Croatia Is Moving Next Year’s Focus Markedly Away From Its Biggest Attraction – The Shocking Adriatic Coast – In Favor Of Promoting More Inland Tourism.

From ‘The Mediterranean as it Was Once ‘ to ‘The New Tourism Star of the European Union ‘, the Croatian Traveller Board’s new promotional video shows a marked change in approach and focus for 2012.

After another successful tourism season in Croatia, the national traveller board has sprung a surprise with the releasing of its 2012 promotional video, moving next year’s focus clearly away from its largest attraction – the shocking Adriatic coast – in favor of promoting more inland tourism.

The four-and-a-half minute video, a superbly produced piece featuring star Croatian cellist Ana Rucner playing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, definitely grabs the awareness, as she moves from the fields of rural Croatia to the trams of Zagreb and eventually to the Croatian coast.

As a spectacular high level view of the whole country, it lays out the various nature of the previous Yugoslav republic’s toursim offer, and it shows a marked change in the tourism ministry’s focus on tourism, a crucial sector in Croatia’s economy.

The states tourism industry has recovered well from the devastation of the recent war in the area, mostly because of a highly effective promotional campaign under the slogan, The Mediterranean as it Once Was, whose focus was on the attractions of the Adriatic coast, with its wonderful stone walled cities, such as Dubrovnik, and desirable islands such as Hvar.

The method worked, and the official tourism numbers reflect an impressive rate of growth in the sector, which continued in 2011, with Tourism Minister Damir Bajs revealing a 7.6% increase in holiday makers in the 1st nine months of 2011 of the correspondent period in the year before, while overnite stays were up 6.7%, according to local media reports.

The Croatian coast pulls plenty of younger holiday makers, drawn to the beaches and party atmosphere, an angle that was conspicuously missing from the new video, which centered more about the heritage, traditions and variety of the country.

The ministry could be banking on the fact that the coast is now sufficiently well marketed to sell itself, with Dubrovnik now an exceedingly sought-after destination, while the island of Hvar was recently named as Lonely Planet’s number 5 destination for 2012. Actually the new official slogan – The New Tourism Star of the EU Union – counsels an exit away from the coast,writes tagza.com.