All roads lead to Rome! The eternal city is certainly the IN destination this year, it seems that everyone is following in the footsteps of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck and going on a Roman holiday. And anyone who doubts the power of the silver screen when it comes to promoting a destination should bear in the mind that this classic was released on 70 years ago!

“See you in five days,” waved my wife and friends as I dropped them off at the airport.

Yes, my wife has joined the long list of Rome visitors this spring. I have no proof, but I think more people from Dubrovnik have visited Rome this March and April, than Romans have been to the south of Croatia.

Just as I was dropping off my wife I saw another two friends on the same flight.

It got me thinking. Why is it so popular? Why is Rome at the top of the list? In other words, what can we as a destination learn from the Italian capital?

I know it’s a little like comparing apples with oranges, but maybe there are a few lessons.

Now, let me first say that I am a self-confessed Rome lover. “Rome is varied, extensive, beautiful to the eye, and more illustrious in history than any other in Europe.” Not my words, but the words of Mark Twain. It is a chaotic city that has a soul and a swagger like a model on a catwalk.

So why is everyone going there?

Well, firstly (and probably most importantly) it is cheap to get to! The sheer number of flights (the ninth busiest airport in Europe) is staggering and for the same price as a good meal (or a few hours of parking on Pile) in Dubrovnik you can book a return ticket.

Accommodation prices are probably somewhere on a par with us, and they have a lot, over 30,000 just on Airbnb!

Food prices are also similar.

Of course attraction wise there is a lot to see, and that is a massive understatement.

Photo - Canva

Related - A Surprise Reunion in Enchanting Rome: A Memorable Moment in the Eternal City

But one thing kept coming up when I started to speak to people about why they went to Rome. And that was for a specific reason, and quite often micro reasons.

“I have a list of three restaurants I want to visit and that’s my motivation,” said one family member. “I want to see the opening of an exhibition,” said another. A third was going just to attend a concert, and another to just visit the Vatican.

These were all in the short-stay or long weekend section of travel. One friend went for two days just to watch a Lazio match.

How many tourists come to Dubrovnik with similar goals? I am guessing less than 1 percent. A friend told me that in the 1980’s her aunt would fly down from Zagreb just to catch an event in the Summer Festival. I think these days of laser-focused visits are behind us.

Yes, Game of Thrones somewhat revived the trend, but it is rather shining beacon as opposed to the norm. We need more events and happenings, such as the Du Motion, the Good Food Festival, the triathlon and the Midsummer Scene Festival. Events that would motivate a tourist whilst scrolling through their social media feeds to book a long weekend. Or to steal a line from a Hollywood movie, “If you build it, they will come.”

It would appear that thanks to a certain low-cost Irish airline that we have half-solved our transport issues, we have over fifty hotels and although we may not boast the grandeur of Rome's iconic attractions, we are just as appealing.

The days of mass tourism are well in the past and the new trend is exactly micro-tourism.

A world tourism institution describes it as “a form of sustainable and responsible tourism that focuses on small-scale, community-based tourism experiences.” Now that sounds like exactly what we have been searching for.

It will take time to conquer, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Read more Englishman in Dubrovnik…well, if you really want to

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About the author
Mark Thomas (aka Englez u Dubrovniku) is the editor of The Dubrovnik Times. He was born and educated in the UK and moved to live in Dubrovnik in 1998. He works across a whole range of media, from a daily radio show to TV and in print. Thomas is fluent in Croatian and this column is available in Croatia on the website – Dubrovnik Vjesnik