Catching Up with Unforgettable Croatia’s Graham Carter

Croatia is having a moment.

Sitting on the Adriatic Sea coast, the European destination has grown into a popular spot for tourism. Last year, the country made the top 10 “off-the-beaten-path” destinations in the 2024 USTOA Impact Study; Croatia saw record-breaking traffic in road, air, and maritime transport in 2024, and attracted over 21 million visitors (via Croatia Week). 

The award-winning tailor-made tour operator Unforgettable Travel Company knows this region well. Its brand Unforgettable Croatia is the largest luxury tour operator in the destination, offering both land packages and luxury small-ship experiences.  

Last year was record-breaking for Unforgettable Croatia. The tour operator secured its highest-ever occupancy rate: over 99%. What’s more, this was achieved alongside a 20% cabin capacity increase.

Unforgettable Travel Company Chief Commercial Officer and Co-founder Graham Carter told Travel Market Report that the company’s exponential growth in Croatia is tempered only by capacity.

“A lot of our sales are driven by our passion and capacity. The more ships we increase, the more we sell,” said Carter. “We can’t build ships quick enough.” 

Unforgettable Croatia Is Launching MV Aretis in Spring 2025

Already, Unforgettable Croatia is almost fully booked for 2025, and about 14% is booked for 2026. 

“We’ve got a handful of cabins in mid-July and August. We’ve got some on the 11th of October, but the rest of [2025] is fully booked,” said Carter.  

The current season includes the launch of MV Aretis in the spring. The 157-foot ship—described by the company as “one of the most stylish vessels to be built in Croatia”—features 18 cabins for a total capacity of 36 guests.

“We’re going through the final phases of getting the ship built, doing all the sea trials and all the final testing. It launches in mid-June,” Carter explained. “It’s exciting—it’s the first ship to be built in Croatia in five years.” 

The CCO told TMR that the MV Aretis’ debut is helping meet high demand for luxury small ship yacht cruising:

“We’re finding there’s increasing demand for small ship cruising. You’ve got the Ritz-Carlton. You’ve got Four Seasons… People want to go on smaller, more luxurious ships and really have that boutique, intimate experience where there are less people on board.” 

Unforgettable Croatia’s growth can be attributed in part to referrals. Carter told TMR that word-of-mouth has helped grow their client base. 

“I think it’s a testament to the fact that we operate such new ships and the level of service that we offer onboard,” said Carter.

Unforgettable Croatia’s Inaugural FAM & New Loyalty Program

In addition to record capacity, Unforgettable Croatia reached two other exciting milestones in 2024, both of which relate to the trade.

The tour operator increased its bookings through a travel advisor by 24% in 2024, representing 1,346 guests who booked through the trade. 

Unforgettable Croatia also hosted its first FAM trip in 2024. The company welcomed 13 advisors (with plus-ones) on a four-night Dalmatian Coast itinerary from Dubrovnik to Split. The FAM was operated on the 38-guest luxury vessel MV Memories.

Carter told TMR that Unforgettable Croatia will host other FAM trips in the future. The company currently has two business development managers (BDMs), one on the West Coast and one on the East Coast. The BDMs play an instrumental role in organizing the FAMs.

Travel advisors can get to know the tour operator and its product through online training. 

“We do quarterly webinars that focus purely on Croatia,” said Carter. “Even though it’s in a pretty popular destination, it’s still undiscovered for a lot of people.” 

Unforgettable Travel Company also offers training on their small ship offerings. 

“Small ship cruising is still fairly undiscovered. A lot of advisors are used to selling Silversea or Oceania and your bigger vessels… but because they have not been on [a yacht cruise] they don’t feel as confident in terms of how to sell them. We sort of bridge that gap by giving them the knowledge and explaining how they work,” explained Carter. 

For travel advisors who do sell Unforgettable vacations, there are benefits: Carter told TMR that the company revised its loyalty scheme over the last 18 months after consulting with travel advisors. Called the Unforgettable Club, the program incentivizes travel advisors to sell the company’s land tours and small ship cruises with rewards they can actually use (and want).

“Our loyalty scheme is based on different levels of turnover,” Carter explained. The first tier is a nice dinner. “We give them a $250 dinner. The next level, we organize a spa day for the advisors. The next level after that is a weekend away.”

For the highest tier, Unforgettable Croatia awards prepaid Mastercards, which can reach up to $3,000 to $5,000. 

Rather than reward advisors with a free Unforgettable Travel Company trip, Carter said it made more sense to offer a prepaid MasterCard that advisors could use to book a family trip. Since the boutique tour operator specializes in large, luxury trips in Europe and Asia, travel credits may not be as attractive to advisors.   

“The feedback we got is that a lot of FAMs aren’t necessary. A lot of [travel advisors] want to travel with their family,” said Carter. 

Trends in Croatia (& Luxury Tailor-Made Travel)

Carter told TMR that luxury and yacht cruising are major trends for Croatia.

“I think more and more people are discovering Croatia, and they also discover that doing it by yachts is the best way,” the CCO said. 

These clients are also looking to charter yachts for their Croatia vacation, looking to give their families “really unique experience,” said Carter. 

“We’re seeing a lot of demand for luxury and ultra-luxury clients wanting to charter their own yachts. They’re more than happy to spend $150,000 to $200,000 for a week to have the yachts to themselves,” he said.

These clients will add on experiences catered to their interests, like a wellness expert onboard to hold yoga classes or a sommelier to do onboard wine tastings.

But it’s not just the yacht experience: Carter said luxury clients coming to Croatia want to immerse themselves in the destination as well. “There’s that luxury adventure yachting side,” he explained.

“Yes, they want to enjoy the boat, but they want to go and see these destinations. They want to go do a private tour or a private farm-to-table class with David Beckham’s favorite chef.”

On the land side, Carter stressed that, when it comes to luxury clients, they want the experience to feel intimate and exclusive. If an experience is something you can find online, it’s not good enough. Unforgettable Croatia serves this desire with experiences like pairing guests with a local family or artist—something that feels “special.”  

“Luxury clients want to get away from the beaten path. They want to get away from the crowds. They want to feel like what they’re doing is special and is not open to everyone. So if it’s searchable on Google, they don’t do it, frankly,” said Carter