ZAGREB, 23 July 2021 - The mayor of Varaždin, Neven Bosilj, on Friday called on residents of this northern Croatian city to start raising funds for Koblenz to help the Germany city cope with the aftermath of the recent disastrous floods.

Donations can be paid into the account on the official website of Koblenz  https://www.koblenz.de/rathaus/verwaltung/pressemeldungen/210716-stadt-koblenz-richtet-spendenkonto-fuer-hochwasseropfer-ein/.

Varaždin and this southwestern Germany city started developing closer ties in the 1990s when Koblenz sent humanitarian aid during the Homeland War. Varaždin and Koblenz became twin towns in 2007 when they signed a partnership charter.

Immediately after the ravaging flooding, Mayor Bosilj forwarded a letter to Koblenz Mayor David Langner, extending condolences to the bereaved families and offering assistance.

For more news, CLICK HERE.

ZAGREB, 23 July 2021 - The grave situation in the dairy sector, caused by rising costs due to growing prices of cereals and fodder, has prompted the agriculture ministry to ask the EU for HRK 15 million (€2m) in aid for fodder supplies for local milk producers, the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture (HPK) said on Friday.

The HPK said in a press release that representatives of Croatian dairies, the HPK and Agriculture Minister Marija Vučković held talks on Thursday on the serious situation in the dairy sector.

One of the conclusions of the meeting is that the ministry should ask the EU for HRK 15 million in aid for the procurement of fodder.

For more on business, CLICK HERE.

ZAGREB, 23 July 2021 - In the past 24 hours, 176 coronavirus cases have been registered in Croatia, while the first five days of this week saw a 35% rise in new cases week on week, it was said on Friday at a press conference of the national COVID-19 crisis management team.

The 14-day incidence is 39.8% per 100,000 population. In the past 24 hours, 4,911 persons have been tested and 3.56% of the tests have come back positive, said Health Minister Vili Beroš.

There are 128 hospitalised COVID patients, four more than yesterday, including 17 on ventilators, three more than yesterday.

42% of adults fully vaccinated

To date, 2,980,716 vaccines have been administered. Beroš said 1,610,989 persons had received one dose, while 1,411,630 had been fully vaccinated, having received both doses or just the one of Johnson & Johnson.

To date, 41.92% of adults have been fully vaccinated and 47.7% have received at least one dose.

Beroš reiterated that failure to comply with restrictions was "the road into the red" and that it would make tourists leave Croatia as well as cause economic problems, once again calling on citizens to get vaccinated.

Public Health Institute director Krunoslav Capak said Croatia ranked tenth according to the 14-day incidence.

Asked if a third vaccine dose would be administered in Croatia, he said "very likely," adding that Turkey and Hungary were giving the third dose to persons immunised with the Chinese vaccine.

Capak said scientists would say in the period ahead whether a third dose would be required.

"There are no indications for now that a third dose will be necessary," said Alemka Markotić, head of Zagreb's infectious diseases hospital.

Delta variant accounts for 70% of infections in EU

"About 70% of all infections in Europe are being caused by the Delta variant. Mostly infected is the young population, who travel, are active and visit mass gatherings. This has been defined as the biggest risk this summer," she said, urging older people to get vaccinated.

Asked if restrictions in Croatia could be lifted in the autumn, Interior Minister Davor Božinović said Croatia was watching what was happening in Europe and the rest of the world but that, unlike the UK, it had not yet vaccinated a majority of the oldest and most vulnerable population.

Success of British experiment would be good news

He said the success of the British experiment would certainly be good news not just for Croatia but the whole world. However, he added, the British have a very high vaccination rate among those most at risk of serious illness, with 87% having received the first dose.

We are far from the British, he said, adding that the epidemic, until it was stopped globally, could not be stopped locally either.

According to official sources, Croatia has ensured more doses for its citizens than are currently available in all of Africa.

For more news, CLICK HERE

July 23, 2021 - Nine new Ryanair Zagreb routes have been announced for December, with promotional flight prices of just 150 kn if booked by July 25! 

Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost airline, opened its base at Franjo Tudjman Airport today and announced that it will have an additional aircraft there, so from December this year, the fleet will consist of three based aircraft, reports Vecernji List.

Ryanair says their total investment in Zagreb is $300 million, and during the winter they will have 62 outgoing flights a week from Zagreb on 24 routes, including nine new routes unveiled today.

Ryanair states that their flight schedule, after high demand this summer, will help the functioning of Zagreb as a key city break destination and will support the recovery of the Croatian tourism industry. They also state that they will create 90 direct jobs in Zagreb.

Today, they presented nine new lines from Zagreb to Basel, Eindhoven, Malaga, Manchester, Naples, Paphos, Thessaloniki (twice a week), and Dublin (three times a week). The new additions will be introduced between December 1 and December 17.

