Croatia is beautiful,unspoild and
Times Online
November 3 2002
Croatia starts to catch on
MORE THAN 20 tour operators are to start offering trips
to Croatia next year following a record rise in the
number of British visitors this summer, Sarah Turner
writes.
Tourists had been slow to revisit Croatia since the war
in neighbouring Kosovo ended three years ago, but this
summer saw numbers increase by almost a quarter.
Tourist officials now expect 110,000 Britons to travel
to the former Yugoslav country this year, a 22 per cent
increase on 2001. Simply Travel, Cosmos and Headwater
are among the big names to start offering trips there
next year.
Simply Travel features 14 hotels and 12 self-catering
properties, including four agro-tourism projects in
Istria, for next summer. “Croatia is beautiful,unspoild and you can do
everything, from a weekend in Dubrovnik to two weeks in
a villa on an island in the archipelago,” said Sally
Balcombe, a spokeswoman.
Cosmos is offering 11 hotels serviced by Pula airport in
the north, and six near Dubrovnik in the south.
“Croatia is picturesque and cultured with loads of
history. It’s probably more for the older market, rather
than groups of girls and lads,” said Jill Standeven of
Cosmos.
Croatian National Tourist Board (020-8563 7979, www.croatia.hr ); Simply Travel (020-8541 2222); Cosmos (0800-093 3922).
Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd.
