Croatia is beautiful,unspoild and

Times Online

November 3 2002 
Croatia starts to catch on

MORE THAN 20 tour operators are to start offering trips 
to Croatia next year following a record rise in the 
number of British visitors this summer, Sarah Turner 
writes. 
Tourists had been slow to revisit Croatia since the war 
in neighbouring Kosovo ended three years ago, but this 
summer saw numbers increase by almost a quarter. 
Tourist officials now expect 110,000 Britons to travel 
to the former Yugoslav country this year, a 22 per cent 
increase on 2001. Simply Travel, Cosmos and Headwater 
are among the big names to start offering trips there 
next year. 
Simply Travel features 14 hotels and 12 self-catering 
properties, including four agro-tourism projects in 
Istria, for next summer. “Croatia is beautiful,unspoild and you can do 
everything, from a weekend in Dubrovnik to two weeks in 
a villa on an island in the archipelago,” said Sally 
Balcombe, a spokeswoman. 
Cosmos is offering 11 hotels serviced by Pula airport in 
the north, and six near Dubrovnik in the south. 
“Croatia is picturesque and cultured with loads of 
history. It’s probably more for the older market, rather 
than groups of girls and lads,” said Jill Standeven of 
Cosmos. 
Croatian National Tourist Board (020-8563 7979, www.croatia.hr   ); Simply Travel (020-8541 2222); Cosmos (0800-093 3922).

Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd.

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