Excellent preliminary results for Booking.com and the CNTB in the Local Host campaign
The first joint campaign by the CNTB and Booking.com dedicated exclusively to holders of the Local Host – Your Host label has shown that authentic family accommodation can achieve greater visibility even within large global sales platforms.
A campaign focused on five important markets
The „Experience real Croatia“ campaign, which the Croatian National Tourist Board and Booking.com ran during June and July, achieved more than eight million impressions and nearly 500 bookings.
The promotion was targeted at Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, namely markets that play an important role in Croatia's overall tourist traffic.
Unlike traditional private accommodation promotion, the campaign focused on specific hosts who carry the Local Host label. The emphasis was placed on a personal approach to the guest, the local experience and the authenticity of the offer.
Local Host is also growing as a market brand
So far, more than 3,570 properties with over 21,170 beds have been included in the project. Most of them are in Istria, the Kvarner region, and Split-Dalmatia County. Among the destinations, Crikvenica, Dubrovnik, Pula, Rovinj, and Medulin are in the lead.
According to the Minister of Tourism and Sport, Tonči Glavina, activities to date related to the label are also accompanied by results showing around six per cent better occupancy. This data will certainly be of interest to private landlords, although for a more serious assessment of the impact it will be important to monitor results over a longer period and across multiple sales channels.
More than just another promotional campaign
For Croatian tourism, the greater significance of this cooperation lies not only in the number of impressions. Local Host is gradually becoming a way to distinguish traditional hosting from the ever-growing short-term rental offer.
If the label is successfully made recognisable enough to guests, especially on platforms where bookings are actually finalised, it can also become a concrete selling point.
HTZ is therefore continuing its promotion. The second wave of activities on the domestic market has been announced from mid-August to the end of October.
For hosts, this is an additional incentive to consider joining the system. For destinations and the tourism sector, on the other hand, it will be interesting to monitor whether Local Host can grow from a national quality label into a recognisable market signal that guests understand at the very moment of booking.
