The official opening of the promotional season of Croatia as a tourist destination in the Russian Federation started in Moscow on the 23rd of January with the traditional ‘’Sell Croatia’’ workshop.

‘’Sell Croatia’’ gathered 19 Croatian tourist companies and more than 80 Russian partners and companies that expressed their interest in the workshop, mainly tour operators and agencies, including key Russian tour operators for Croatian market such as Paks, TUI, VIP Servis, Russian Express and PAC Group.

The director of the Croatian National Tourist Board branch office in Russia Rajko Ružička, the Croatian Ambassador to the Russian Federation Tonči Staničić, and the Croatian consul at the Croatian Embassy in the Russian Federation Siniša Ivanec presented Croatia’s tourist offer and investment potentials to Russian media representatives and representatives of Croatian and Russian tourist companies.

The director of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) in Moscow Jakov Despot presented services and activities of the HGK branch office as well as the support the HGK provides to Croatian companies that operate or would like to operate in the Russian Federation.

In addition, the director of the HTZ branch office in Russia Rajko Ružička presented the results of Croatian tourism in 2017, activity plans for 2018, potentials and possibilities of Croatia as a tourist destination for Russian tourists and the Russian tourist industry as well as the most important Croatian tourist products.

‘’The Russian Federation is the most densely populated European country and, according to statistical indicators of arrivals and overnight stays, it is not even among the top twenty countries in Croatia. Thus, there is a lot of room for improving cooperation and increasing the number of arrivals of Russian tourists’’, explained Ružička.

At the workshop, it was agreed that the Croatian Chamber of Commerce will continue to provide support in promoting the work and operations of Croatian national airline company Croatia Airlines and will participate in the preparation and implementation of the company's tourist workshop in St. Petersburg. The aim of the workshop is to promote direct flights of Croatia Airlines from Zagreb to St. Petersburg.