December 2, 2020 - Bulgarian cargo drone developer and operator, Dronamics, unveiled the world’s first cargo droneport network in Belgium, Croatia, Finland, Italy, and Sweden

Net.hr reports that Dronamics is an international company based in London and Sofia that runs the logistics and transport of cargo by drones. On Monday, they presented partnerships with the first five airports, one of which is Osijek. The other airports included are Belgian Liège, Italian Brescia, Swedish Skövde and Finnish Seinäjoki. When the network of their bases is completed, it will include 35 airports in 11 European countries and connect 300 million people with low-cost freight service.

"The talks began in secret in March this year. We wanted a niche where we would be the first and where we would take advantage of new technologies that open up great opportunities. This is an opportunity for Osijek in which we see the future of our airport in the environment of the big ones," said the director of Osijek Airport, Davor Forgić.

Dronamics will base its equipment for unmanned aerial vehicles in Osijek and provide cargo transport services in domestic and international air traffic. Their Black Swan drone can carry 350 kilograms of cargo over a distance of up to 2,500 kilometers at 80 percent less cost than conventional cargo aircraft. Operations are performed autonomously, monitored, and controlled via satellite, and the entire system costs less than the price of, say, one sports car. The good news is that it will train the local population to work and manage flights.

The entire project was supposed to come to life at the beginning of next year, but the coronavirus epidemic postponed certification at the European Aviation Safety Agency, so the first drones from Osijek will take off only at the beginning of 2022. However, transport prices are already known. Thus, flights lasting up to four hours will cost 2.89 euros per kilogram of cargo. These flights can include destinations such as Berlin, Basel, Milan, Catania, Athens, Bucharest or Warsaw. Slightly more expensive will be eight-hour flights, which include cities such as Barcelona, Oslo, Helsinki, Stockholm or London. They will cost 3.79 euros per kilogram of cargo.

Dronamics flights from Osijek will cover almost all European destinations at prices of 2.89 and 3.79 euros per kilogram, depending on the duration of the flight.

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December 2, 2020 - The Split Tourist Board reveals the meaning behind this year's Split Advent slogan - 'Love Unites Us'.

'Love unites us', this year's slogan of Split Advent, although seemingly simple, has a deeper message. It emphasizes the magical power of Christmas as a time to put aside all adversity and make the world a place of communion and understanding and emphasizes love as a bond that unites every person with loved ones, even when, during a pandemic, we are deprived of intimacy and embrace. One of the main motifs behind this slogan, and the whole concept of Advent, are Advent candles that also carry symbolic messages.

In each week leading up to Christmas, better known as Advent, one candle is lit. The first of these, the candle of hope, has already been lit and bears the name of the prophet's candle. It begins a period of anticipation in the hope of Jesus' birth, and it also marks the prophet Isaiah who foretold the event. The second candle is called the Bethlehem candle and invites all people to peace, both spiritual and secular. The third candle brings joy thanks to the knowledge that the Lord is near and is called pastoral. The shepherds were also the first to rush towards Bethlehem following the star in the sky. The last candle is the culmination of intentions from all previous Advent weeks, and it is the candle of angels that symbolizes love.

All messages of Advent candles, hope, peace, joy, and love are included in the umbrella slogan of Advent in Split 'Love unites us', as well as in Advent content and can be found at multimedia attractions within the fountain on the Riva. Even the logo of this year's Advent contains a candle flame in it, which indirectly alludes to this theme.

During the Advent period, which is marked for the first time by physical distance, everyone is given the opportunity to reflect on the fundamental values of Christmas and the real connection between people, and it is these messages that emphasize what is really important, spiritually and not materially.

Source: Dalmatinski Portal

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December 2, 2020 – Streets have been noticeably quieter over recent days, although not by one building in Rijeka and a roadside in Dobrinj, Krk island, where renowned street artist, Zagreb's Lunar, has left two huge new murals

The cafes are closed but, what's more, there's a chill in the air. It's not only the lockdown that has made the streets of Croatia more quiet than usual at this time of year. Over recent days, temperatures have dropped to around zero when the sun falls. And it falls early. The light can be gone by 5pm.

Rijeka

Exercise or a simple pleasant stroll around the Christmas lights have been all that's been drawing folks out onto the streets after dark, save for the food delivery guys whose bikes whizz past you faster than ever in the chill. Even during the day, the streets of Croatia are quieter than normal because of the lockdown.


