Bernd Fischer, Ambassador of the Republic of Germany in Croatia
Five Stars Croatia Issue 5 — April 01, 2010.

Every year more than 1,5 Mio Germans visit Croatia, almost a quarter of all foreign tourists. This number is certainly going to increase over the years. Germans have become more and more aware that Croatia is rapidly improving its tourist sector.

Since I address the readers of the Five Star Croatia magazine, let me especially  mention the development of new fantastic Five star hotels in your country. They reach from the far north of Istria to Dubrovnik in the south and also include  Zagreb. As the German Ambassador it makes me especially proud that the German Kempinski group is now present in Savudrija among those flagships of luxury tourism. German guests appreciate as well the dramatic increase in the number of hotels of the Four- and Three star category along the coast. They offer an especially welcome opportunity for the busy urban professional tourists who like to have themselves indulged in a short stay away from the job. Germans also note the dramatic improvement in the quality of apartments all along the coast and the private rooms for rent. The fact that with a few mouseclicks they can in the Internet quickly list the big variety of beds in every single town or village on the coast and make a booking on the phone in German language, appeals especially to young families with children.

More and more Germans travel at rather short notice by car and are pleased to do that via the modern express ways of Croatia.

Imagine the future when our tourists will not be stopped at border crossings in a Croatia fully integrated in the EU! The improvement of the quality of the Adriatic water, the safety of the diving stations, of the coastal places for tourists including such simple but important things as functioning showers is a positiv ongoing process. Also my optimism over the ever increasing attractivity of touristic destinations in Croatia is founded on the fact that almost every day  great new restaurants open with fresh and healthy products, and the abundance of local great wines.

Life style becomes more and more a key fact for the decision of tourists where to go for their vacations. This includes cultural sites and cultural events all year round. You just have to go through the list of UNESCO recommendations and the fabulous infrastructure of Croatian national parks to understand why more and more tourists not only come to Croatia to swim in the Adriatic but also enjoy the culture. Germans visit the country all over the year and also go into the far-out corners of the country to discover new beautiful areas for most of them such as Slavonia or the back country of Istria or Dalmatia.

An important factor for Germans is safety. The crime statistics of Croatia is impeccable. The joint inspection of tourist destinations by German and Croatian policemen is more of a service nature than to defend German tourists against aggression. This leads me to activities of the German government and other German institutions to improve the quality of vacations for Germans in Croatia. We have recently completed our network on honorary consuls by adding two prominent personalities to our existing consular network, Consul Robert Ježić in Rijeka and Consul Ivica Škojo in Osijek. With their officers they provide consular assistance to Germans as it already happens through Consul Vice Dodig in Split. All three are helped by the hard working staff of the consular section of the German Embassy in Zagreb.

The southern German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg have many special links to Croatia as have German cities with their sister cities, for example Berlin with Split or Bad Homburg with Dubrovnik. Many tourists come to Croatia as a by-product of these friendly relations between citizens. More than a quarter of the German tourists are members of the German Automobile Club (ADAC). The ADAC not only provides a very good service through its call center in Zagreb to German automobile tourists but it also ranks campgrounds, restaurants and other installations. It found the campgrounds in Umag and Zaton especially attractive. German tourism companies offer very attractive packages and of course Lufthansa and other German airlines bring those tourists to Croatia who want to leave their cars at home. Certainly the day will come that tourists will find it attractive to use trains to come here.

Germany and Croatia stand before a very important new phase of their friendship after the conclusion of the EU process. I see in this phase tourism developing to new hights. In the German Croatian Economic Forum on June 15 and 16, 2010, which will usher in a new phase of German-Croatian business relations, the cooperation in the field of tourism will be an important topic. I expect that interesting new joint activities will be starting from there.

The reader will understand that as the German Ambassador to Croatia I will also have to point at the „Five star Germany“-opportunities and hope that more and more Croatians will visit the beautiful places all over my country. Not only events such as the Oktoberfest in Munich which now already attracts many Croatians  but also our castles, museums or Christkindelmarkets, our mountains and beautiful rivers wait for tourists from Croatia.