Aurea International – with you for over 20 years! |  |
Dear Visitor,
20 years seems such a long time and yet it has flown by. Our starting point was very modest and far away from the company we are now!
Today Aurea International employs over 20 permanent, seasonal and external associate staff; we have over 250 accommodation units on offer; we provide a range of guided tours and excursions taking in Krk Island and destinations farther afield such as Venice. Our product range now includes package holidays, boat cruises via our own fleet of boats, diving trips, car rental and other associated tourist services.
During this time we have developed a number of strong relationships with European tour operators, for whom we now provide accommodation and guided tour services for the tourist groups they send to Krk. On a wider level, Aurea staff are actively involved with Krk’s tourist boards, which allows us to participate in improving and promoting tourism on the island.
Aurea’s business is built around providing a high quality, professional and friendly service, with the attention to detail and customer care that our guests expect from a high quality travel provider. The large number of returning guests that we see from year-to-year confirms that we have been successful in providing a service that is valued by our clients. Thank you to all of you!
To commemorate our 20 years in the travel business we have chronicled some of our history below, including our successes as well as one or two of our disasters. I hope you enjoy finding out more about Aurea International and we look forward to welcoming you to our beautiful Krk Island soon.
Yours sincerely
Svjetlana Volarić
Director
Aurea International d.o.o.
A big thank you to our employees
None of our success would have been possible without the help and support of our valued staff over the past 20 years. The majority of our permanent employees have been with us for 10 years or more.
Our first employees were Ms Milica Zuzic who is today a professor of the Croatian language in a local school here in Krk and Mr Ivan Juresic who is now an accounting manager in Ponikve Krk. Mr Marinko Zic, our Sales Manager, was another of our first employees and has now been with Aurea for 20 years alongside of myself.
Our story - from humble beginnings
We started in business on 13th April 1990, almost immediately after the Government allowed the foundation of private tourist agencies in the Republic of Croatia. There were four of us in those early days and our office was a room that we rented from the Kosic family in Krk. Our office furniture consisted of my kitchen table and chairs! Our only computer cost us EUR 4,500 and had to be thrown away two years later, as by that time it was out of date and had to be replaced. Nevertheless, in our first week of trading we managed to sell all our available accommodation for August of that year – all 20 apartments!
The first guided tour we organised was a four-day trip to Vienna. During the trip the bus had two tyre punctures, but despite that upset, two of our guests, Kornel and Maria, met each other on the trip and today they are a happily married couple with three children.
Fifteen months later the war in Croatia started which almost killed the tourism trade, but we persisted …
Some of the memorable events in our history
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1991
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We moved to office space rented to us by the Petkovic family in Krk, where we stayed for the next 12 years
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1992
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We started to cooperate with Czechoslovakian and Slovakian tourist agencies
In the same year we purchased our first cruise boat – ‘Zlatopruzica’ - and the year after we started to provide boat trips to clients. ‘Zlatopruzica’ is still in use today and is used to provide our popular range of diving and night fishing trips.
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1994
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Aurea Immobilie, our sister company providing property and real estate services on Krk Island was established
We expanded our services to include diving trips and expeditions
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2001
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Our first web site was created. It was listed as one of the top 50 web sites in Croatia by the Croatian magazine ‘Bug’ in January 2002
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2004
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We moved offices again, this time purchasing our own property which we own outright. One of the best things about our current office is the large car park in front of the building which allows plenty of parking for our visitors - come and see us when you are in Krk!
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2005
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In 2005 we purchased our second cruise boat – ‘Lenica’ - and expanded our mini-cruise product range. In the same year we added-in more tours and excursions to local attractions such as our Krk Island tour, the Plitvice Lakes and Rijeka, as well as to destinations farther afield such as Venice
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2007
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Our web site was completely redesigned and upgraded to allow online bookings as well as containing the full range of travel services that we provide. This is the site you are looking at now and it is available in six languages reflecting the diverse international make-up of our clients
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2008
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In 2008 we introduced our accommodation transfer service using our own 8-seater bus
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2010
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Our 20th birthday!
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Krk City mayor welcomes Aurea owners
The mayor of City of Krk Mr Darijo Vasilic and vice-mayor Mr Čedomir Miler have welcomed Mrs Svjetlana Volaric and Mrs Josipa Cvelic Bonifacic to congratulate Aurea on 20 years in tourist industry business.
Back to Island Krk News page.
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