SUMMER hasn’t brought more work to travel agencies, and a drop in turnover is still estimated to be around 90 percent, only with a few exceptions in certain regions. Given the ways of traveling and booking in the coronavirus crisis, we don’t expect progress soon, said the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies Director Tomislav Fain.
Commenting on the current tourism trends in travel agencies for Hina, Fain points out that the coronavirus situation hasn’t improved in the summer, a period when their business much depends on the destination, the region of their work, and the products they deal with.
That’s why agencies in Istria and Kvarner have some work this summer because there are many tourists there, but it’s far from last year’s agency turnover. At the same time, there is no work in Dalmatia, i.e., in the Dubrovnik-Neretva area, on islands, and on the continental part of the country.
Real estate agencies work neither very good nor very bad, services at destinations aren't doing well
“The increased number of tourists in Croatia doesn’t bring any profit to agencies. We don’t expect any progress in August or after summer, because the majority of tourists travel in cars and by individual arrangements. At the destinations, tourists also don’t ask for trips, transfers, or other services that agencies offer, so they are recording perhaps only 10 percent of last year’s turnover,” said Fain.
He confirmed that by saying that last year, at least ten full excursion boats were sailing out of Zadar every day, whereas now it’s maybe one half-full boat per day.
Agencies that work with distant and European markets and group tours say that they almost have no work. The only positive thing is that most of them managed to postpone this year’s reservations for 2021 in agreement with the clients. Those who have some work are real estate agencies in private accommodation, especially luxury, such as villas, holiday homes, etc.
“Private accommodations are booked more this summer than other types of accommodation, and the agencies that do business in private accommodation feel that, especially on the Adriatic coast, although it’s not the same in all counties. But not even those agencies have achieved 50 percent of the 2019 turnover, and agencies that work with hotels have achieved only 10 or 30 percent. It’s all less than a total tourism turnover, which has reached more than 50 percent in July when arrivals and overnight stays on eVisitor are taken into consideration,” Fain pointed out.
The situation on eVisitor isn’t bad, but it’s not seen at tourist destinations
According to the numbers on eVisitor, the tourism situation perhaps isn’t that bad, but despite that, Fain said, the people are complaining that they don’t see that number of tourists on the streets and the turnover. He thinks that 55 percent, and somewhere even more, of the last year’s turnover in July should, however, be seen.
“The explanation is simple - this year, probably because of the fear of coronavirus, the “Enter Croatia” application and issued invoices, all tourists are signing in via eVisitor, while last year, for example, at least 30 percent of them weren’t signed in the system. Now we have a number above 50 percent, which is correct, but if the turnover were really on last year’s level, we would have seen the crowds, but there aren’t any,” Fain commented.
The season can be saved by adhering to the prescribed measures
After he pointed out that it’s difficult to predict what tomorrow brings and let alone the next month or in the fall, especially because summer and fall reservations are practically booked and canceled within the same day due to the relaxed measures, Fain added that the agencies have little expectations.
“The situation with reservations is one step forward - one step back. It’s not likely that agencies will have more work; the state aid for workers and liquidity are now saving them. We hope for them to continue even after August, we will talk about that matter with the authorities at the beginning of August,” Fain announced.
He said that the good thing is that tourism remained in the separate ministry even with the new government. They are also monitoring the situation regarding the warning of the European Commission for Croatia due to the legal introduction of vouchers and the reimbursement deadline to travelers for canceled, i.e., postponed agency travels, but no one is going to be damaged, because the law says that travelers can get their refund 180 days after the end of the epidemic has been declared in Croatia if they don’t want to use the voucher.
“The season can be saved, and August could be good if the epidemiological situation doesn’t worsen, and if we all are responsible and adhere to the National Coronavirus Task Force’s measures. With the current numbers, Croatia is still a desirable and one of the safest destinations for summer vacation,” Fain concluded.