May the 1st, 2025 – Croatia was recently a country partner at a Cologne tourism fair specialising in bus and group travel.
As Glas Slavonije/The Voice of Slavonia/Tatjana Miscancuk writes, the number of tourists from Germany is expected to have recorded an increase of 50% in April this year compared to the same month last year. That was announced by the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) on the occasion of the RDA Group Travel Expo 2025. This trade fair specialises in bus and group travel and was held in Cologne on April the 29th and 30th, and in which Croatia is a partner country.
Kvarner is also being represented as a partner region at this fair, and several Croatian agencies and hotel companies will also be exhibiting. Agencies specialising in tourist programmes for Croatia from Germany, such as I.D. Riva Tours and Misir, are also present at the fair, HTZ added.
In total, more than 340 exhibitors from Germany and other European countries presented themselves at the fair.
On the occasion of the recently held Cologne fair, the Director of the Croatian Tourist Board in Frankfurt, Romeo Draghicchio, said that the previous trends and results in the pre-season from the German market have shown the great importance of bus and group travel to Croatian destinations.
“Presenting Croatia as a partner country at this Cologne tourism fair provides additional visibility and promotion in this important segment. This has been further confirmed by the results from the German market in April, during which around 550,000 overnight stays by German guests are expected to be recorded. That’s more than 50 percent more than what was recorded back in April last year. It also means that April this year will be the best in history when it comes to results from the German market,” said Draghicchio.
He recalled that excellent results were achieved from that market during last October, largely thanks to bus and group travel. He assessed that this market segment therefore plays a very important role in strengthening traffic in the pre- and post-season periods for Croatian tourism.
