Insaider. Re-designing the classic tourist agency; designing a system for sharing experiences between locals and visitors

The city of Pula (Croatia) has for long been a popular vacation destination, and as such, one of the important factors in the economy of the region of Istria. Thanks to the historical heritage, monuments from Roman Empire it always attracted lots of tourists, explorers and historicists. There are people that come to visit one time, but there are many that keep coming back, mostly thanks to the beautiful natural environment, coast and the climate. For some user groups that is still enough reason to come back, but as statistics show, the request for new contents has been growing, especially between young people and families. Beside what has been mentioned above, the city has to offer lots more, like agrotourisms, festivals, cultural events, and especially local and traditional cuisine that I believe is the greatest treasure that hasn’t been explored enough, probably due to lack of efficient promoting channels. As every city Pula also has an old city center that is most popular between visitors, but mainly because of the easiest access, leaving the other parts of the city unexplored. This mass tourism phenomena, that I also see as an issue, leads to feedback as ‘poor experience’, ‘slow city’ and similar. From my observation, while in contact with the tourists, I noticed the interest in exploring the area, interest in local gastronomy, and lack of information. What I frequently encountered was people asking for reccomandation on where to go and what to do, with the big issue of not being able to direct them. There is a need, for a network, a platform where it is possible to collect all the information, interact, and that at the same time allows the travelers to arrange their vacation, to create a customized guide/plan, that will lead them deeper into experiencing the city, connecting with local people, as opposed to what agencies are proposing and that is only based on the city center and the standard offer. This kind of proposal will enrich the experience of visitors, promote local culture, create new opportunities for local business, and benefit the economy of the city, as well as the region. It is a good start for future developement of all year round tourism, not only for summer season, which in the end is the interest and the goal of the region, the city and its people.