Zadar County welcomes guests already at Lučko: 10,000 leaflets for discovering Galešnjak, Paklenica and the Cerovačke Caves
The Zadar County Tourist Board distributed ten thousand promotional leaflets at the Lučko toll station in order to introduce travelers to the natural attractions of the wider Zadar area while they are still on the road toward the Adriatic. The campaign is aimed at guests who have already arrived in Croatia but have not necessarily yet decided how they will organize their vacation days or which excursions they will include in their stay. Instead of promoting only the best-known coastal destinations, the emphasis has been placed on islands, mountains, canyons, lakes, caves and protected areas that can be combined into very different one-day or multi-day itineraries. According to information from the Tourist Board, the goal is to direct part of tourist movement toward the entire county and offer guests additional reasons to explore areas outside the usual routes.
Promotion begins before arrival at the destination
Lučko was chosen for this campaign as a place where a large number of road travelers encounter information about destinations before continuing their journey toward the Croatian coast. The leaflet in English is designed as a quick and visually clear introduction to the offer of Zadar County, while its cover features one of the most recognizable motifs of the Zadar archipelago - Galešnjak, an islet known for its almost perfectly regular heart shape. Alongside the photograph are the messages "Say YES! to everything!" and "Where nature creates from the heart", linking the shape of the island with the broader identity of the destination. The idea is not to keep attention focused on only one symbol, but to use it as an entry point into the story of an area where, within relatively short distances, the coast, islands, karst terrain, mountain ranges, lakes and underground sites alternate. In this sense, the leaflet functions as an invitation not to limit a vacation to one place, but to enrich the stay with activities representing different parts of the county.
The director of the Zadar County Tourist Board, Vanja Čvrljak, described the campaign as active "on-site" marketing, meaning direct communication with guests at a moment when they are still planning the content of their vacation. According to him, the intention is to encourage visitors to discover, alongside well-known destinations, less publicized but valuable sites, among which he particularly highlighted the Cerovačke Caves. Čvrljak emphasized that this approach seeks to distribute tourist movement throughout the entire county, while at the same time offering guests new motives for excursions and exploration. He added that travelers' reactions to the distribution of the materials were extremely positive, which the Tourist Board sees as confirmation that direct contact with guests still makes sense even in an era of highly digitalized travel planning.
Galešnjak as a symbol of recognition of the Zadar archipelago
Galešnjak appears in the promotion as the initial visual motif, but its primary function is to draw attention to the island part of the region. The official tourism website of Zadar County regularly presents the island as the "island of love" and includes it among the recognizable points of the Zadar archipelago, particularly in content intended for sailors and visitors viewing the coast from the sea. Its shape is clearly visible from the air, which is why over the years it has become an internationally recognizable photographic motif. In the new campaign, this recognizability serves as a contrast to lesser-known places in the county's hinterland, which do not have the same level of global visibility but form an important part of its natural tourism offer. The campaign's message is therefore not simply "see Galešnjak", but to start from one recognizable symbol and move toward a much broader area.
In tourism terms, the Zadar area brings together very different experiences: historic Zadar, coastal towns, islands and nautical routes, but also the mountainous area of Velebit and the karst hinterland. It is precisely this diversity that forms the basis of the message that swimming, sailing, hiking, birdwatching, cave tours and visits to protected areas can all be combined during a single stay. For travelers planning a longer stay, such a combination can be more practical if they choose their base according to the excursions they want to connect; an overview of the accommodation offer in Zadar and Zadar County can serve as part of that planning.
Paklenica, Telašćica, Vransko jezero and Velebit at the center of the leaflet
Four protected areas occupy a central place in the promotional material: Paklenica National Park and the Telašćica, Vransko jezero and Velebit nature parks. Paklenica National Park extends across the southern slopes of Velebit, and official Park information states that it covers an area of 95 square kilometers and has a network of approximately 150 to 200 kilometers of trails and paths. The canyons of Velika and Mala Paklenica are particularly recognizable, while the area is also known as one of the most important centers of sport climbing in Croatia. For a visitor staying by the sea, this means that within the same trip it is possible to move from a Mediterranean coastal landscape into a distinctly mountainous environment. This very contrast clearly explains why the Tourist Board presents natural attractions in the leaflet as a connected whole rather than as a series of unrelated excursions.
