Planning trips to Croatian schools is full of challenges

School trips in Croatia are faced with numerous challenges today, but children should travel for socialization, independence, and the educational process itself, the conclusion is. panel "School trips behind the scenes: trends, challenges and predictions" held in Zagreb.

"To make the trip a wonderful memory for everyone, intensive communication and a joint agreement between the school, parents and travel agencies are needed.", he stressed Jurica Glavina, director of the Eklata travel agency.

The applications launched by this travel agency allow for the independent creation of school trip programs in just a few clicks. In line with modern digital trends, Maturalac.com automates all key elements of trip creation – from choosing accommodation, destinations, number of nights, number of students and teachers, guides, tour leaders to the most important part – budget monitoring. Achieving the optimal budget is the most demanding process in times of global inflation.

"Due to price increases at all levels, travel has also become more expensive, by about ten percent in the last two years. Travel agencies are not to blame for this, because the cost of travel is affected by the costs of transportation, accommodation, excursions, guides and security. The result is shorter trips with less content or stays in lower-quality accommodation.", he pointed out Tomislav Fain, President of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies (UHPA)

School trips are an important educational segment

Both Fain and Glavina pointed out that it would be a great help if the time for school trips were extended from the current three to six months. This would reduce pressure on service providers and would also have an impact on prices.

Despite everything, children should go on trips for the emotional moment and bonding, the psychologist emphasized. Martina Trboglav PodvoracIn planning the trip, she added, children should be given their own experiences and a sense of security. To this end, schools must talk to parents to make children feel relaxed.

She confirmed that this was the case. Antonija Mirosavljevic, president of the Croatian Association of Primary School Principals (HUROŠ).

"We talk a lot and no one really complicates things, except that sometimes the wishes of parents and children differ. In doing so, we have to take into account the financial capabilities of individual children. In this sense, institutions, founders and local government units often provide financial assistance, as well as travel agencies that are willing to give up part of their profits for the benefit of such children. And sometimes the parents of other children also organize themselves to help all the children go on the trip.", said Mirosavljević.

An important topic discussed at the panel was the issue of student safety. In this regard, it is necessary to pay attention to many details such as licensed and serviceable buses, prepared and educated tour leaders, and security in the accommodation facilities themselves as well as security with other service providers. Due to the general increase in prices, unfortunately, cheaper solutions are being sought today, which can often compromise the quality and safety of the trip.

"Achieving all of the above requires a lot of good communication and cooperation of all actors", underlined Jurica Glavina, director of an agency specializing in school and youth travel.

Photo: Tomislav Valent