“We have one aircraft based in Zagreb from July 23, the second comes in September and the third in December. We have 41 weekly frequencies this summer and are connecting everything from London to Billund, from Oslo all the way down to Rome. So, in winter we are adding nine new routes, 25 routes in total and I hope we are going to grow that next summer. We are driving the recovery. I have to thank the airport for securing Ryanair for Zagreb and Croatia too. What I can promise you is that everyone flying through this airport in the next twelve months is going to be paying less for their airfares," said Ryanair’s CEO, Eddie Wilson, in Zagreb today. 

In total, there are 24 lines to and from 16 countries - Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In the first year of flying on routes from and to Zagreb, Ryanair will transport about 700,000 passengers.

To open the new base, Ryanair launched the sale of tickets at prices of 150 kuna for travel until the end of March, which must be booked by Sunday, July 25 at midnight on the official website - ryanair.com.

Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

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

July 23, 2021 - Circus Maximus 2021 is more than just a festival. It is the first step on a revolutionary road to putting partying back in the hands of the people and becoming the world's first-ever DAO music festival.

This year's event runs 8th - 13th August at the world-renowned Noa Beach Club in Croatia, with full Covid-19 measures in place to keep everyone safe. Headliners include Da Tweekaz, Regard, Brennan Heart, Imanbek, Harris & Ford. All purchases with cryptocurrency via the web app at https://tickets.circusmaximusfestival.com/welcome come as a digital NFT ticket, while purchases on the web at https://www.noa-zrce.com/en/events/circus-maximus also come as an NFT ticket that is mined on your behalf and presented as a physical ticket.

DAO or Distributed Autonomous Organisation is an organisation that is run through rules encoded in smart contracts. DAO’s can be organised around common goals or interests. Although most DAOs are focused on finances, Circus Maximus is exploring how a music festival can be organised in a DAO way that allows the whole world to have their say.

The accomplished team behind the well-established Circus Maximus wants to transform the festival industry by making attendees an integral part of the story. The first step on this path is to put the festival in the hands of the community, who will then determine its continued existence with the help of new technologies, the crypto industry and DAO. 

It means that in the future, Circus Maximus will have a smart contract holding the festival budget. It will lead to a completely community-governed festival where venue location, performers, budget distribution are decided by the community, to be held sometime in the future. A place for all kinds of music and art genres; all kinds of communities where freedom to party is guaranteed. All of this is powered by modern technology that enables a party renaissance that Noa team worked hard to build.

The first step on this ambitious path is to acquire an NFT ticket for this year's festival. Dynamically priced, transferrable NFT ticket tokens are issued as a cryptographic token enabled by an ERC1155 smart contract on xDai chain. The ticket price is determined by the Bezier bonding curve. After acquiring your ticket, you check-in via an app and receive an NFT as a permanent digital record of the purchase, thereby ensuring you are part of the DAO in the future.

It means that in the future, Circus Maximus will have a smart contract holding the festival budget. It will lead to a completely community-governed festival where venue location, performers, budget distribution are decided by the community, to be held sometime in the future. A place for all kinds of music and art genres; all kinds of communities where freedom to party is guaranteed. All of this is powered by modern technology that enables a party renaissance that Noa team worked hard to build.

The first step on this ambitious path is to acquire an NFT ticket for this year's festival. Dynamically priced, transferrable NFT ticket tokens are issued as a cryptographic token enabled by an ERC1155 smart contract on xDai chain. The ticket price is determined by the Bezier bonding curve. After acquiring your ticket, you check-in via an app and receive an NFT as a permanent digital record of the purchase, thereby ensuring you are part of the DAO in the future.

For more, follow our dedicated lifestyle section.

July the 23rd, 2021 - Some excellent news for the popular Lonjsko polje Nature Park (PP Lonjsko polje) in continental Croatia, which has experienced 150 percent more tourists when compared to pandemic-dominated 2020, including many more foreign visitors.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the beautiful Lonjsko Polje Nature Park has been enjoying more visitors and much higher attendance than it did last year, and that same increased attendance should be further contributed to by the Crna roda (Black stork) Visitor Centre, the opening of which is planned for this September. The new visitor centre is part of a 20 million kuna project co-financed by European Union (EU) funds, according to Lonjsko polje Nature Park's administration.

The increase in attendance of a more than encouraging 150 percent was realised in the first six months of this year when compared to the comparable period last year. Although the figures from before the coronavirus pandemic haven't yet been reached, they point out from Lonjsko polje Nature Park that this year has finally seen the return of foreign visitors from other parts of Europe, including French, Germans Poles and British tourists.

However, most of the visitors do continue to be domestic tourists from all over Croatia, and some of them stay for a few days, using family/private accommodation, on family farms and the like, in places and villages within or near the park itself.

There are no new accommodation units being constructed for tourists, but the existing ones have been improved, they say from the park, emphasising that most visitors are still day trippers. They're mainly interested in going on the solar-powered boats on the river Strug, also known as the "Slavonian Amazon".

