The first of four casting calls for the hostesses at this year's 24th Vegeta Croatia Open was held in AutoZubak's luxurious Audi Centre in Zagreb. Under the watchful eye of the experienced Daniel Bilić of Soundset Radio, who moderated the event in previous years as well, the jury comprising of Anica Kovač, Antonio Novak from AutoZubak's Audi Centre and Hrvoje Mikulčić of Podravka, has chosen a number of girls from Zagreb and the surrounding area. Three more casting calls will be held in Osijek, Rijeka and Pula and in the end a total of 140 hostesses from across the region will gather in Umag this year.
This year again there has been a lot of interest: over 600 applications for the position of an ATP hostess have been received so far. As in previous years, the majority of applications have arrived from Slavonia, Zagreb and Istria, but girls from Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have also been applying. The competition is open until the end of June 2013.
Some of the hostesses are already hallmarks of the tournament since they have been coming to Umag for five years or more. The requirements that a prospective hostess has to fulfil include primarily good communication skills, responsibility and knowledge of foreign languages. Since Vegeta Croatia Open is not only a sports tournament but also one of Croatia's leading social events, with a wide array of accompanying events, alongside fulfilling responsible functions within about a dozen services, the hostesses' task is also to promote Umag, Istria and Croatia among the many visitors.
Last year, over 49 global channels broadcast over 1600 national reports from Umag, and Umag's hostesses were frequently the topic of those reports. A big interest is being shown year after year by ATP itself, which broadcasts the story about hostesses via its media.
The 24th Vegeta Croatia Open will be held from July 18 to 28, 2013. In that period, Umag will once again become the centre of one of the most important social events in Croatia and the indispensable centre of tennis, beauty, fun, socializing and experiencing the tastes and smells of Istria.
