Promotion of Croatia through an innovative digital experience at EXPO Dubai 2020

(Photos: HTZ)

As part of the Priceless.com platform, and with the aim of creating innovative ways to promote destinations in order to encourage the recovery of tourism, a 360 ° journey through the most beautiful Croatian landscapes is available from today

ZAGREB, 4 March 2022 – From today until March 10, 2022, at the EXPO 2020 World Exhibition in Dubai, visitors to the Croatian pavilion can virtually visit Croatia and enjoy its beauties thanks to a completely new augmented reality (AR) experience created by Mastercard to help conjure up Croatian tourism and bring Croatian beauties closer through an innovative advertising tool.

Thanks to the cooperation with the Croatian National Tourist Board, the interactive experience in a 360 ° environment, which shows what makes Croatia such an attractive tourist destination, is available to visitors at the EXPO, and the experience can be accessed on priceless.com via smartphones.

(Photo. HTZ)

The journey through augmented reality, which serves as a tool in promoting the beauties of the country, is the first developed by Mastercard, and the plan is to make its own virtual journey based on Croatia and other countries around the world to innovate and stimulate cross-border travel. 

Also, the goal is to inspire people to experience destinations like never before, that is, to learn more about tradition, culture and natural beauty through the experience of augmented reality.

This project also actively contributes to the revitalisation of tourism as an industry that the pandemic has had the strongest impact, or that has imposed new trends in consumer habits, from the choice of destination to the choice of activities during the stay.

(Photo: HTZ)

“Through cooperation with the Croatian National Tourist Board, we have connected all the best of our tourism with this unique virtual journey. In this way, we have enabled potential tourists to feel and experience Croatia in the most realistic way possible in order to choose it as a holiday destination. Innovation and digital up-to-dateness are the key to success for tourism development while adapting to the increasingly specific requirements of tourists, and a project such as the AR experience will certainly contribute to a better presentation of Croatia in the world, said Gea Kariž, Marketing Director of Mastercard in Croatia.

EXPO Dubai is an impressive event that is a great opportunity to further highlight our country as an attractive and quality tourist destination. Through this cooperation with Mastercard, we have additionally highlighted Croatian natural beauty, innovation and technological modernity, which is a great follow-up to the previous presentation of Croatia at this world exhibition as a country of innovative projects, ideas, inventions and creative individuals,” said Croatian National Tourist Board director Kristjan Staničić.

The natural beauties of the Croatian continent and the Adriatic coast are presented through three stories, “The Istrian Mountain”, “The Croatian Journey” and “The Kvarner Gulf”, which have the primary goal of promoting Croatia among guests who put preserved nature and a marvellous landscape first. The story “The Istrian Mountain” brings footage from Učka, a nature park that will awaken the adrenaline-fueled, mountaineering spirit in the users of the experience.

(Photo: HTZ)

“The Croatian Journey “presents the beauties of Zagreb, but also takes users to Šibenik and its cultural heritage, as well as to the amazing fields of Slavonia, while the beauties of Opatija as the pearl of the Adriatic and one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the country are shown in the video” The Kvarner Gulf “.