Ruza
Full Member
Posts: 71
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Post by Ruza on Mar 5, 2004 16:56:41 GMT 1
Just a quick question for everyone...... Do any of you still get asked really ignorant questions about Croatia? I am so surprised that people STILL ask me "Aren't you afraid of the war?"  when I tell them I am vacationing in Croatia. I try to be patient but my patience is wearing thin. For goodness sakes, shouldn't people be a little more educated and aware of what is going on in the world around them? Any opinions? |
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Post by Tom1 on Mar 5, 2004 18:48:00 GMT 1
THey should, but they are not!
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Post by Nicola on Mar 5, 2004 19:40:20 GMT 1
Fine by me if these people believe there are still troubles in Croatia - all the more room for me!
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Post by ChrisC on Mar 6, 2004 22:44:07 GMT 1
Just a quick question for everyone...... Do any of you still get asked really ignorant questions about Croatia? I am so surprised that people STILL ask me "Aren't you afraid of the war?" when I tell them I am vacationing in Croatia. I try to be patient but my patience is wearing thin. For goodness sakes, shouldn't people be a little more educated and aware of what is going on in the world around them? Any opinions? It's certainly true that there's widespread ignorance about Croatia, but to be fair it is a relatively young country in its current form, so perhaps that may be expected. I am visiting Croatia for the first time (staying in Biograd) next week and the reaction of my friends and family here in the UK has been "You're going where??" For some people here, Croatia could quite easily be a former republic of the USSR, there's a lot of ignorance. BUT... it will change. Undoubtedly Croatia will rise to prominence as a tourist destination and this will drive the property market. I must (slightly guiltily) admit that this is part of the attraction to me of buying |
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Post by Nancy on Mar 17, 2004 17:18:06 GMT 1
As Nicola said, more room for me as well! I've had precisely the same sort of reaction when I say where I'm going (and where I've been) 'isn't it dangerous?' quote. I find it very depressing that people can be so ignorant in this age of mass media.  On the bright side you won't meet these types in Croatia. Leave them on the Costas where they belong. |
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Post by Anja on Mar 18, 2004 14:53:43 GMT 1
Today's news from Kosovo won't help much.
It will be hard to convince potential visitors that Kosovo is far away from Croatia and that everydays life and work in Croatia is in a perfect order.
Unless they go there and see with their own eyes.
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Post by marijana on Mar 21, 2004 17:13:02 GMT 1
Kosovo is closer to Greece then to Croatia!!!
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Post by Graham - Bosmere on Mar 21, 2004 18:11:34 GMT 1
Kosovo may be closer to Greece than Croatia, but the problem is most people in the UK do not have a clue as to where either place actually is. If you ask peole to indicate on a map where Croatia is the most common area chosen is somewhere in the area of Moldova or the Ukraine. When people do not realise that the Canary Islands are part of Spain after spending two weeks there, what chance does Croatia have? It is just a sad fact that the geographical knowledge of a large proportion of the holidaying public is somewhat lower than a good 11 year old should have.  |
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Post by Peters on Mar 22, 2004 23:50:25 GMT 1
The strange thing is why it is only the Brits who think there is still a war on. No-one else seems to! Every other country has been going to Croatia in hordes.
Brits go to Florida, where they get mugged yet fail to think favourably about Croatia where the chances of being mugged are probably the lowest in Europe!
Brits dont worry if a bomb goes off in Belfast but they do if it is 500km from here!
Crackers!
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Post by Josh on Apr 3, 2004 20:51:10 GMT 1
Well something resembling war is happening right now in Kosovo, which is NOT closer to Greece than to Croatia – unless people consider Dubrovnik to be outside Croatia. (And both states are separated from Kosovo only by small neighbouring countries.) When an average foreign person glances over the news, he may be forgiven to think that ‘something is going on’ in the region. Further, Croatia’s war propaganda was very strong and active and in order to gain support abroad much noise had to be made and things had to be exaggerated. This was right and proper under the circumstances but the downside is this image of big war in the region created in the mind of many. Dubrovnik is an excellent example – I heard so many times that ‘it is a great shame that beautiful old city of Dubrovnik is completely destroyed’!
