All summer on our satellite television screen, we watched luscious commercial spots produced by the Greece and Croatia Tourism Boards.

They were beautiful, enchanting and persuasive and created a wonderful image for both countries as a visitor destination.

We were almost tempted to go ourselves!

What was impressive was the emphasis on those aspects of the country you would normally associate with Italy first; food, art cities, archaeology etc.

Both countries have sensed an opportunity.

The messages are clear. Croatia ‘The Mediterranean as it once was’; Greece ’5000 years of history’.

Croatia has even claimed Marco Polo as their own!

We hope the newly created Ministry of Tourism in Italy will be investing in something similar for next summer.