ZAGREB, 15 Oct 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beroš on Thursday told parents who had demonstrated in front of his home against restrictions on visits to sick children that he understood their dissatisfaction, but that the place for dealing with such matters should be the Health Ministry.

"Neither the Health Ministry nor epidemiologists limited the duration of visits to your sick children," Beroš told a group of parents who had said on Facebook they were protesting because the duration of visits to their sick children was limited to 15 minutes.

The minister said that the national COVID-19 crisis management team and epidemiologists had decided that the parents of sick children being treated in Croatian hospitals and health facilities must meet epidemiological requirements as all other visitors, which means they need to have an EU COVID certificate as proof that they have been vaccinated, have recovered from coronavirus or have been tested for COVID-19.

The organization, time, and duration of visits to sick children, the minister said, is organized by each institution in accordance with its organizational and spatial possibilities, and they are required to inform the parents.

"I understand the dissatisfaction of parents... and I will always stand by them as a doctor, minister, and parent, but I cannot accept the way in which they are expressing their protest," the health minister said.

According to media reports, about a dozen of citizens gathered outside the health minister's home at about 7 pm, at the invitation of a religious education teacher from Križevci, Ivan Pokupac, via Facebook.

In the post, Pokupec said that every day they would visit the home address of one member of the crisis management team for 15 minutes.

Pokupec also wrote that last year parents had been allowed to stay with their children in hospital for 15 minutes, but this time with an additional condition - an EU digital COVID certificate.

He said there was no scientific, epidemiological, or moral argument for this and that the additional requirement served to force the concerned parents to get vaccinated.

For the latest news on coronavirus in Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section. 

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 15 Oct 2021 - A total of 28,615 businesses operating in Croatia's wholesale and retail sector in 2020, employing 192,367 workers and earning HRK 260.2 billion in total revenues, according to an analysis by the Financial Agency (Fina) for the years 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2020. 

By comparison, there were 27,044 wholesale and retail operators in 2004, 27,262 in 2009, and 26,260 in 2014.

The number of workers in this sector was 5.2% higher in 2020 than in 2004. The largest number was recorded in 2009 (198,988) and the lowest in 2014 (178,645).

The highest total revenues were generated in 2020, of HRK 260.2 billion, which was an increase of HRK 82.6 billion compared with 2004.

In 2020, the highest total revenue was reported by Konzum Plus (HRK 10 billion), followed by Lidl Croatia (HRK 6.1 bn), Spar Croatia (HRK 5 bn), and Plodine (HRK 4.5 bn).

The highest total profit was also generated in 2020, of HRK 10.2 billion, and was two and a half times higher than in 2004. The best earner was Lidl Croatia, with a profit of HRK 274.8 million.

The highest total loss was recorded in 2009, amounting to HRK 4.3 billion, which was 60.9% higher than in 2020 when it totaled HRK 2.6 billion.

The consolidated net result for last year was HRK 7.5 billion, compared with HRK 1.86 billion in 2004, HRK 1.44 billion in 2009, and HRK 2.3 billion in 2014.

The largest fixed capital investments were made in 2004, of HRK 8.9 billion, while in 2020 they totaled HRK 2.4 billion, which is 72.9% less than in 2004.

The largest trade deficit was reported in 2020, of HRK 37.4 billion, compared with HRK 25.6 billion in 2014, HRK 36.7 billion in 2009, and HRK 36.3 billion in 2004.

Last year, the biggest importers were Lidl Croatia (HRK 2.3 billion) and Medika (HRK 2.1 billion).

In 2020, the average net monthly salary in this sector was HRK 5,816, up by 84.3% compared with 2004 when it was HRK 3,157. It was 2.6% lower than the average wage in the enterprise sector, which amounted to HRK 5,971.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

October 15, 2021 - Respiratory therapies within caves, called speleotherapy, have thousands of years of practice dating back to the times of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Now, for the first time, the first cave for speleotherapy in Croatia has been opened in Grabovača Cave Park.