Telašćica Nature Park, in the southeastern part of Dugi otok, is formed around one of the best-known bays on the Croatian Adriatic. The public institution that manages the Park lists Telašćica Bay, the cliffs of Dugi otok and the saltwater Lake Mir as its three fundamental phenomena. In some places, the cliffs rise more than 100 meters above the sea, while Lake Mir is separated from the open sea by a narrow strip of land. A visit to this area therefore naturally combines nautical, walking and landscape experiences, while at the same time requiring respect for the rules of the protected area. In the context of the promotion at Lučko, Telašćica represents the island side of Zadar's tourism offer and shows that an "island excursion" does not have to mean only going to the beach.
Vransko jezero Nature Park offers a completely different picture. According to official Park data, it is the largest natural lake in Croatia, and its northwestern part contains a Special Ornithological Reserve that has been protected since 1983. Vransko jezero is also included on the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance, further emphasizing its value for birds and other wetland habitats. For tourists, the area is interesting because of birdwatching, educational trails, viewpoints and the possibility of combining the lake with nearby coastal towns in a single excursion. Such a site particularly suits the concept of a campaign that seeks to shift attention from a few of the best-known points toward a broader spectrum of natural experiences.
Velebit Nature Park provides the mountain framework for much of this story and encompasses a series of sites that differ in character and accessibility. Among its highlighted locations, the official Park institution lists the Cerovačke Caves, Zavratnica Cove, educational trails and various possibilities for hiking and other outdoor activities. The Cerovačke Caves near Gračac are particularly important for Zadar County because, in the current promotional campaign, they are given the role of an example of an attraction that the organizers want to introduce to a larger number of guests. In this way, the promotion moves beyond the narrow coastal belt and directs attention toward the hinterland, where tourism activities are connected with karst, mountains and underground heritage. Such geographical breadth is one of the main messages of the entire campaign.
The Cerovačke Caves as an example of a site outside the usual routes
The Cerovačke Caves are located on southern Velebit, on the northeastern slope of Crnopac, within Velebit Nature Park. According to official Park information, the Lower and Upper Cerovačka Caves have been developed for tourist visits, each with approximately 700 meters of accessible route, and tours are conducted with a guide. The complex is known for its rich speleothem formations, karst features and archaeological and paleontological findings, which means that a visit is not only recreational but also educational. The average temperature in the caves is around seven degrees Celsius, so visitors are advised to wear warmer layered clothing and suitable footwear even in summer. Practical information of this kind shows why the QR code on the promotional leaflet plays an important role: a few sentences on paper can spark interest, but detailed planning requires checking current tour times, visiting conditions and availability.
From a marketing perspective, the Cerovačke Caves are an interesting choice because they are a sufficiently strong attraction to provide an independent reason for an excursion, while at the same time they are not among the first associations of every guest arriving on the Adriatic coast. The Tourist Board therefore uses them as an example of an attraction capable of extending visitor movement toward the county's interior. The key difference is that the aim is not merely to attract a guest to the destination, but to offer additional activities after arrival that the guest may not have considered during the initial planning process. For sites that depend on a controlled number of visits, it is important that increased visibility is accompanied by conservation rules and information about how visits are organized.
The campaign comes during a period of very strong tourist traffic
The timing of the promotion is no coincidence: on August 11, the Croatian National Tourist Board published eVisitor system data processed the previous day, according to which Zadar County recorded 576,005 arrivals and 4,870,547 overnight stays in July 2026. Compared with July 2025, the number of overnight stays was around 0.8 percent higher, meaning that the county retained a very large share of Croatia's overall summer tourist traffic. From January through the end of July, 1,250,961 arrivals and 8,259,134 overnight stays were recorded in Zadar County, according to Croatian National Tourist Board data. This means that the promotional campaign is taking place at a time when the destination is already receiving a very large number of guests and when the value of additional promotion is measured not only by new arrivals, but also by how much visitors discover after arriving. In such an environment, the idea of directing visitors toward different parts of the county becomes a question of the structure of their stay, rather than simply total demand.
