How Can Small Tourist Boards Work More Efficiently Than Large Ones?

Employees at small tourist boards often have to cover the roles of marketer, project coordinator, and administrator all at once. Drawing on hands-on experience gained directly within the marketing and web departments of the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) in budget reconciliation and internal reporting, DataLytics develops fast, semi-automated solutions that plug directly into existing spreadsheets. That removes the need to buy new, expensive software licenses and gives overstretched teams more time for their real expertise — promoting the destination and developing tourism products.

In small destinations, operational admin work regularly stifles creative marketing. Every new local event, exhibitor sign-up, or per-project budget tracking task takes hours of manual data entry and emails. When resources and teams don’t have the luxury of large operations departments, technology has to take over the repetitive tasks.

"The digital maturity of a small tourist board isn’t measured by the budget for expensive programs, but by how many routine tasks run automatically in the background of its existing spreadsheets."

Four examples of automation with no new costs

DataLytics solves this problem through the strategic use of smart links and scripts within clients’ existing spreadsheets, delivering measurable time savings in everyday work:

1. Sign-ups for local events with no manual entry

Entering sign-ups from local exhibitors, caterers, or event participants is too often done by manually copying from paper or emails. DataLytics sets up a system where an online sign-up on the website automatically enters the exhibitor’s details into the tourist board’s internal spreadsheet. At the same time, the system independently sends a personalized confirmation email with the location, and the on-site exhibitor list updates itself in real time.

1. Smart oversight of grants for local associations

Tracking approved grants and projects for local associations regularly eats up valuable staff time checking deadlines and sending reminders. By upgrading existing spreadsheets, the system tracks deadlines on its own and automatically emails the association whose report deadline is approaching. Once the association uploads its documentation, the spreadsheet automatically logs the status and notifies the office team.

1. Fast eVisitor statistics for council meetings

Putting together monthly tourism statistics and comparing them with previous years ahead of council meetings or for the media often means hours of copying eVisitor data by hand. DataLytics upgrades the spreadsheets so staff only need to upload the raw CSV export from eVisitor. The system automatically recognizes the data structure, calculates increases and decreases, and instantly generates a finished visual report ready for printing or presentation.

1. Real-time consolidation of per-project budgets

Tracking actual spending by activity (like design, brochure printing, advertising, or equipment rental) can create chaos without constantly checking invoices. As each new expense is entered into the operational spreadsheet, the system automatically updates the central budget. If spending on a given project approaches its set limit, the system automatically flags that cell visually and sends an alert to management.

In practice

• Old way: For weeks before a local event or council meeting, staff spend hours copying sign-ups, manually sending hundreds of notifications to associations, and recalculating eVisitor figures in Excel, while their real work of promoting the destination is left on the back burner.
• New way: Data is entered into the same familiar spreadsheets, which are now technically upgraded and connected. The system sends notifications on its own, recalculates statistics, and updates budgets, while staff spend their time exclusively on creating new promotional stories and developing the destination.

Clients