Although Croatia is rich in caves, which are in large numbers in the tourist offer, there was no speleotherapy until last week, reports Turističke Priče. Namely, for the first time in Croatia, in the Grabovača Cave Park, a cave for speleotherapy is being opened. Last week, on the premises of the Institution, the Agreement on granting a concession approval for Medina Cave was signed. The concession approval was granted to the trade "SIGA" from Perušić.

Speleotherapy is a type of respiratory therapy that involves breathing inside a cave. The benefits of this type of therapy were known as far back as ancient Greece and Rome, and modern use began in Germany.

The history of modern speleotherapy dates back to the fifties of the last century. At that time, speleotherapy hospitals were established in several countries of Eastern and Central Europe. In its classical form, speleotherapy was the use of underground minerals and hot springs.

The goal, as they say from the Grabovača Cave Park, is to encourage as long a stay in nature and caves as possible, ie to combine speleotherapy with educational content in the Park area, and to contribute to better promotion of the area. The official opening will be soon, and the interested public will be informed about everything.

By the way, the Grabovača Cave Park is the only cave park in Europe and is located in the area of ​​the Perušić Municipality in Lika. Water enriched with dissolved carbon dioxide with its mechanical and chemical power destroyed and dissolved carbonate rocks on the surface of the relief and in the depths of the Grabovača underground. Thus, countless ravines, oysters, sinkholes were formed on the surface and many pits and caves in the underground.

On a relatively small area of ​​only 1.5 square kilometers, there are eight caves and one pit, which is a set of diverse and rich in calcite formations valuable speleological phenomena, and a quarter of the total number of protected speleological objects in Croatia - five caves are protected in the category of geomorphological monuments nature, and the cave Samograd is the most famous speleological object of this cave park and the only cave that is open to visitors.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

October 15, 2021 - The Croatian National Tourist Board and METRO, Michelin's official partner for Croatia, presented the prestigious Michelin awards to the best Croatian restaurants included in the Michelin 2021 guide at a ceremony organized at the Belaj Castle in Istria.

The Croatian National Tourist Board and METRO, Michelin's official partner for Croatia, presented the prestigious Michelin awards to the best Croatian restaurants included in the Michelin 2021 guide at a ceremony organized at the Belaj Castle in Istria, reports HrTurizam.

Recall, this year 10 local restaurants earned stars, three more than last year, this globally most important and most recognized restaurant guide. Among the best Croatian restaurants featured are: Agli Amici Rovinj from Rovinj, Alfred Keller from Mali Lošinj, Nebo from Rijeka are the new Michelin star winners, while Boškinac from Novalja, Draga Di Lovrana from Lovran, LD Restoran from Korčula, Monte from Rovinj¸ Noel from Zagreb, Pelegrini from Šibenik and restaurant 360 from Dubrovnik kept their Michelin star.

A total of 55 restaurants deserved Michelin's recommendations for 2021, while the list of winners of the Bib Gourmand award, which is given for a great price-quality ratio, included 13 Croatian restaurants.

“With more than 100 years of experience in restaurant selection, Michelin’s guide is today an international reference for fine dining and therefore the undeniable importance of such a single recognition for our gastronomy. We realize that creating great cuisine is a tough sport: always competitive, always challenging. Therefore, our partnership with Michelin confirms our desire to be the preferred partner of the HoReCa sector. We create unique products under the brands Metro Chef and Metro Professional: they are designed and perfected together with chefs - made for the best chefs in the world'', said Imre Horváth, President of the Management Board of METRO Croatia.

The importance of Michelin recognition in the development of the domestic gastronomic and tourist offer has been recognized for years by the Croatian National Tourist Board, which was once again a partner of the event.

"Tourism and gastronomy are closely related tourist products, so the awarding of prestigious MICHELIN labels to Croatian restaurants is of great importance in the further promotion and positioning of Croatia as a quality destination with a rich and diverse gastronomic offer. With this award ceremony in the beautiful Istrian ambiance, together with our partners, we want to further emphasize the exceptional success of our recognized restaurants, which were included in MICHELIN's guides and received great honor and recognition for their work. Today, our country boasts a total of 10 restaurants with a MICHELIN star and a total of 68 restaurants with some of the labels of this prestigious gastronomic guide", said the director of the Croatian Tourist Board Kristjan Stanicic, adding that all Croatian regions are rich in diversity, which makes our country recognizable. as a prominent European gastronomic destination.