Croatian National Tourist Board data additionally show that individual guests make up an important part of Croatia's tourist traffic, which is relevant to a campaign taking place directly along a major road route. Travelers arriving in their own cars have greater flexibility when choosing day trips, changing routes or visiting more distant attractions in the hinterland. For them in particular, a physical leaflet can serve as an initial reminder to include destinations such as Gračac, Vransko jezero or Paklenica in their plans.
The QR code connects the leaflet with real-time planning
The promotional material contains a QR code leading to the official website of the Zadar County Tourist Board. Its practical value lies in allowing travelers to move immediately from an inspiring photograph and short message to more detailed information about locations, activities and excursion possibilities. This is particularly important for natural attractions, where visiting conditions vary: some are reached by boat, others by car and on foot, while caves, parks and mountain areas require visitors to check opening hours, rules, weather conditions and the level of physical difficulty. The digital continuation of the campaign therefore reduces the limitations of a traditional leaflet, which because of its format cannot contain all the information needed to make a decision. At the same time, it retains the advantage of physical contact - the information is given to guests while they are already traveling and are more prepared to turn an idea into a concrete plan.
Such a combination of direct distribution and digital content reflects the way modern trips are often organized. Some travelers book accommodation and basic activities in advance but leave the details of their daily schedule open until arrival. It is precisely in this space between a booked stay and the final itinerary that the Tourist Board is attempting to position lesser-known locations. If a guest discovers after scanning the code that a particular attraction is accessible within a single day, the likelihood of a spontaneous excursion may be greater than if the same information were encountered only after returning home.
From the coast toward the hinterland, but with respect for sensitive areas
Promoting natural sites also carries an obligation to communicate visiting rules clearly. National parks, nature parks, ornithological reserves and cave systems are not merely tourist attractions, but protected areas whose primary value lies in preserving natural processes, habitats and species. For this reason, growing interest should be accompanied by information about staying on marked trails, rules of conduct, access restrictions and the need not to burden sensitive areas beyond what they can sustain. The official institutions managing Paklenica, Telašćica, Vransko jezero and Velebit regularly publish information for visitors, and checking it before departure is particularly important during summer heat, periods of increased wildfire risk and days with large numbers of guests.
The campaign involving ten thousand leaflets at Lučko is therefore more than a brief distribution of promotional material. It demonstrates an effort to approach guests after the decision to come to Croatia has already been made, but before the content of their vacation has been finalized. Galešnjak on the cover gives the campaign an easily recognizable symbol, while Paklenica, Telašćica, Vransko jezero, Velebit and the Cerovačke Caves expand the story to completely different landscapes and types of experiences. If visitors really do set out for these locations, the campaign's greatest value will lie in connecting their tourist stay with more parts of Zadar County, rather than only with a few of the best-known places on the coast. The final result will depend on whether the initial curiosity sparked by the leaflet develops into actual, well-planned and responsible visits.
Sources:
- Zadarski list - report on the distribution of 10,000 promotional leaflets at Lučko, the content of the campaign and the statement by Zadar County Tourist Board director Vanja Čvrljak (link)
- Croatian National Tourist Board - statistical indicators of tourist traffic for July and the January-July 2026 period, eVisitor and eCrew data (link)
- Zadar County Tourist Board - information about Galešnjak and nautical sites of the Zadar archipelago (link)
- Paklenica National Park - official data on the Park's area, canyons, hiking trails and climbing offer (link)
- Telašćica Nature Park - official information about Telašćica Bay, the cliffs of Dugi otok and the saltwater Lake Mir (link)
- Vransko jezero Nature Park - official information about the lake, ornithological reserve and Ramsar status of the area (link)
- Velebit Nature Park - official information about the Cerovačke Caves, their location, tourist routes and visiting conditions (link)