Zadar’s tourism and gastronomy in New York

Zadar

The Zadar Tourist Board, in cooperation with the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ), is organizing a tourism and gastronomy presentation on Tuesday, October 24th in New York City at Delmonico’s restaurant in Manhattan. 

The aim is to present Zadar as a particularly valuable and unique Mediterranean destination to American travel agencies and journalists. 

Delmonico’s restaurant on Wall Street is among the most renowned hospitality institutions in the US with a tradition dating back to the 1830s. The restaurant has earned its high reputation not only through its good food but also through numerous innovations introduced over its long history.

(Photo credit: Delmonico’s)

The timing of this presentation falls between two significant October events in the tourism sector in New York: from October 23rd, the B2B meeting with luxury travel agents of the Global Travel Collection by Internova, with 40 partners from companies based in Croatia and Slovenia, and from October 26th to 28th, the International Travel Show, a B2B and B2C event open to the wider public.

Alongside Mayor Branko Dukić and Director of the Zadar Tourist Board, Mario Paleka, the Croatian side of the presentation will include Kristjan Staničić, the Director of the Croatian Tourist Board, as well as Pjer Šimonović, the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to the US, and Nikica Kopačević, the Consul General of the Republic of Croatia in New York.

Confirmed attendees for the Zadar presentation include Amy Wirshup, the travel editor of The New York Times, David Farley, a freelance travel journalist who has frequently written about Croatia, especially Zadar, as well as his esteemed colleagues, veteran travel journalists in the US with millions of readers, Tony Perrottet and Mark Orwoll. Among the guests will be Stephen Espinoza, the President of Showtime Sports, a television and production company that partners with some of the most powerful television companies in the US.

Zadar

In addition to journalists, the presentation will be attended by a number of renowned tourism managers, representing major American agencies. For example, one of the guests from Zadar will be James J. Killen, the President of ASTA, the largest American association of travel agencies, and his colleague Terry Dale, the President of the US Tour Operators Association.

Among the invitees are Peter Orlowsky, the Vice President of one of the world’s largest photo services, Getty Images, as well as Pete Radovich, the Creative Director and Producer at CBS, and one of the initiators of the Zadar Sports Media Festival.

The culinary part of the presentation in America will be prepared by three Zadar chefs and restaurateurs: Erik Pavin, the owner of Niko restaurant and hotel, Saša Began, the chef of Foša restaurant, and the young Zadar chef Jakov Meštrović. There will also be Dalmatian singing: the guests will be entertained by a ‘klapa,’ a quintet called Niko, whose members include the restaurateur Erik Pavin, as well as renowned Zadar musicians Davor Pekota and Rikardo Perković. In addition to the culinary aspect, the presentation will include a film showcasing Zadar as one of Croatia’s most valuable tourist gems.

“As the Zadar Tourist Board, we are striving to actively promote the city of Zadar in the American market through online campaigns such as the one on the travel platform Expedia, where we have promoted our city this year in collaboration with the main office of the Croatian National Tourist Board, and we can visibly see the return in the increased number of arrivals and stays of tourists from the US,” emphasizes Mario Paleka, the director of the Zadar Tourist Board, and adds. 

“This presentation, supported as our independent project by the main office of the Croatian National Tourist Board, represents a step forward in which we aim to further approach important individuals in the tourism sector of the US and the American public through contacts with eminent business people in tourism, journalists, and editors. 

We had a similar presentation in New York in 2020, and the results are visible, as the number of American guests in our city continues to grow: compared to 2022, by October 15th, the number of tourist arrivals from the US has increased by 43 percent, and the number of stays by 36 percent. Compared to the record year of 2019, there is an increase of one percent in arrivals from the American continent and four percent in stays, and we are all aware of how good consumers American guests are.”

(Photo credit: Delmonico’s)

Today, Delmonico’s is run by the Croatian family Turčinović with partners. When it reopened this year after a three-year hiatus, it received 14,000 reservations in one day for the next three months! Despite this, the previously established friendship between Zadar and the Turčinović family ensured that the Zadar presentation in the renowned restaurant would still take place.