The Association of British Travel Agents are gathered in Dubrovnik for their annual conference at Dubrovnik’s Hotel Palace. Croatian Tourist Board director, Meri Matesic greeted press and the ABTA agents at a conference held on Sunday night, ”Hosting this conference is significant for Croatia, not just because of the importance of the British market and the fact that British guests are the no.1 visitors to Croatia, but because we believe that with this conference we are nearing our short term goal of achieving pre-war figures (1990 season) of half a million tourists.”
Preparation for the conference began 18 months ago when Croatia and Dubrovnik were presented to the ABTA in Turkey as a host. Mark Tanzer, ABTA executive director told press thanked the Croatian Tourist Board and Dubrovnik, ”Croatia is changing fast and turning towards the British market, meaning that this is an opportunity to present what it has to offer to our colleagues, tour operators, cruise lines and travel agencies. So thank you for the conference and we expect success.”
Hugh Morgan, ABTA board member and director of Monarch Airlines which flies from several UK destinations to Dubrovnik spoke of his pleasure at being in Dubrovnik, ”Dubrovnik is a special jewel in our crown, and our best program. It’s exceptionally successful, in 2013 we saw an increase of 53,000 passengers with nine flights per week. In 2014 we plan twelve flights per week to Dubrovnik and Split.”
The ABTA conference will take place from the 20th-22nd October at Hotel Dubrovnik Palace and Hotel Valamar Lacroma.