There are two such boats and another ''ordinary'' small boat, also used for excursions. Visitors are also currently interested in weekend programmes, with sailing and a tour of the Lonjsko polje Nature Park with departures to several lookouts/observatories, which they plan to open two more of this summer/

For more, follow our dedicated travel section.

July the 23rd, 2021 - The Croatian company Asura has contracted a very valuable job in the Macedonian city of Skopje, more precisely in the country's largest shopping centre which promises to be a hit - East Gate Mall.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, Asura Facility Management Skopje, a member of the Croatian Asura Group, signed an agreement recently in the city of Skopje on the management services of the East Gate Mall, which is the largest shopping centre, as they point out, not only in North Macedonia, but also among the largest in Southeastern Europe.

Through a multi-year Business Cooperation Agreement, signed by East Gate Mall CEO Igor Davkov and Asura Macedonia CEO Stefan Handjiski, the Croatian company Asura will provide all of the needed integrated facility maintenance services.

The service includes technical services (the planning, care and maintenance of all technical systems) and infrastructure facility management (cleaning, environmental maintenance and physical and technical protection).

This cooperation will result in the creation of more than 160 new jobs in the field of technical correctness, cleanliness and physical protection of the facility, it was pointed out during the signing of the contract.

The shopping centre otherwise has 57 thousand square metres of space for shopping, and at the same location investors are developing a business park within which there will be 50,000 m2 of office space, as well as a residential part with a gross area covering ​​more than 200,000 m2 with 1,600 apartments.

The project will be surrounded by 25 thousand square metres of green space and will be open to visitors in mid-October 2021. Andrej Mandic, President of the Management Board of Asura Group, pointed out that the signed contract is the result of strong synergy work of their team despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

For more, follow our dedicated business section.

July the 23rd, 2021 - The Zagreb company Pri Suncu is definitely a hit among all those engaged in a constant and often losing battle with a sweet tooth. This father and daughter team are all about Italian ice cream, sorbet and more.

As Ivan Tominac/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Nina and Mario Saric are a father and daughter team whose family business, the Zagreb company Pri Suncu, has firmly won over all the palates of Croatian confectionery lovers, and the focus of their business story is the production of original Italian ice cream. It all started while Nina was still in her teens.

She learned about the traditional way of preparing and producing the globally adored Italian type of ice cream, and her urge was so strong that after finishing her food technology studies, she decided to start a business with her father, and that's how the Zagreb company Pri Suncu came to be.

“About three years ago, when we started intensively preparing to start a business, a common realisation grew in us that told us that what we want to do is be authentic and ultimately produce and offer people a product about which they'll say: That’s it! Establishing a new philosophy and raising people's awareness of ''real'' original Italian ice cream, even if they call it ''craft ice cream'' is our business mission,'' said Nina's father and one of the co-founders of the Zagreb company Pri Suncu, Mario Saric

Passion and motivation were the key ingredients, and in order to bridge the whole path between which leads to success, they invested around one million kuna. In addition to their own funds, the CES self-employment support and a micro investment loan from HAMAG BICRO helped them greatly in getting their business up on its feet.

That amount helped them enter the market with even more confidence, and with a well-researched market today, they're ready to say what their main advantage is.

"The production and sale of ice cream is growing from year to year, but the vast majority of ice cream produced is industrial, which can't be produced with the technology and ingredients that produce good craft ice cream. We opted for the manual production of ice cream, during which we make the ice cream base ourselves, and then add other ingredients to it, depending on the flavours of the ice cream. As such, our ice cream has a much stronger flavour intensity and a creamier texture which also gives a lighter feeling after consumption. All of our milk flavours (except tiramisu) are gluten-free and egg-free, while all of our fruit sorbets are intended for a vegan diet, because they're produced on the basis of water,'' added Nina.

The inscriptions ''craft'', ''artisan'' or ''gelato artigianale'' on industrially produced ice cream mean nothing but are merely an enticing PR message to insufficiently educated customers. According to the pair, real ice cream is a miniature niche and as such represents an opportunity, but also a risk that has a focus placed on looking for professional staff.

''Here on the Croatian labour market, at least when it comes to ice cream, confectioners trained to prepare ice cream in the classic industrial way predominate, which is an important problem when it comes to employment in production. In addition, the sale of ice cream in Croatia has a strong seasonal impact, so for a small company like ours it doesn't matter whether we produce it in the winter or summer.

Finally, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has brought additional uncertainty and oscillations to the market, making it difficult to plan for production volumes. For these reasons, we've decided to employ people in production according to our current needs, mostly for a certain period of time, until the market conditions allow us a different approach to this key premise for the development of any business,'' explained owners of the Zagreb company Pri Suncu.

For more, follow Made in Croatia.