Истина жива. Доста тога је постало потпуно пластично.
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I don't write too often about problems and issues in Croatian tourism any more (although I will publish a big piece about Carpe Diem and the Hvar party after my visit this weekend) as all it brought me was likes, threats and lawsuits, but one thought on one of the topics of the moment, repivoting Croatian tourism, namely the explosion of private beds (some bright spark allowed 400,000 private beds in 2010 to become 1.3 million today). Even worse is how impersonal the whole travel arrival experience has become everywhere, something that often used to be a highlight.
I am chatting with Goran Milic at the Croatian Travel Festival in Sibenik on Friday on Why Travel Before Technology Was Better, More Real and More Memorable, and my memory of my first check-in in Jelsa in 2002 came flooding back.
There were no internet booking engines, no TripAdvisor page to check, social media and blogging were yet to be invented. There were two basic choices, look out for a Zimmer Frei sign either at the property, or coming off the bus or ferry, or visit an accommodation agency in the destination and watch the employee ringing around town to find you an apartment.
We opted for the latter, looking for two rooms for three nights in the middle of August. They found us a place and asked us to wait until the owner's daughter came to show us the way. 5 mins later, a very cute 5-year old girl called Ivana arrived. The employee explained that Ivana did not speak English but would show us the way, that she would sit on my knee in the front seat of the car and point which way to go.
And so we were introduced to the quaint back streets of Jelsa. Ivana pointed to our parking spot and took us to our place, part of the family home. Her mother was on the terrace with her friend and welcomed us with complimentary grapes, watermelon and rakija before we shared a bottle of wine for more than an hour. Only then did we go to our rooms. It was magical, and I fell in love with what would become my home town for 13 years on the spot.
How many accommodation arrival experiences can I even recall since the arrival and auto checkins in the last 15 years? Very few, and almost none to that quality or level of clarity.
The human factor is an essential part of tourism, and the businesses here who understand that do very well. Can we rediscover the magic of that 2002 summer with all the tech and mass tourism? It would be nice to think so but I am not optimistic. Am looking forward to seeing how this tourism repivot might look once we have finished with the slogans.
Не бојим се вражјега кота, нека га је ка' на гори листа, но се бојим од зла домаћега!
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Originally Posted by Mojsije
savršenstvo oko 7min.
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