For more, make sure to check out our lifestyle section.

October 15, 2021 - Digital Nomad Association Croatia launches a new service to make the accommodation search more accessible - DNA Stay.

There are interesting times in Croatia for the emerging digital nomad opportunity. Less than 18 montths after an open letter to the Croatian Prime Minister asking for a digital nomad visa for Croatia, each week seems to bring a new initiative or positive piece of good news. The recent findings in the Nomad List 2021 survey which put Croatia as the second most-liked destination and Zagreb in the top 5 most-liked cities came at the same time as the launch of the first so-called Croatian digital nomad village, Digital Nomad Valley Zadar. 

The energy of the Croatian initiative has spilled over borders, and Dutch entrepreneur Jan de Jong - whose LinkedIn post to PM Andrej Plenkovic was the catalyst for the new digital nomad permit - recently announced an imminent visa for Montenegro after his successful collaboration with officials and stakeholders in Podgorica. De Jong is also President of Digital Nomad Association Croatia, which aims to be a bridge for visiting nomads to Croatia, while also advocating nomad issues with the relevant authorities. De Jong this morning announced the latest DNA Croatia initiative, a new accommodation platform connecting DNs with long-term accommodation options, called DNA Stay:

And we are live!! DNA Stay is the new booking platform for mid- & long-term property rentals in #Croatia - targeting #digitalnomads.

DNA Stay, founded by the Digital Nomad Association Croatia - is now enabling property owners to list their apartments, houses & villas for monthly rentals, all the way up till 1 year rentals.

Over the past year, many digital nomads have reached out to me, looking for monthly rentals of apartments, houses & villas.

At the same time, property owners are approaching me, asking where they can list their properties - targeting digital nomads.

Starting today, we are bringing you the solution - kicking off with 5.000+ listings! 

If you own a property and want to rent it out to digital nomads - send an email to:
 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you are a digital nomad and you are looking for amazing rentals in Croatia - visit:
 DNAstay.com

DNA Stay - only rentals for mid- & long term stay! 

Thank you all so much for your continuous support throughout this entire digital nomad journey! 

Pozdrav,

Jan de Jong

President Digital Nomad Association Croatia

P.s. - Sharing is caring 

For more news and features on digital nomads in Croatia, follow the latest TCN section.

ZAGREB, 15 October, 2021 - The Croatian parliament broke off its meeting on Thursday evening after opposition MPs obstructed discussion on the appointment of Robert Šveb as Director-General of the HRT public broadcasting service. 

"This is democracy opposition style," said deputy speaker Ante Sanader of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) as the opposition lawmakers lined up in front of the rostrum. He then adjourned the meeting until Friday, when the amendments discussed this week would be put to a vote.

The opposition claims that Šveb is in a potential conflict of interest and that his appointment is a farce because he is obviously the personal choice of the minister of culture and media.

They said on Thursday evening that the item on his appointment was forced onto the agenda instead of discussion on the anti-corruption strategy, which was shifted to next week. They stressed that the HRT must serve the interests of Croatia and demanded that the present call for the nomination of a new HRT director-general be annulled.

On Friday, Parliament is expected to vote in favour of Radovan Dobronić as the new President of the Supreme Court. All parliamentary groups have announced their support except the Homeland Movement, who objected saying that he did not recognise the problem of lustration.

Dobronić's appointment will end the months-long crisis surrounding the highest judicial office in the country, which has been vacant since mid-July when the term of the previous Supreme Court President, Đuro Sessa, expired.

October 14, 2021 - The decisive Croatia-Russia World Cup qualifier at Poljud on Sunday, November 14, will be played at 3 pm. Tickets should be announced by HNS soon. 

In exactly one month, the Croatia national football team will play in Split, at Poljud Stadium, against Russia. Not only is it their final qualifier for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but the winner of the match will secure a direct spot at the next World Cup and avoid rather difficult additional qualifications. 

Russia and Croatia are in a dead race for first place in Group H, the only spot that leads directly to Qatar. After drawing against Slovakia in Osijek, Croatia will need a victory against Russia to take them directly to the World Cup. Any other result leads Zlatko Dalić's team to a tricky playoff round, and Russia directly to Qatar. This is, of course, assuming Croatia defeats Malta three days before the big battle in Split, on November 11.

