In the meantime, within the Kingdom of Unintended Tourism…

February 26, 2021 – A Dutch entrepreneur in Split is volunteering to lead an incredible PR campaign for Croatian tourism. Meanwhile in the kingdom of accidental tourism.

Two different approaches to promoting tourism in Croatia.

On the one hand, he was a successful Dutch entrepreneur who has lived in Split since 2006. He had no connection with tourism and was fascinated by the concept of a digital nomad visa for Croatia and the advantages that come with it. An open letter on LinkedIn to Prime Minister Plenkovic began a journey on which Croatian bureaucracy moved at lightning speed. The first nomad digital visa was issued just 199 days after Plenkovic announced that it would make Croatia the fifth and second country in the world, Europe after Estonia to offer it. Meet Melissa Paul, holder of Croatia’s first Digital Nomad Visa.

Jan de Jong is now focused on growing tomatoes and creating jobs in Northern Croatia with a fantastic one CROP Hrvatksa project that TCN recently presented. As far as I know, he does all of this for free (and at a cost) because he is passionate about the many opportunities he sees in Croatia where others don’t.

I have to admit that it is wonderful to watch him travel. If you have a few minutes, check out some of his presentations on YouTube, like this one at the LEAP summit about living in the Croatian dream.

The second approach to tourism promotion comes from the Croatian Tourism Authority, also known in some circles as the Kindgom of Accidental Tourism. With an annual budget of (I believe) around 400 million kuna and 70-80 full-time employees as well as (presumably) some tourism know-how, you’d think the kings would kill it to promote Croatia, especially compared to a foreigner without it tourism expertise who volunteers their time.

How are you?

As Jan recently posted on LinkedIN (see main photo), things are indeed going very well. CNN, the Washington Post Euro News, Lonely Planet, Forbes and many more did excellent coverage. The current hot topic of digital nomads and its efforts combined with several others have put Croatia at the center of this global discussion. Global media networks are now turning to Jan – thanks to his efforts, expect better coverage of Croatian tourism in the coming weeks.

Free.

As a Dutchman, he tries to concentrate on growing tomatoes.

I was excited to see how the Unintended Tourism Kingdom would react to the latest free gift with this huge budget and manpower. Only after seeing this message on the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber Community Did I decide to check out how the kings rose to the challenge?

This is what you get if you search for “digital nomad” on the Croatian Tourism Association website. Just a few days ago CNN did a fantastic piece about nomads and the Croatian lifestyle.

I think at least there are no misspellings on this site.

As representatives of the kingdom correctly said, I am not a tourism expert, but I wonder how hard it all is, especially with 70-80 brains and around 400 million kuna working on it. It doesn’t even have to cost a lot. TCN interviewed a dear American nomad couple on Hvarwhich led HRT to contact us and a fantastic feature on HRT Pulse last night. Above is the trailer – I’ll upload the full feature when it’s online.

Zero costs. Made by a volunteer.

Facebook Memories told me this week that it has been five years since the kingdom of accidental tourism was born. Things are even more random now.

The latest 7 year tourism strategy, which has nothing to do with reality, is now complete. For example, none of the 30 planned golf courses were built of the many high goals that experts have drawn up for the period 2013-2020.

There is no substitute strategy yet. Has anyone even noticed?

I have a suggestion. Why not give 2% of this 400 million kuna budget to the Dutch tomato growers to see what magic they can do on a small budget? He showed more than just a proof of concept with zero kuna.

For more information on the digital nomad history in Croatia, see Follow the appropriate TCN section.