Croatia targets four long haul routes

The Croatian Minister for Tourism, Gari Cappelli, has said the country is looking to secure flights from four far away markets in the coming period and is in talks with a number of carriers. These include Japan, China, South Korea and the United States. Speaking to the "Globus" weekly, Mr Cappelli, said, "One of our main goals is to improve Croatia's air connectivity. The establishment of new flights is crucial to increasing the number of arrivals, especially from far away markets. We are particularly focusing on Japan, with which we recently signed a bilateral Air Service Agreement, but also China, South Korea and the United States, which all account for a growing number of tourists". Currently, Korean Air and Japan's ANA serve Croatia through summer charters to Zagreb and Dubrovnik respectively.

The Croatian government has authorised the Minister for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butković, to commence talks with his Japanese counterpart over the establishment of scheduled flights between Zagreb and Tokyo. Korean Air has been granted approval by the country's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which allocates air transport rights on an annual basis upon request, to operate up to five weekly scheduled services to Croatia this year. The Korean carrier may or may not exercise those rights, although the airline recently said it was exploring opportunities to expand its presence in the country. Its long haul low cost subsidiary, Jin Air, previously confirmed it would launch operations between Seoul and Zagreb in 2019.

On the other hand, the Chinese Ambassador to Croatia recently emphasised the need for the establishment of nonstop flights between the two counties in order to attract more tourists. "Now is the time for these services to begin", he said. Furthermore, Croatia has intensified talks with airlines and tour operators for the launch of nonstop flights to the United States. Mr Capelli previously said services between Croatia and the US would begin this year on a seasonal summer basis, before being upgraded to year-round operations in 2019. At the time he noted, "We are in serious negotiations over the introduction of year-long flights from Croatia to New York, most likely from Zagreb and Dubrovnik, even from Split".

The Minister for Tourism noted that several years ago only a small fraction of tourists holidaying in Croatia arrived by plane, with that figure growing to 20% this year. The Ministry has launched a four million euro project entitled "Positioning Croatia as a airline destination", with plans to double its budget next year. "The project aims to attract carriers from far away markets", Mr Cappelli said.