Also, it is not true that “it is only the Brits who think there is still a war on.” It is normal that people in Austria or Germany have greater knowledge of Croatia's affairs due to the large Croat guest-workers community and because Germans and Austrians holiday in Croatia more than other European nations, but mild ignorance is present everywhere, even in, oh dare I say it, in Croatia. And the fact that Brits haven’t gone back to Croatia in greater numbers (yet) lays much in the fact that other Mediterranean countries have been busy improving their tourism industry while Croatia was busy building independence (and sorting out the minority problem in the process).
Finally, I really do not understand ever-present anti-British (anti-English?) slur and insinuations on this forum and generally in Croatia. I find it very distasteful and it only shows extreme narrow-mindedness.
Josh
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Post by Peters on Apr 7, 2004 17:55:50 GMT 1
My dear boy, I'm as British as they come, with a family tree going back to 1400. I cannot help observing, though, that the water that has bounded the UK and maintained its independence for hundreds of years, is in danger of bounding its insularity.
Where other nationalities nip back and forth across borders according to their economic or entertainment needs, the vast majority of Brits still do not even have a passport and will even boast of it. The redtops continually vilify foreigners as krauts and frogs and self serving politicians try to pretend that the rest of Europe is either sub standard or out to dominate Britain. Those of us who have travelled more know it is a load of tosh, but we are not statistacally typical and I'm afraid the statistically average Brit only cares about foreigners if they play football or are of above average mammarian development.
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Post by Rich on Apr 7, 2004 18:46:49 GMT 1
i figured i'd say something here too...
I am an American and i will soon be moving to Croatia in late May...
But if you want to know the truth, the people who's most ignorant about geography or world politics are, you guessed it, Americans... when i told my friends that i was moving to Croatia to work, my typical answers were
"huh? Cro what?"
"hey, you are going to a communist country, you traitor!"
"hey, you gonna get killed, theres a war on over there"
and my fav:
"hey, you're gonna starve... there's no food over there".
and yes, i am very embaressed for my ignorant friends.
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Post by Josh on Apr 7, 2004 20:41:54 GMT 1
My dear boy, so your racial purity makes it impossible to be wrong or talk rubbish? Or when you say 'it is only the Brits who think there is still a war on' you have some evidence to support it? No, I didn’t think so.
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Post by Aljosa on Apr 8, 2004 11:00:44 GMT 1
As way back as the Croatian history goes back, we will never be seen as important as there are countries that don't want us to make it as their own turf will loose out. Croatia is an old and new country and it takes time to get recognised and get proper recognition. As long as our government does not sell all the land and Islands to foreigners we will be fine. Part of the problem is also the people, as they have negative attitudes, and are also still afraid in some towns to say that they are croatian due to the dominance of serbs. YOu will never get hat in Serbia. Maybe one day Croatia will become more than just a tourist destination but a blue chip follower  |
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Post by Rupert Diggins on Apr 8, 2004 13:02:17 GMT 1
Dear All
Fascinating reading this message thread. Just a note from my angle :
Just to tell you that I have been the sales manager of the leading UK spet to Croatia for nearly 5 years and from my point of view the geography issue has been one of the major points to get across to the British public but most importantly to the British travel agent !!
Multiple travel agents who directionally sell Spain, Greece and Turkey have very little knowledge of Croatia and her neighbouring countries. The Independents whom we deal with are much better as they are true spets but there is still a lot of work to be done !!
We actually introduced a full A4 sized map this year to our brochure to help them because until travel agents are confident with the product knowledge then why would they recommend this over the "easy sell" resorts such as the Canaries or the Costas.
For Croatia to succeed you need
A supportive UK Tourist office, we have that
Good air links, we now have nine regional charters plus scheduled services
Media coverage, we have plenty of that now
Travel agents who are Croatia experts - coming soon to a town near you !!
No Frills Flights - Definitely not !
With regard to the recent unrest in Kosovo we received five telephone calls - enough said !!!
and more good news - Sales to Croatia with Holiday Options are UP 85% on last year !! I think we are winning the 'ignorant' battle as the best way of all to promote this beautiful country is by word of mouth and everyone on this website is doing that so thank you !!!!
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when I tell them I am vacationing in Croatia.
On the bright side you won't meet these types in Croatia. Leave them on the Costas where they belong.
