Tourism ministry plans to attract larger number of Russian tourists

The Croatian Tourism Ministry and the Croatian Tourism Board (HTZ), together with the HDZ office in Moscow, have been conducting additional activities this year again to attract Russian tourists, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

It recalled that last week Tourism Minister Anton Kliman held official talks with Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miro Kovac to agree on simplifying and expediting the visa issuance procedure for Russian tourists travelling to Croatia.

Considering the Ministry's efforts and the HTZ's promotional activities, it is evident that our goal is to attract Russian tourists, the ministry said in the statement.

"We are very much pleased with excellent information from Russia regarding tourists' interest in Croatia, as well as with the fact that according to National Geographic, Russians consider Croatia a top destination for a family holiday. That will definitely be one of the topics of a meeting Minister Kliman and the Ambassador of the Russian Federation will have tomorrow," the ministry said.

The statement was issued in response to a statement by Russian Ambassador Anvar Azimov that was published in the media this past weekend.

In it Azimov says that when he recently spoke with representatives of the Croatian Tourism Ministry and informed them that 300,000 Russians planned to visit the Croatian Adriatic this summer, he was told that Adriatic destinations had already been booked by guests from Austria and Germany and was asked to try to reduce the number of Russian visitors to 100,000 if possible.

"We do not know to which specific conversation His Excellency is referring to, given that the official meeting between the Ambassador and Tourism Minister Anton Kliman, scheduled earlier and unrelated to this specific topic, is set to take place on Monday," the ministry said.

(Hina/FaH)