Fans can be happy that Croatia plays against Russia on Sunday, November 14, meaning many do not have to take the day off from work. A full Poljud stadium is to be expected. 

UEFA has confirmed the date on its official website, as well as the time. Thus, Croatia and Russia will meet at 3 pm, which isn't as common as the 9 pm clashes we are used to watching. However, it should be taken into account that four groups will be playing final qualifying matches on that day.

Namely, Croatia, as well as its opponents in Group H, will start at 3 pm, Group J will be played from 6 pm, and Groups B and A from 8:45 pm. 

Tickets for the Croatia-Russia match are not yet on sale, though the Croatian Football Federation should soon announce the prices and when ticket sales will begin. It will be one match football fans won't want to miss. 

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

To learn more about sport in Croatia, CLICK HERE.

October the 15th, 2021 - The director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Krunoslav Capak, has stated that he hopes we're now experiencing the very peak of the fourth wave and that we'll soon see the infection rate begin to drop again.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Krunoslav Capak recently spoke about the worrying large number of infections in neighbouring Serbia, but also about the big jump the same sense here in Croatia, as well as the third dose of the vaccine. Here in Croatia, after five months, we have seen quite a dramatic jump in the infection rate. Krunoslav Capak said that if you were to ask him personally, that he doesn't expect these figures to go over 2000.

"But if you look at the weekly averages - we're in stagnant growth. The first three days of this week had fewer cases than the first three days of last week. I'd dare to say and we hope that this is the peak of the fourth wave and that the numbers will now come back down again,'' he said.

Krunoslav Capak also said that he thinks that we're now right in the very peak of the fourth wave, although cooler, less stable weather is coming and that can pose a danger for the epidemiological situation, much like it did last year when things were at their very worst.

"We always need to remember that we have a large number of people who still aren't vaccinated, people who are unwell or overweight... That said, we also have a population that is already used to all of this, that more or less maintains social distance, doesn't attend gatherings, doesn't spend much time in closed spaces, so we're hoping that we might see the peak and that in a short time, meaning the second half of October, the numbers will start to fall,'' Krunoslav Capak said.

"If the virus is allowed a lot of space, it can spread"

He also commented on the situation in neighbouring Serbia, which has an average of more than 6,500 infected people per day.

"Despite the level of vaccination there, which is very similar to ours in Croatia, if the virus is allowed a lot of space to spread, it will do precisely that,'' he said.

Krunoslav Capak also said that high numbers for the winter are possible in Croatia, too.

"We hope that this won't happen, because we're at another level of vaccination, we have different epidemiological measures and the quality of compliance with these measures is different," he said.

A booster dose of the coronavirus vaccine

He also commented on the recommendations for the third, so-called coronavirus booster dose.

He talked about whether these booster vaccinations will be organised in hospitals and in nursing homes like last winter or whether it will take place at mass vaccination points.

"In our document, we recommended that vaccinations be organised for inpatient social care institutions and in the healthcare system, as was the case with the first set of vaccinations, while for all other categories, in consultation with a doctor, we can of course organise vaccinations at mass vaccination points," said Capak for RTL.

The prolongation of the Croatian covid certificates after a booster or third dose of the vaccine

Capak also said that they haven't yet determined the dates when they will start with the third dose, but that it will happen very soon.

When asked if anyone could come to the vaccination point on their own and say they live with an immunocompromised person and want to be vaccinated with the third dose, Capak replied: “The direct answer to your question is that yes, they'll be able to do that. We always have doctors present at these mass vaccination sites. Anyone can get vaccinated in consultation with a doctor.''

He also answered whether the third dose prolongs the duration of Croatian covid certificates.

“Given the fact that the EMA has now approved it, we're going to introduce the possibility for people to be vaccinated like this. Work is underway to deal with it all in terms of IT and to create business rules for issuing covid certificates. According to us, we're ready to extend people's covid certificates after that booster or third dose for another year,'' he concluded.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to check out our dedicated section and select your preferred language.