About hotels, campsites, private accommodation, travel agencies, destination management, investments, infrastructure, traffic, sustainability, technology, artificial intelligence, markets, research, trends, local population, taxes, workforce, climate change...

And through conversations with people from different parts of the tourism sector, I often notice one interesting thing.

If the article is about the hotel industry, some people who are not from the hotel industry will automatically conclude that the topic is not for them. If we are writing about private accommodation, hoteliers may just skip over the title. If we are talking about destination management, someone from the operational part of tourism will think that it is a topic for tourist boards and local governments. Campsites follow campsites, agencies follow agencies, hoteliers follow the hotel industry, and renters follow private accommodation.

It's understandable that everyone follows their own segment of business the most. The problem arises when we start to believe that this is the only part of tourism that concerns us.

Because in tourism, there is actually almost no "foreign topic".

Tourism is not a collection of separate industries that happen to operate in the same area. A hotel is not an island. A campsite is not an island. A restaurant is not an island. A private renter is not an island. A travel agency is not an island. An attraction is not an island. Even a large international hotel company, no matter how strong a brand it has, is not a destination unto itself.

We are all part of the same tourism ecosystem. And what happens in one part of it sooner or later spills over to the others.

If a destination has a traffic problem, it's not just a city problem. It's a hotel problem whose guest stands in line for an hour. A restaurant problem that a guest can't get to. A rental agency problem that can't arrange a transfer. A rental company problem whose guest writes in a review that the destination is overcrowded.

If real estate and rental prices start to crowd out local residents, it's not just a housing or political issue. It's also a question of the workforce, quality of life, residents' attitudes toward tourism, the authenticity of the destination, and ultimately the quality of the tourism product.

If climate change is changing travel patterns, it's not just a topic for destination organizations or climatologists. The season changes for the hotelier, the operating conditions for the campsite, the demand for the agency, the network for the airline, and the assumptions on which the return on investment is calculated for the investor.

If artificial intelligence is changing the way a guest searches for and books a trip, it's not just a technology issue or an OTA platform issue. It is a question of distribution for the hotel, visibility for the destination, the future of the travel agency business model and direct sales for anyone who sells something to a guest.

We could go on like this forever... but you get the point.

This is precisely why I believe that one of the most important qualities of a tourism professional is the ability to see beyond one's own backyard or the bigger picture. 

Of course, a hotelier must know what is happening in the hotel industry. But he must also understand the destination in which he operates. A landlord must follow the regulations of private accommodation, but he must also understand what is happening with air connectivity, markets, prices, perception of the destination and guest behavior. A tourist board director must follow destination management, but he must also understand the economics of hotels, the challenges of private accommodation, agency operations, catering, mobility, space and the needs of the local population.

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It's not that we all become experts in everything. We neither can nor should we be.

But because we have to understand the relationships between things. That, to me, is a big difference.

Destination is the sun around which everything revolves.

When we talk about tourism, we often divide it into sectors because it is easier for us to analyze the market. We have hotels, camping, private accommodation, yachting, agencies, catering, transport, attractions... Business-wise and statistically, such a division makes sense. But the guest does not experience the trip that way.

A guest does not come into our statistical category. He comes to the destination.

His experience does not begin at the hotel reception and does not end with checkout. It begins long before arrival, from the information he has found, the availability of the destination, the flight or the road he is arriving on, and continues through accommodation, gastronomy, public space, beach, parking, local people, events, shopping, taxis, cleanliness, safety, crowds, prices and dozens of other touchpoints.

You can have the best hotel in Croatia, but if everything around it is bad, the guest will not take home just the hotel experience.

They will take away the experience of the destination.

The same is true the other way around. A great destination increases the value of every business entity that operates there. Its reputation, layout, accessibility, gastronomy, culture, safety, atmosphere and quality of life become part of the value of a hotel room, apartment, campsite or tourist package.

That's why I like to view the destination as the sun of our tourism system. Everything revolves around it, in one way or another.

Without a reason to come, there is no need for a bed. We sometimes forget that.

Broadness of view is a business necessity today

That's why when we publish research on the attitude of the local population towards tourism on HrTurizma, it's not just an article for tourist boards. Everyone else should read it too. When we write about changes in private accommodation, it is not an article only for renters. Changing the accommodation structure changes the destination, the labor market, prices, the investment climate and the competitive position of the hotel. When we analyze a new airline, it's not just news for the airport or the tourist community. The new line opens the market to hotels, camps, agencies, restaurants and the entire destination.

When we talk about carrying capacity, water, waste, traffic or housing, we are not talking about some abstract “destination topics.” We are talking about the fundamental conditions in which every tourism entity will operate tomorrow.

Likewise, tourism boards need to understand what is happening to hoteliers. Destination management without understanding the business realities of the private sector can hardly be quality destination management.

Everything goes both ways.

Perhaps this is one of the weaknesses of our tourism. We talk too often within our own circles. Hoteliers with hoteliers. Renters with renters. Agencies with agencies. Tourist boards with each other. The public sector with its institutions. And then we are surprised when we do not have a common answer to a problem that was common from the beginning.

 Or, perhaps more precisely, we talk too much - although not all with each other, and Too little actually we talk.

Tourism is horizontal precisely because it intersects with almost everything: economy, space, transport, housing, agriculture, culture, sports, trade, environment, technology and quality of life. It is difficult to expect that we can understand it vertically, looking only at our own business niche.

And that's why for me the professional monitoring of tourism has never been just a question: What is happening in my sector?

It is much more important to understand What is happening to the destination where we all do business together?, what is happening with other partners and stakeholders in tourism, and in what direction the entire system is developing.

This is where the bigger picture begins. And without a broader picture, we can hardly talk about the serious development of tourism. Because in the end we can all deal with our hotel, apartment, camp, restaurant, agency or institution. We can optimize prices, raise quality, invest in marketing and monitor our own KPIs. But the guest does not see all our tables, sectors and institutional divisions. He sees one - destination.

Because it is right now. destination primary motive for arrivalOf course, there are exceptions, but the beginning of almost every customer journey is the same question: Where will we travel? Only then do we choose where we will sleep, what we will do, where we will eat and what we will experience.

That's why the destination is the common denominator for all of us in tourism. And it is precisely it that is the beginning and end of almost every serious discussion about tourism.

Author: Goran RIHELJ

If you are in tourism, it is important to understand how the industry is changing and in what direction the global narrative of destination management is heading.

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