Dobrinj

But, these days haven't been anything other than normal for acclaimed artist Slaven Kosanovic aka Zagreb's Lunar. The cooler temperatures have only meant wearing more clothes and the quieter streets have not made his careful craftsmanship any quicker. His sometimes vast murals often require him to be above pedestrians passing below, up a ladder or even on a crane.

Dobrinj

The two new paintings of Zagreb's Lunar definitely fall at the larger end of the works he has produced over the last 25+ years. One towers above street level on an entire building facade in Rijeka. So tall is the painting that trying to take it all in could strain your neck in the wrong wind. The other piece, in Dobrinj, Krk island, is just as epic, although this vast canvas lies horizontal, by the roadside.

The Rijeka mural is dedicated to the city's music scene - you can spot some of the names of famous Rijeka bands in the painting

The Rijeka mural of Zagreb's Lunar, which he painted alongside his brother, with whom he often collaborates, is a four-story wall of cats dedicated to Rijeka's famous music scene. The mural took two days to complete. In the mural, you can spot the names of many Rijeka music groups like The Siids. Let 3, Denis & Denis and Jonathan. The mural is another part of the manifestations organised in celebration of Rijeka 2020 Capital of Culture.

Dobrinj

Krk island is a well-known tourist destination, but the pretty inland village of Dobrinj is far from the regular path of visitors. Anyone travelling past the enormous mural Zagreb's Lunar and his brother have left here will surely remember the name of Dobrinj. It may well entice some to come looking for it – it is by far the largest piece of public art on the island. It was facilitated by the community organisation Kulturni Dobrinj.

Dobrinj

All photos © Antonija Diklic (Rijeka) Damir Jevtic (Dobrinj)

Dobrinj, with the artist, Slaven Kosanovic aka Zagreb's Lunar, on the right

December 2, 2020 – With the new campaign Christmas Magic In Your Home, Zagreb County Tourist Board supports local producers and encourages others to do the same

As Hina reports, this commendable campaign in which Zagreb Tourist Board supports local, small producers from its area will last from 3 December 2020 to 24 December 2020. The local producers are collected in interestingly designed categories that will change in weekly cycles: 1. Relax and reward your body, 2. Decorate your home with Christmas magic, 3. Prepare your holiday table, and 4. Sweet Secrets of Zagreb County.

With an additional promotion and a prize competition, which they will conduct on social media during the Advent period, they want to raise awareness of how important it is to appreciate local goods and like Zagreb County Tourist Board supports local producers, they hope others will do the same. Zagreb County Tourist Board also points out that, in these uncertain times, cooperation between all participants of the tourist offer is more necessary than ever.

Since this year has brought many challenges for both small and large businesses, any help and support is useful. More than ever before we were grateful for local products that are at our fingertips. Advent being traditionally a time of giving, perhaps its time to share such gifts from closer to home.

Source: Pexels

"In Zagreb County, there are many craftsmen, hardworking people who turn natural resources from their homeland into unique local products," said Ivana Alilović, the director of the Zagreb County Tourist Board. "At the same time, they combine the traditional and the modern. With their creativity, they refresh our heritage and enrich the entire offer of the region. Natural cosmetics and healthy food, medicinal preparations, imaginative decorations and everyday items for the home, irresistible treats etc. Each of these products bears the signature of its origin and its author."

"Production is usually small and limited, but with a high level of quality and personal commitment. Domestic goods that are truly domestic, but also different. We want to raise awareness about the importance of buying from local producers and help all of them in the branding and promotion of products that we can be proud of."

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December the 2nd, 2020 - Island Vir, which lies within Zadar County northwest of the mainland town of Nin, has found its name being publicised for both good and bad reasons throughout the years. From being the proverbial 'home' of illegal construction to being the most idyllic place one might think of for a Dalmatian island getaway, island Vir has had the full spectrum of publicity.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Spomenka Djuric, State Secretary of the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, spoke about the optimal use of the Fund for Recovery and Resilience in order to encourage reforms, accelerate investment and create the proper conditions for sustainable economic development in accordance with the Green Plan. MEP Romana Jerkovic additionally presented a new social model based on green and digital transition. E.ON Croatia Board Member Andreas Rörig spoke about the company's climate strategy. The mayor of island Vir, Kristijan Kapovic, made sure to present Vir's shining example of good practice.

