More than 15,000 Japanese tourists crammed into Dubrovnik the first half of 2008, according to the Dubrovnik tourist board.
The small historical city in southern Croatia saw a significant increase in Japanese visitors on last year when a total of 19,500 Japanese stopped off there in the whole year.
Direct charter flights from Tokyo to Dubrovnik have helped promote Japanese tourism in the city. There have been eight such flights this year, and 20 more are planned for 2009.
Dubrovnik tourist board director Jelka Tepsic wants Japanese guests throughout the year rather than just during the summer tourism season.
To encourage such a development, the board has prepared promotional material as well as web pages in Japanese and, in cooperation with the government city, made Japanese lessons available to tour guides and employees of tourist agencies.
Besides Japan, Dubrovnik has also recorded a strong increase of tourists from other distant markets such as the USA and Australia.
(source - www.croatiantimes.com) | 
