Digital catalog of rural tourism as the first step in further development of rural tourism

Croatian Rural Tourism Association  (URTH) recently invited service providers to enroll in the national Digital Catalog of Rural Tourism to promote themselves for free in domestic and foreign markets.

All agricultural producers (family farms, crafts, companies or cooperatives) who provide catering and tourist services such as tasting rooms, wineries, wineries, agritourism, picnic areas, ethno and eco villages, rural accommodation facilities and the like can enroll. In order for the rural tourism offer to be adequately presented and promoted at the national level, it is important that as many service providers as possible are entered in the national Digital Catalog. 

Digital catalog of rural tourism is a joint project of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the Croatian National Tourist Board, and was published on the website CNTB, which makes data on the offer of rural tourism in the Republic of Croatia available to potential guests and tourists, but also to travel agencies from around the world.

Web application moj-seoski.hr managed by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports is a tool through which data is collected for the Digital Catalog. The collected information on the number and types of service providers, their agricultural production, and catering and tourism services offered on their farms will be used not only for promotional activities, but also for upcoming legislative changes. cross-sectoral Working Group for Rural Tourism Development at the Ministry of Tourism and Sports in order to redefine the Croatian model of rural tourism. 

Unofficial estimates say that this form of tourism deals over 1000 farms throughout Croatia. Due to the inadequate legislative framework, there is currently no central record of rural tourism service providers, their products and services, which was the reason for the development of this catalog. 

Anyone interested in registering in the Digital Catalog can do the same via the web application moj-seoski.hr. With adequate preparation, registration in the application is quick and easy and lasts from 15 to 20 minutes. In order to make registration as simple as possible, the Croatian Rural Tourism Association has prepared Instructions for users "7 steps to your promotion on the Croatia.hr website ” and organized and conducted a series of trainings within the project "Professional training for digital promotion of rural tourism in the Republic of Croatia in domestic and foreign markets." 

"For the implementation of the project, we received financial support from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, which finally recognized the importance of redefining and further developing rural tourism, for which we are extremely grateful. Since July 2021, we have held 15 online and 42 field workshops attended by over 600 stakeholders, both service providers and representatives of tourist boards, local action groups and other associations, travel agencies and the like. In interactive workshops, we talked about the legislative framework and challenges, the importance of integrating cultural heritage into business and the importance of adequate digital promotion. We also presented the Digital Catalog and the application and tried to motivate our colleagues to enroll as soon as possible. We are just finishing the project and we hope that more of our colleagues will decide to enroll in the catalog, especially having in mind the upcoming tourist season.  

We have established wonderful cooperation with most county tourist boards and local action groups, as well as with numerous counties, cities and municipalities that have helped us. organized by workshops. Tourist boards and local action groups are very important partners for the sustainability of the project because after its completion in the field they will be able to provide operational support and information to enrollment service providers, for which we thank them in advance. 

Of course, we expect that the Ministry of Tourism and Sports will even more actively promote the entry in the catalog, bearing in mind a large increase in the interest of both domestic and foreign tourists to visit and stay in rural areas. On the new website of the Croatian National Tourist Board, the Digital Catalog should be updated taking into account the previous experiences of users, and rural tourism in Croatia should finally get a central place to present its offer at the state level.She explained Aleksandra Kuratko Pani, head of the Association and added that on the new website of the Croatian National Tourist Board, the Digital Catalog should be updated.

Over 15 stakeholders participated in 42 online and 600 field workshops

Croatian rural tourism offers everything that modern guests and tourists are looking for - locally grown healthy food, excellent local drinks, getting to know the cultural heritage of the Croatian countryside and socializing with the hosts, all in a safe and green environment.

Jasmina Ferenac Antunović from Agrotourism Antunović has passed the registration procedure and says in her experience: "We registered last year and registration is very simple. After that, guests find it easier to find information about the region in which they are located, because the first thing they will look at is  pages of tourist boards. Registration in the Catalog takes about ten minutes, but it is necessary to prepare all documents and quality photos in advance. A great feature of the system is that the content can be edited later, 365 days a year - for example if you are expanding your business, changing working hours or simply want to change photos. You’re an administrator yourself so you don’t have to ask someone to change it or do it for you. 

Digital promotion has become an indispensable part of our work. So far, we have reached out to our guests and tourists via Facebook and Instagram, but this kind of additional, free promotion is always welcome, especially for small entities. We have mostly translated our social media posts into English. The digital catalog offers translation of the text into several foreign languages, which is extremely important to us because of foreign guests and tourists. Most of us  has a big problem with translations of texts because they are quite expensive, which is not the case with the Digital Catalog ", Antunović pointed out.

Trends show a growing interest of guests and tourists to discover rural Croatia, so enrollment is important because of the good preparation of the tourist season. Of the estimated 1000 rural tourism facilities operating in Croatia, 59 have been registered in the Digital Catalog so far, while a higher enrollment rate is expected in the coming months. 

Ministry of Tourism and Sports: The data collected from the workshops will be used to review the situation and direct further activities of the Working Group for the Development of Rural Tourism

"In order to create the first Digital Catalog of Rural Tourism of the Republic of Croatia, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports has developed an online application moj-seoski.hr, which collects data on rural tourism stakeholders. The application represents the tourist offer of Croatian regions, enables free promotion of agricultural holdings, most of which, due to limited resources and availability of information and communication technologies, are unable to present their agricultural products and tourist services on their farms. market. The digital catalog is adapted to users who, after registration, can access changes to their data such as changes in accommodation capacity, photo changes, etc. It is important that as many users as possible register in the digital catalog (currently 59) in order to dispose of the highest quality data on the offer of products and services, their quality and content. " allegations from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MINTS).

The application is connected to the websites of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the Croatian Tourist Board, and the entered data will be translated into many world languages, which will achieve significant visibility, promotion of users and a stronger breakthrough in the tourism market. the enrolled facilities will be promoted as part of the Experience Homework campaign. Explore rural Croatia.

"In order to acquaint rural tourism stakeholders with the possibilities of the application, printed and digital guide, in cooperation with the Croatian Rural Tourism Association, field educational workshops were held. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports also formed a Working Group for Rural Tourism Development to improve and develop products "One of the primary steps is to define rural tourism and its legal regulation. Therefore, the data collected from the workshops will be used to review the situation and direct further activities of the Working Group." conclude from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. 

The Association of Rural Tourism invites all colleagues to enroll as soon as possible so that they can promote themselves for free  and participate in the creation of laws that take into account the needs of service providers and their guests. 

Anyone interested in registering in the Digital Catalog can do the same via the web application moj-seoski.hr. 

Photo: Hažić Wine House / URTH