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The first edition will take place from June 8 to 11, 2023 Hvar Climbing Festival, and climbers will enjoy attractive Hvar locations such as Vela Stiniva, Pokrivenik and Lučišća. The natural beauty and rocks of the island of Hvar delight lovers of nature and this type of sports activity.
The first Hvar Climbing Festival was organized in cooperation with the local climbing community and the Tourist Board of the municipality of Jelsa. On this occasion, we talked about the event with the director of TZ, Maria Marjan, who revealed to us that the idea has existed for two years, but due to the pandemic and logistical issues, it is only being realized now.
"It is much more difficult to organize anything on the island than on the mainland. The climbing areas are quite dislocated from inhabited places, so it is demanding in terms of transportation and overall organization.", describes Marjan.
Fortunately, they found good collaborators, primarily in Rok Roić, who owns the Hiva climbing center in Zagreb and is originally from Hvar. He is one of the most responsible for the development of climbing on the island, the director of TZ Jelsa reveals to us. He adds that Fabijan Roče took over a large part of the logistical work around the climbers.
They established cooperation with Roić four years ago. During that period, they were made on the island two new climbing areas so there are currently a dozen, and most climbing areas are right next to the sea or with a sea view.
After the pandemic, thanks to the aforementioned enthusiasts who did not give up on the idea, the final decision was made to move in that direction. There are not many such festivals in Croatia, and considering the number of applicants, it is obvious that there is interest in this kind of offer.
As of June 5, more than 300 people had registered, and applications are still coming in.
"When we talked about it in the winter, I said that I would be extremely satisfied if there were 150 participants, and already that number has more than doubled. However, this is the first year, about the island, there is no promotion from years before, promotional materials, photographs that would attract climbers. So all we could do was tell stories.", Marjan said honestly.
He states that transportation to the climbing area is organized for all participants, participation is free, but of course the climbers themselves pay for accommodation, transportation to the island and other offers that they will use. They are offered accompanying activities such as yoga, a workshop on aromatic herbs and a mini fair of local products.
"Next year's offer will probably be bigger and more elaborate, after seeing what there is the most interest for this year. Perhaps additional adventure activities, music programs, more gastronomic events or whatever proves to be necessary and interesting will be organized. Everything can be arranged and organize after we get feedback", says Marjan.
When talking about climbing on the island of Hvar, he says, it is indeed quite popular, but it is not accompanied by marketing in the way it deserves and there is no brand.
Hvar has around 500 marked climbing routes, which shows that the potential is huge. "All the more important things have already been done, there are climbing areas, there is no need to build them, you just need to push and promote that story. The festival is organized for this very reason, as a crown to the existing offer", he points out.
In the following years, the plan is to move the festival further outside the tourist season, in the pre or post season. Marjan thinks that it is not a bad idea and that it is organized in the time of Corpus Christi, when there are more free days, but we will see how things develop, he says.
In the conversation, she also recalled the event Jelsa trail which took place in April, 10 days after the procession to the Cross, which is one of Hvar's UNESCO landmarks. The Jelsa trail takes place on the route of the mentioned procession and is over 21 kilometers long.
The event was a great success and TZ is very satisfied. The first year, last year, there were around 350 participants, and this year around 400. Our interlocutor states that they will not exceed the figure of 500 participants because they do not intend to "go to the masses". He also mentions that it takes place on October 1 nordic walking festival which follows historical cultural routes in the territory of the municipality of Jelsa.
The benefits of focusing on sports tourism are numerous, according to TZ director Jelsa. By promoting sports events, for example, the local population is shown the importance of a healthy lifestyle. In addition, consumption in restaurants, wineries, olive oil tasting rooms, OPGs is increasing. "It's all in a package, one cannot be separated from the other", points out Marjan.
The weekend before last there was an event 'Wine, olives and heritage' during which numerous OPGs were visited on the eastern part of the island.
The eastern part of the island has grown quite a bit in recent years when it comes to small farmers - these are people who live and work here throughout the year and do serious and good work. We are talking about high-quality autochthonous products, about agricultural producers who were not chosen at random.
It is important to support local producers through tourism. And personal consumption, of course.
"Without domestic products, there is no quality tourism product. Besides, if we don't support them, the question is whether these people will stay on the island? And without the indigenous population and a quality domestic product, we cannot talk about sustainability in tourism.", concludes Marija Marjan.
Photo: Heinz Hummel / Pixabay
