Is Croatia Stealing Ibiza’s Cool?
(PRWEB) February 19, 2014 -- From the late 80’s Ibiza heralded the European party scene as some kind of ravers’ Shangri-La. Other party destinations become popular for a year or two, from Mallorca Corfu, Mikonos and Ayia Napa to Crete, St. Tropez and Rimini, but Ibiza was always a constant. However now Croatia emerges as the new Mediterranean party hotspot and for the first time in the last 30 years it seems Ibiza will have to pass its sceptre to one of her younger, hotter sisters.
Although it is a home of world famous clubs such as Pacha, Space and Ushuaiia and it serves as a superstar deejay’s playground, Ibiza had always offered much more. When it comes to its history, sunny weather, mesmerizing nature, clear water and top of the line cuisine, Ibiza always delivered. But so does Croatia. Not to mention the cost-benefit and freshness of the destination, which works strongly in her favour. When Ibiza had already served as a hiding spot for the Carthaginians, Roman emperors were living it large on the Adriatic coast in their villas and residences. Ibiza does attract the jet set like Paris Hilton and Naomi Campbell, but tycoons, royalty and Hollywood crème de la crème prefer to sail along the Croatian coast. And it’s not a coincidence that the Isle of Hvar appeared on the Lonely Planet top destinations list. The island saw its premier celebrity moment when Prince Harry jumped into a swimming pool at one of the nightclubs and the media attention associated with Beyonce's appearance in a white bikini with husband Jay-Z was also reported by the international media. Heck, the music superstars even named their firstborn after the local plant – blue ivy.
CROATIAN FESTIVAL FEVER
And that’s only one of over one thousand Croatian islands. When a particular trend is exposed in such diverse media as Cosmopolitan, the clubbing bible Mixmag, Skiddle and the Guardian, it’s obvious something’s cooking. This year music lovers can choose from two dozen top festivals taking place at the most picturesque spots on the Croatian coastline: the season will kick start with the greatest Spring Break Island – the greatest spring break festival in Europe (5-9/6 and 18-22/6) and climax with the electronic spectacle Ultra Europe in Split (11-13/7) with more than 150.000 visitors. There are also the guitar heaven Terraneo, hip hop gathering Fresh Island (23-25/7) and vanguard Hideout (30/6-3/7), Barrakud (9-16/8), Sonus (18-22/8) and Unknown (8-12/9) who are catering for the tastes of the underground, arty and hipster audience.
Beside the regional crews, leading promoters from the UK, the USA, Italy and Germany are involved in the Croatian festival scene, which already generates tens of millions of Euros of revenue for the regional economy. And what is just as important: going to Croatia has become as significant as visiting Ibiza for everyone that wants to be in touch with the greatest stars and latest trends in music. Adam Russakoff of Ultra Worldwide explained why they chose Split from over 20 sites to host their European festival: “The recent boom in music tourism in this region coupled with Croatia’s entry into the EU in July 2013 made perfect sense for us from business perspective.”
And what about the clubs? Great venues with top of the line program operate all over Adriatic. Hvar and Dubrovnik attract high end clientele, Istria attracts Italians, every isle and city offers something good but the title of the party hotspot of the Adriatic goes to the infamous Zrce Beach on the Isle of Pag, with a handful of clubs, including DJ Mag’s #25 club Papaya. The season starts in May and lasts ‘til September and the program stand for who’s who in electronic music. The party never stops as people can always choose variety of pre-parties, beach parties, main events, after-parties, not to forget the boat parties, which are a must when reveling in Croatia.
SPRING BREAK PHENOMENON …
The latest trend on the Croatian festival & party scene are the spring break festivals. These have been popping up, especially in the northern part of the Adriatic, for the last couple of years, but specialists of the regional tourism and entertainment industry suggest 2014 will be a year when the spring break phenomenon will emerge as the big story. There are a couple of players involved, mostly youth travel agencies such as market leader Collegium Mondial Travel. As early as 2007 they had organized the first spring break in Adriatic and are now hosting a massive Spring Break Island festival with DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs, such as Tomorrowland favorites Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike, DJ Antoine and Mike Candys in Zrce for the second year. The hype around it is such that party heavyweights Ministry of Sound and Ultra Europe have also confirmed they will host official parties as part of SBI.
“Collegium has been organizing spring and university breaks in Croatia and Greece for the last 15 years with great success. Only in Zrce CMT caters for over 10,000 guests every summer, the company is a travel and accommodation partner to some of the leading festivals in the region and it produces events throughout the region. After doing this independently for various markets we decided to gather young people from all over Europe at the common Spring Break Island festival in Zrce. This story stands on the classic American spring breaks blueprint but with a twist for the specific taste of Europeans. The funny thing is that it now we get a lot of inquiries from Americans who are looking for alternatives to the expensive and always the same Spring Break holidays in Miami, Panama and Cancun, as it’s cheaper to travel to and party at Pag than it is going to South Beach,” says Dominik S. Cernjak, the head of Spring Break Island festival.
… WITH EUROPEAN TWIST
And what does one get “spring breaking” in Zrce? Four days of fun, pool, boat and beach parties with the worlds’ most eminent music artists, collectives and brands. SBI will also host special Witty Olympic Games (beer-pong tournament included!), wakeboarding and beach volley contests, there will be salsa, zumba and dance classes, events such as sunset wining & dining, fashion shows, Secret Boyfriend Dreamland, and for the first time in Europe spring-breakers can enroll for an American Football Beach Flag tournament. All this is happening at the beginning and at the end of June at the craziest beach in the Mediterranean.
Miha Mohorko, Collegium Mondial Travel d.o.o., http://springbreak-island.com, +386 40567328, [email protected]
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