Croatia Joins Hands with Ctrip to Promote Comprehensive Strategic Tourism Cooperation Between China and Croatia

Croatia is not only a culturally rich ancient nation but also a vibrant country. In January 2020, a travel topic on the Ctrip Travel Photography platform titled #VibrantCroatia attracted numerous participants. With the global popularity of the hit TV series “Game of Thrones,” the historic city of Dubrovnik, one of its filming locations, quickly rose to fame worldwide, captivating countless Chinese fans and travelers and driving increasing interest in traveling to Croatia. KOLs on the Ctrip platform have also posted vividly illustrated travel diaries about Croatia on their personal pages, attracting a large fan following.

(Photo of Dubrovnik)

In recent years, China has consistently ranked first globally in both the number of outbound tourists and travel expenditure. Among these, the “Belt and Road” regions including Central and Eastern Europe have seen particularly high tourism popularity. Chinese enthusiasm for traveling to Europe continues to surge, and Croatia, as one of the most important tourist destinations in the Mediterranean, boasts a long-standing tourism tradition and immense development potential. It has become one of the fastest-growing travel hotspots, truly earning the title of a “dark horse.”

Diverse and unique, Croatia features ancient and magnificent city walls, sapphire-like seas, and thrilling football spectacles. After Croatia won the runner-up trophy in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, enthusiasm among the Chinese public soared. According to data from the Ctrip platform, between February and March 2019, China had entered the top ten source markets for Croatia.

Ctrip Destination Marketing and the Croatian National Tourist Board have established a long-term and stable cooperative relationship, providing Croatia with diversified, one-stop, precision marketing services including online advertising and social media promotion, which have contributed to the continuous enhancement of Croatia’s tourism brand.

On June 7, 2019, in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, James Liang, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Ctrip, was invited to hold talks with Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. The dialogue covered various topics including achievements in tourism and cultural development between China and Croatia, the opening and improvement of visa systems, and destination marketing cooperation.

President Grabar-Kitarović stated that China has in recent years become an important source country for visitors to Croatia and acknowledged Ctrip’s international development and contributions to the tourism industries of both countries.

Starting December 2019, the Croatian National Tourist Board led a comprehensive collaboration with Ctrip Destination Marketing and the Ctrip Travel Photography business line, dispatching influencers to explore Croatia and discover its joys. According to Ctrip travel officials, current group tour products to Croatia mainly focus on Balkan routes. A newly developed “Italy–Croatia” route launched in 2019 was met with enthusiastic response from users, and a 9-day in-depth experience tour of Croatia will be introduced soon.

According to relevant data, as the largest online travel group in Asia and the second largest globally, Ctrip Group’s Destination Marketing has engaged in integrated marketing collaborations with over 300 destinations worldwide. Visitor numbers to many of these destinations have increased by more than 100%. In the future, Ctrip Group will continue to leverage its advantages in big data, large platforms, and extensive product resources to support the development of Croatia’s tourism industry and attract more Chinese tourists to visit Croatia.