"Vir has gone from being a ''black'' island to being ''green'' in about fifteen years as our independent political party runs the municipality," Kapovic said firmly.

The island's budget has grown from five million kuna to about 40 kuna, and the population has increased tenfold to 4,000 permanent residents, which, given the otherwise dire demographic picture across Croatia, is a real achievement indeed.

"We didn't invest in representative buildings and facilities, monuments and churches, but in what people actually need - infrastructure and decent living conditions. Almost all of our students attend school free of charge, their transportation and textbooks, all the way to their scholarships are generally free. We're a rarity in Europe as well because we have a constant influx of population who come here on all grounds.

Investments in our water supply and sewerage system have led to an increase in the number of renters to 2,000, who, as a result of that, offer more than 15,000 beds. We'd also like to point out that we have the longest beach in all of Croatia and on the islands, stretching for thirteen kilometres,'' said Kapovic.

Island Vir's dramatic turnaround in a relatively short time could see other islands attempt their own respective catch up missions, because of an island which has unfortunately had as much negative publicity (be that warranted or not) as it has positive, then anywhere in Croatia can also follow the same path.

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December the 2nd 2020 - Signify Croatia is an innovative Croatian company with a primary focus placed on sustainable business, encompassing everything from combating climate change to food availability, the circular economy and human safety, security and health.

In an interview with Poslovni Dnevnik, Signify Croatia talks about sustainable business, the company's goals and how it succeeds in managing to actually achieve them. Martina Simic Baranovic of Signify Croatia also commented on how their services and products enable savings and singled out solutions from their portfolio that are most effective in combating climate change. She also revealed how much interest there is in this type of service globally, and how much of that interest lies here in Croatia and within the country's more immediate region.

Exactly how many sustainable areas do you cover in your business with the services you offer? What are these specific areas?

Signify Croatia is a global leader in lighting, and lighting has a lot of green potential, so we're striving to be a leader in sustainability. For good results, it's important to choose focus, and we've placed our in five areas where we can contribute the most. These are food availability, climate protection, the circular economy, health and well-being, and human safety and security.

How did you choose these areas to incorporate into your business and what results have you achieved so far in this field?

We're guided by the United Nation's goals of sustainable development, and we've considered how we can respond to them through our own business and through our products. The results so far are excellent, we've already become carbon neutral this year, which is an incredible success for a company that has factories around the world and uses huge logistics capacites, and we have a new goal to double our positive performance by the year 2025.

In line with these areas, you also offer groups of products and services that respond to specific issues. How many such products and services does Signify Croatia offer on the market?

Through our products, we can help other companies to become sustainable, and this is of course a much greater contribution to the European green plan, and to the whole country. Dealing with top quality LED lighting with each product, we contribute to energy efficiency.

I must emphasise here that not all types of LED lighting are actually sustainable, there is an invaluable quality to achieve great savings and ensure a long service life. With poor quality, which we often see, users have the problem of rapid decay, the inability to repair, the generation of electronic waste, problems affecting the health and safety of people, all of which are contrary to the goals of sustainable development. As of this year, we have introduced a sustainability declaration for over 20 of our product groups. It's a document that transparently states the detailed impact on nature for a particular product. I believe this is the future we all want.

Can you list some of these products and how exactly and how much they help and ensure savings, while also taking into account the well-being of our planet?

LED lighting alone can bring big savings of up to 70 percent, but you should definitely review the specific case.

In addition to lighting, the most sought after products are controls and sensors for smart management, which can save an additional 20-25 percent on energy, and are applicable in industry, buildings, outdoor lighting, in fact all sectors that will be included in the green plan. Recently, UV-C lamps for the disinfection of air and surfaces are increasingly in demand, which are mostly used in service industries such as shops, sports and health facilities, wherever a large number of people are around.

Which of your products and services respond in the best way to climate change? Which of them would you single out as the most effective in that fight in your view?

In addition to the ones I mentioned, I can also add a new trend of solar lighting that uses solar energy, and we have a good potential for application, given that we're one of the sunniest European countries. We also have very interesting 3D printed products that, in addition to a very efficient production process, also use recycled materials, and can be adapted to the requirements of each user. I'd also note that sustainability isn't just about fighting climate change, it should certainly include caring for people, for their safety, health, and doing decent work.

