100.000 applications and 50 percent new users: Valamar's campaign for Pical Resort was much more than a prize game

Campaign “Win a lifetime vacation in Pical!”, launched by Valamar on the occasion of the opening of the Pical Resort 5*, Valamar Collection in Poreč, won the award in the category Best Export Campaign at MIXX Awards Croatia as part of Communication Day.

But what started as an idea for an attractive, viral and media-heavy campaign on social networks ultimately grew into a much more important story: one of the largest lead generation campaigns in Croatian tourism.

The goal was never just to promote the new Pical Resort - the largest tourism project in Croatia with a total investment value of 200 million euros, and Valamar branding, rather than collecting data. And not only for Pical.

As I stated before in the two articles below. 

/ / / The best prize game in Croatian tourism? Maybe, but the real story is digital identity and long-term guest relationships

/ / / Why does a user base of 100.000 make perfect sense, even though Pical is a luxury hotel?

According to data provided by Valamar, the campaign attracted more than 100.000 registered users, and what is new is that more than 50 percent of registered users were completely new to Valamar's database.

And therein, in fact, lies the key value of the entire campaign.

Because the prize was an excellent communication bait. “A lifetime vacation in Pical” sounds more than attractive, emotional and simple enough to trigger enormous public attention. But the real value of the campaign was not only in its virality, reach or number of posts on social networks, but in the fact that Valamar built a direct relationship with a large number of potential guests through the campaign.

In tourism in 2026 - and it will only be crucial later, in the time of the growth of AI agents, i.e. new AI distribution, precisely the own channel of direct communication with guests (loyalty programs and data) will be and is the "holy grail" in tourism. And that is much more important than visibility itself, although it was great, as part of the campaign. 

Back in the campaign announcement, I wrote that beneath the surface of this prize game lies something much more important than the giveaway format. The campaign was not just a prize game, but data strategy, focused on creating verified digital identities of guests and potential customers before Pical Resort even opened its doors.

Now, after the end of the campaign and the award won, this thesis is only further confirmed.

With this campaign, Valamar didn't just promote the new resort. It created interest, a base, a communication channel and future sales before the opening of Pical. funnelIn other words, Pical Resort didn't just hit the market when it opened its doors. It started building its relationship with guests months earlier.

In the first article about the campaign, an important fact was highlighted: the raffle was open globally, which allowed Pical Resort to build not only domestic visibility, but also international reach and a base of potential guests before the opening. That is exactly why the award in the Best Export Campaign category makes sense. This was not a local campaign for a local effect, but a campaign that placed the new Croatian premium tourist product in a wider, international communication framework.

But the figure of 100.000 applicants should not be read solely as the number of participants in the prize draw.

It is a new database of contacts, data, interests, preferences and potential future guests. More importantly, more than half of the registered users were new users in Valamar's database. This means that the campaign not only activated the existing audience, but opened up a completely new pool of potential guests for Valamar's portfolio.

And here we come to what is still often underestimated in Croatian tourism.

Valamar is not one hotel. Valamar is an ecosystem of hotels, campsites, destinations, different price categories and different reasons for coming. Therefore, the question is not whether all 100.000 users will ever stay at Pical Resort.

Of course not. The question is how many of them can enter Valamar's sales and communication system, how many can be segmented according to interests, how many can be connected to the brand in the long term, and how many will book another Valamar product in the future.

I wrote about this right after the competition ended: the database is not being built exclusively for Pical Resort. New users are not viewed just as potential guests of a luxury resort, but as future guests of the entire Valamar ecosystem.

This is the difference between a campaign and a strategy. The campaign ends when the prizes are distributed. The strategy begins only then.

If 100.000 entries are viewed only through the prism of the prize game, then we see a nice marketing result. But if we look at it through the prism of CRM, direct sales, loyalty, segmentation and our own communication channels, then we see a much bigger picture. Through one creative idea, Valamar accelerated the building of its own database and reduced its dependence on intermediaries in future communication with guests.

This is especially important at a time when OTA platforms, metasearch, Google and now AI tools are increasingly taking over the beginning of travel research. In such an environment, your own user base is no longer a marketing accessory. It becomes a strategic infrastructure.

A hotel company (why not a destination?) that has its own database can communicate directly. It can personalize its offer, which is the biggest step forward today and is unrivaled. 

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It can build loyalty. It can better understand demand. It can activate guests at the right moment. And, most importantly, it doesn't have to buy guest attention over and over again through third-party platforms.

That's why this campaign is an important lesson for Croatian tourism.

Not because someone came up with an attractive prize game. There are many such formats. But because an attractive idea is combined with a clear business goal: building a base, increasing direct reach, and creating a long-term relationship with the guest.

The award at the Days of Communication confirms the creative and market value of the campaign. But the true business value of the campaign is only now beginning to be measured.

Because if this base is segmented wisely, which I have no doubt in the case of Valamar, which has the strongest digital system, and internally, if relevant communication is made with users, if loyalty and direct sales are built through it, then this campaign will not only be remembered as "the best prize game in Croatian tourism", but as an example of how a digital advantage is built in the Croatian hotel industry.

This is the biggest victory of Valamar - 50 percent of new users in the database and data. 

And that is one of the most valuable currencies in tourism today.