Last year, 1.991.000 passengers passed through Dubrovnik Airport (ZLD), and on Friday, for the first time in its history, ZLD reached the number of two million passengers within a calendar year.The historic result of Dubrovnik Airport, which received this year new terminal capacity of 3 million passengers, is certainly not accidental, and Dubrovnik Airport expects to draw the line at about 2,3 million passengers this year.The walls of Dubrovnik are also joining the trend of breaking records. Thus, this year, fifteen days before last year, the Dubrovnik Walls were visited by one million tourists, regardless of the increase in ticket prices from HRK 30, ie to HRK 150. By the end of the year, the Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities (DPDS) points out that it will have over one million and one hundred thousand visitors. By the way, the Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities has started renovating the Fortress of St. John, and by the end of the year it is expected that the Fortress on Prevlaka will get a new owner, the Municipality of Konavle, and thus under the direction of DPDS will start reconstruction, which will certainly be another additional cultural and historical pearl of Dubrovnik.THREE MILLION NIGHTS ACHIEVED IN DUBROVNIK 9 DAYS EARLIER THAN LAST YEARWe all know well that a fire is extinguished when smoke appears, not when a fire breaks out. Thus, in tourism, in accordance with the growth in the number of arrivals and overnight stays, especially in Croatia where cities are relatively small in terms of fusion,According to the E-visitor tourist check-in and check-out system, Dubrovnik has achieved record tourist results in all types of accommodation since the beginning of the year, with 17% more arrivals and 15% more overnight stays. As of September 03, three million overnight stays were realized, which is 9 days earlier than last year, not including the data on realized nautical overnight stays.From January 1 to September 02, 2017, 876.076 tourists stayed in Dubrovnik, which is as much as 17% more than in the same period in 2016. There were 2.985.324 overnight stays, ie 15% more than last year. In the first eight months, the most numerous tourists were from the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, Spain, Croatia, Sweden, Australia, Italy, and Norway. Markets that stood out in the increase in the number of arrivals are: the United Kingdom (28% more), the United States (39%), China (58%), Brazil (32%), India (64%).From January 1 to September 02 this year, 455.342 guests stayed in hotel accommodation, which is an increase of 7% compared to last year, and 1.546.984 overnight stays were realized, 6% more than last year. In the first seven months of this year, there were 305.048 arrivals in private accommodation, ie 28% more than in the same period last year and 1.066.725 overnight stays, which is 23% more than in 2016.EVERYTHING IS SUPER AND EVERYTHING IS FOR FIVE?We all know well that a fire is extinguished when smoke appears, not when a fire breaks out. Thus, in tourism, in accordance with the growing number of arrivals and overnight stays, especially in Croatia, where cities are relatively small in figure,According to the E-visitor tourist check-in and check-out system, Dubrovnik has achieved record tourist results in all types of accommodation since the beginning of the year, with 17% more arrivals and 15% more overnight stays. As of September 03, three million overnight stays were realized, which is 9 days earlier than last year, not including the data on realized nautical overnight stays.From January 1 to September 02, 2017, 876.076 tourists stayed in Dubrovnik, which is as much as 17% more than in the same period in 2016. There were 2.985.324 overnight stays, ie 15% more than last year. In the first eight months, the most numerous tourists were from the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, Spain, Croatia, Sweden, Australia, Italy, and Norway. Markets that stood out in the increase in the number of arrivals are: the United Kingdom (28% more), the United States (39%), China (58%), Brazil (32%), India (64%).From January 1 to September 02 this year, 455.342 guests stayed in hotel accommodation, which is an increase of 7% compared to last year, and 1.546.984 overnight stays were realized, 6% more than last year. In the first seven months of this year, there were 305.048 arrivals in private accommodation, ie 28% more than in the same period last year and 1.066.725 overnight stays, which is 23% more than in 2016.EVERYTHING IS SUPER AND EVERYTHING IS FOR FIVE or?The idyllic image and prosperity of Dubrovnik is tormented by long-standing problems which, unfortunately, no one has dealt with strategically, and as it usually happens, unfortunately everything comes to a head – the city is cracking at the seams. It is unfortunate that UNESCO must threaten us with taking away the flattering title because we do not care about preserving the walls themselves, as well as that we still have problems with parking, electricity, sewage, water and generally too much load on the entire infrastructure. Worrying is the fact that we live in the 21st century, and we have problems with the distribution of water and electricity. There is also the problem of accommodation of tourist workers. Houses and apartments are rented on all sides, people “move” to garages so that they can put their property in the function of tourism, especially those gold real estate valuable within the walls, and the walls remain without population and authenticity. Prices of services and products are growing rapidly, and quality does not follow the same. Dubrovnik Airport has expanded, and there is still no expressway to Dubrovnik. In line with the large growth of tourists, Dubrovnik also has a problem with the disposal of garbage, which is accumulating more and more from year to year.If the purpose of tourism is to increase the quality of life for the local population, what does that mean for the citizens of Dubrovnik who have lost the city and do not have that quality of life, especially those who are not directly connected to tourism. However, someone needs to work in other activities as well. By the way, in the historic core in 2016, there are 516 service facilities, and the number is only growing every year, while the population is falling. With once 5.000 inhabitants within the walls, today there are only about 1.500. A good portion of the local population only has crowds, noise and a more expensive cost of living, but I wonder where that “compensation” is for the local population in the context of increasing the quality of life in the city? To what extent is the local population involved in tourism in general, and does tourist spending disperse to the local economy? Or are we financing imports again?Growth, growth and only growth, and why isn’t infrastructure growing as well? There are a lot of problems, especially when we know that Dubrovnik cannot really expand, and the reason for all the problems is only one – that Dubrovnik has not developed strategically and sustainably. Problems are much easier to solve when they happen, and even easier to plan and fix them before they even occur. But the question is where all these years spent a lot of money from tourism in Dubrovnik?The new mayor Mato Franković has introduced some positive changes that look more like firefighting measures because they are not systematically and strategically connected, and we know how tourism is complex and multidisciplinary and connects various industries vertically and horizontally. One affects the other, as in nature where everything is perfectly arranged and coordinated, but if we break one chain, the whole system collapses and the consequences are far-reaching. At the end of August, the Management Plan for the historic core of Dubrovnik was adopted, but Dubrovnik is not only within the walls, so it is necessary to make a strategic development plan for the city of Dubrovnik and its wider surroundings and start its implementation as soon as possible. It should certainly be one of the city’s most important documents in recent history, and whether the document will remain just blank letters on paper or end up in someone’s drawer will be shown by time.Time is short, the city is literally bursting at the seams. Do we want tourism or not? If so, then we must be aware of how tourism must be sustainable and how we must deal with tourism strategically because if we skip all the stairs and just chase money and growth without thinking in the long run, we will have big problems that will cost us a lot later, if not disastrous . Dubrovnik is in that situation today. To be or not to be?MINT, CNTB or someone else is not to blame for this situation, it is the fault of the local community because they are the ones who are developing the tourist destination. The main question for the current development of tourism in Dubrovnik is the quantity or quality and the elements or strategic development? We have money, knowledge, resources, creativity and even solutions to problems – again, it’s up to us.Related news:DUBROVNIK & KONAVLE WALKING FESTIVAL GREAT TOURIST STORY AND PLATFORM HOW OUR TOURIST PRODUCT SHOULD LOOKDUBROVNIK AND KAŠTEL GOMILICA SELECTED FOR THE BEST FILM LOCATION OF EUROPE
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