Croatian tourism 'googled' more and more

All leading tourism institutions in Croatia cooperate with the Google company in line with global trends and this year it is expected that the demand for small and medium sized tourism companies will be increased because of their better understanding and know how of the digital world and its environment, Google's Adriatic regional director Josko Mrndze told Hina on Tuesday.

He added that more and more companies in Croatia were showing interest in Google's services which is logical considering the interest shown for the Internet by the tourism sector and consequently with Google as the leading global search provider.

The tourism industry is increasingly using the services that the Internet and Google have to offer for advertising in an effort to better position tourism products and services, Mrndze said.

Good examples of useful cooperation to strengthen services in Croatia can be seen in recent introductions of Street View and Google Maps, but also tools such as Google AdWords which assists hotels, renters and other service providers to be better determine target groups, towns, regions and countries they wish to advertise. These services also provide measurable results and a way to precisely calculate the return on investments made.

Mrndze underscored that the presence of the Croatian Tourism Board (HTZ) as the country's umbrella organisation on the Internet with links to other commercial stakeholders in the sector, has raised its recognisability on the global market.

The Internet is dynamic and 70% of searches for tourism related topics start on the Internet, 60% of which are conducted through Google. Last year there was a significant growth in the number of searches for Croatia compared to 2011 and Mrndze believes that the number of 'googles' for Croatia will continue to grow this year particularly due to intensified on-line activities by the HTZ but also as a result of Croatia's upcoming entry to the European Union. (Hina)