UHPA Days held in Istria County

Days of UHPA, the annual meeting of one of the leading national associations in tourism, the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies (UHPA), took place from March 19 to 21, 2024 in Umag, with the support of the Tourist Board of the County of Istria, UHPA's recommended domestic destinations for 2024 and the Tourist Board of the city of Umag.

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This year's UHPA Days gathered more than 150 participants - representatives of travel agencies, educational institutions, tourist boards, business partners and representatives of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Croatian Tourist Board, Croatian Chamber of Commerce, professional associations, media and other stakeholders of the tourism industry.

At the official opening on Tuesday, the participants were addressed by Josip Pavić, State Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Andrija Mikulić, Chief State Inspector, Kristjan Staničić, Director of the Croatian Tourist Board, Boris Miletić, Prefect of Istria County, Vili Bassanese, Mayor of Umag, Denis Ivošević, director of the Tourist Board of the Istrian County, Milovan Popović, director of the Tourist Board of Umag, Orieta Valković, sales director of the hotel company Plava laguna dd, and Tomislav Fain, president of UHPA, who opened this year's UHPA Days.

As part of the work part of the program, numerous benefits for representatives of travel agencies were presented, workshops were held on the topic of sustainable and accessible tourism, and panel discussions were held.Career activities in tourism and the needs of the Croatian market".

The discussion was attended by Josip Pavić, Slavija Jačan Obratov (Director of the Sector for the System of Tourist Boards and Product Development in the Croatian Tourist Board), Denis Ivošević, Hrvoje Markulinčić (Head of HR and Legal Affairs - Uniline doo), Ivana Halambek, (Director of the Sector for Human resources of the company Plava laguna dd) and the president of UHPA, Tomislav Fain.

During interesting discussions moderated by Goran Rihelj, founder and editor-in-chief of the HrTurizam.hr portal, the panelists looked at the challenges of employment in tourism and exchanged knowledge and experience on strengthening the attractiveness of careers in tourism, labor market needs, business challenges and lifelong learning processes.

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"Ahead of us is the realization of another challenging tourist season in which the issue of lack of quality personnel will be one of the challenges of Croatian tourism. During these three days in Umag, we tried to point out the fact that qualified staff is one of the most important prerequisites for a successful tourist season and maintaining high standards services. UHPA as a professional association will continue to cooperate with relevant stakeholders from the public and private sectors, as well as educational institutions, in order to contribute to the popularization of jobs in tourism through joint efforts and encourage young people to direct and develop their careers in the tourism industry.", he said Tomislav Fain.

In Umag, a traditional meeting was held with the directors of the representative offices of the Croatian Tourist Board from the most important broadcast markets, and the offer of UHPA members and partners was presented.

In addition to a series of interesting presentations, this year's program included an indispensable tour of the destination during which the participants were introduced to the city of Umag and the County of Istria.

Source and photo: UHPA