The Croatian Tourist Board in Italy presents the Croatian tourist offer as part of the BIT tourist fair, which will be held in Milan from 10 to 12 April 2022. It is the most important tourist fair in Italy, and in addition to the Croatian National Tourist Board as the main exhibitor, the Croatian stand also presents the tourist boards of Kvarner, Zadar and Šibenik-Knin counties and the city of Zagreb.
The national airline Croatia Airlines is also present at the fair, announcing the operation of a new route on the Milan – Split route from the first half of June.
“The first day of the fair was reserved for a wide audience, and their interest in Croatian destinations is very pronounced. The remaining days of the fair are reserved for business audiences and meetings with partners, who emphasize that the abolition of COVID measures, ie facilitated border crossing protocols will have a positive impact on tourism trends. In accordance with the above, we hope for more Italians in Croatian destinations for the extended Easter weekend, who will be able to use the extended travel weekend on the occasion of Liberation Day, which Italians celebrate on April 25, “said Viviana Vukelic, director of the CNTB Office in Italy, adding that the interest in Croatia is confirmed by numerous publications in Italian media such as RAI, Bell’Europa, Itinerari e Luoghi and others.
That the relaxation of measures and protocols will mean further recovery of the tourism sector is confirmed by numerous airlines which, in addition to previous flights, are introducing new and additional routes to Croatian airports. For example, Ryanair has introduced two new flights, from Brindisi to Zagreb and Turin to Zadar, Ita Airways has announced flights from Rome to Dubrovnik and Split in August, while Sky Alps is introducing a flight from Bolzano to Brac that will run from mid-May to the end September.
Good transport connections between Croatian and Italian destinations are confirmed by catamaran lines that are returning to the offer after a two-year break due to the pandemic. Thus, Venezia lines establishes a line on the route Venice – Poreč / Rovinj / Pula, Liberty lines introduces a line on the route Trieste – Mali Lošinj / Poreč / Rovinj, and there are lines of the carrier Gomo Viaggi, which operated throughout the pandemic route Pesaro-Mali Lošinj and Novalja, and since last year also for Rovinj. Jadrolinija ferries will run from Ancona to Zadar and Split and from Bari to Dubrovnik, while the Italian shipping company SNAV will operate from Ancona to Split.
Let’s add that 980 exhibitors will present themselves at the BIT fair this year, of which about 12 percent are foreigners coming from 31 countries around the world. The fair is divided into topics, ie parts Leisure, Mice Village and Be Tech, while business events at the fair are divided into five areas, Hot Topics, Sustainability, Food Travel, Travel Tech and Travel Lab.