Istra.hr - official tourist website of Istria

Istria in France

13.10.2009.

Within the foreseen programme activities, aiming at stronger presentation of Istrian tourism on the French market, last week the Istrian Tourist Board organized the presentation of Istria and its tourist potentials to the Paris audience.

For the purpose of establishing further contacts between the Istrian hotel companies and French business entities, on 7 October in the premises of the Croatian Embassy in Paris, a business workshop with the French business entities was organized, while on 8 and 9 October the Istrian Tourist Board presented itself along with the leading Istrian hotel companies at the “Le monde a Paris - Pro“ business fair.

Within the workshop the Istrian Tourist Board had a special opportunity to present the potentials of Istria in terms of an interesting tourist destination, and enable the Istrian hotel companies to make contacts with the French business entities. 

The event was organized in the cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in France and the Croatian Tourist Board Branch Office in Paris.

Mr. Mirko Galić, Croatian Ambassador to France, and Mrs. Marina Tomas Billet, Manager of the Croatian Tourist Board Branch Office in France, greeted more than eighty guests, while the guest of honour Mr. Božo Biškupić, Minister of Culture of the Republic Of Croatia, greeted all the participants with the speech on the bond of culture and tourism.

The professional presentation of Istria and its tourist offer was performed by Mr. Ozren Grbavčić, the Istrian Tourist Board Marketing Manager.

The guests, who apart from the representatives of French agencies included a significant number of media representatives, were presented with the very rich Istrian gastronomic offer on the topic entitled ''Istria on bruschetta'' within which the chefs Mr. Franko Mocko and Mr. Kristijan Milanović created an imaginative menu with the main idea of blending the traditional ingredients with a modern way of preparation as well as presentation.

This presentation of Istria was completed with the tasting of the Istrian Malvasia and Teran wines by the Piqentium Wine-cellar from Buzet.

The representatives of the leading Istrian hotel companies, namely Arenaturist from Pula, Istraturist from Umag, Maistra from Rovinj, Plava laguna from Poreč and Valamar, participated in the business part of the manifestation presenting the French business entities with their own capacities and possibilities of business cooperation.

The overall event turned out to be a very efficient way of stimulating the synergic activity of more institutions for the purpose of improving the image of Croatia as a desirable destination for the French tourists, so all the participants and business entities rated the manifestation as a very successful and peculiar way of presenting Istria and what it can offer to the visitors of the demanding French market.

After the workshop the Istrian Tourist Board along with the above mentioned companies presented themselves at the
“Le monde a Paris – Pro“ business fair, within the premises of the Paris fair which is being held for the first time.

The MAP – Pro Fair has been envisaged as a meeting place of the professional tourist business entities (bus transport companies and agencies), on the one side, and the providers of various services, on the other, primarily those related to accommodation.

The 17.000 m2 of the fair premises hosted 500 exhibitors and was visited by some 4.500 business visitors the majority of which were precisely the representatives of the French agencies, bus transport companies and tour operators. 

The MAP - Pro Fair turned out to be a great business opportunity for presenting the Istrian tourism potentials on the wider French market.
The Istrian hotel companies had the opportunity to make a significant number of contacts with some of the French business entities, primarily with tour operators, as well as to present them with their own companies’ offers and to try to find the possibilities of cooperation which would result in an increased number of French tourists coming to Istria.