In offices, it's extremely important to provide people with enough top-quality light, which has been proven to improve the overall state of health of employees. When it comes to street lighting, we must think about the safety of citizens' movement, well-lit roads and pedestrian zones reduce accidents, theft, attacks and enable citizens to walk around safely. At the same time, smart lighting ensures that light is only where it is needed and when it is needed, so there's no waste of electricity and light pollution that would endanger life in the sky.

How much interest is there in this type of services at the level of your global business, and how much of that interest lies here in Croatia and in the region? What key differences do you notice in our market and in that of the regional one?

Signify Croatia is global leader in lighting, we invest about five percent of our revenue into research and development every year, last year it was exactly 4.5 percent or 279 million euros. Such an exceptional investment allows Signify Croatia to always be the first when it comes to innovation, quality, efficiency and certainly in sustainability, so we always have our customers and their number is constantly growing. Here in Croatia and the region, we're also successful and very satisfied with our development, but the market is a little different here from the European one, and so are the products we sell. There are many more competitors who sell lower quality products because price is often the most important factor when it comes to making purchases.

Our task is, in as much as is possible, to educate the market. It's extremely important to understand that the lowest price certainly calls into question the quality of the product, its lifespan, efficiency, the necessary certificates to be met, human health and safety, the waste it generates... We hope that our laws and regulations, as well as public procurement, will include quality labels promoted in Europe, such as the Declaration of Sustainability, CO2 emissions, the share of recycled materials or the company's assessment of sustainability in the annual financial report.

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December the 2nd, 2020 - Digitisation in Croatia goes slowly. In fact it goes so slowly that it's rather difficult to believe it is progressing at all when you find yourself standing in line with a bible's worth of paperwork in your hand at Fina, MUP, or some other God forsaken office full of half dead plants and even more half dead clerks. Telemach Croatia, however, understands that this is a process at which it is paramount to be at the very forefront.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, we're still going through the tiresome motions of a very, very challenging year which has been dominated by a public health crisis and economic woes. Despite efforts to maintain stability, the pandemic has slowed down all business activities in all economic sectors, including in the telecommunications sector. The forecasts of various economic analysts are, to say the least, discouraging, and it's to be expected that the period ahead of us will bring with it even more new challenges for the Croatian and the global economy. Investors, especially foreign ones, will be very cautious indeed, which will further slow down economic recovery.

''We're seeing the greatest opportunity in the introduction of new technologies that will enable the continued digitisation of the Croatian economy, and thus the progress of society as a whole. This new situation has clearly indicated the importance of digital transformation and, on the one hand, has accelerated its implementation. We believe that this trend will continue in the future. Our society will increasingly rely on digital solutions, and a prerequisite for this will be having more advanced infrastructure. The above is particularly true for the telecommunications industry, this means that telecom operators will need to provide sufficient network capacityies to withstand the increasing growth of data traffic.

In this regard, investments in telecommunications infrastructure will play a key role. At Telemach Croatia, we want to be the leaders in the digitisation of Croatia, because we consider it the backbone of the accelerated launch of economic progress. That's why the announced investments of our parent company, the United Group, have given us a real spring in our step. This represents one of the largest foreign investments in all of Croatia.

Thus, over the next five year period, we will invest up to 130 million euros in the further modernisation of our mobile network. We'll expand our mobile network coverage, improve the quality of the mobile service we have on offer and also introduce ultra-fast 5G technology. In addition to all of the aforementioned, we intend to invest up to 100 million euros in the construction of a state-of-the-art optical network that will provide private and business users with ultra-fast broadband Internet at speeds of up to 10 gigabits. In this way, we plan to transform the business from a segment-focused operator into a fully converged company that provides customers with high-quality telecommunications services and a superior user experience,'' they concluded from Telemach Croatia.

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December the 2nd, 2020 - The coronavirus pandemic has forcibly put the key in the lock of many a previously planned investment, especially in the Croatian tourism sector as companies suffered and continue to suffer the economic fallout as a result of the anti-epidemic measures. With that being said, just how much are Croatian tourism companies willing to invest when the pandemic finally draws to a close?

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatian tourism companies have ready projects for investment worth a total of a massive 25 billion kuna, which can be realised over the next five years, in four segments, green tourism, digitalisation, the reconstruction of accommodation and last but by no means least - infrastructure.

Great help in the realisation of these projects is expected from European Union funds, and that same realisation can begin as soon as the end of the pandemic arrives and the normalisation of the tourism industry arrives, said Zeljko Kukurin, CEO of Valamar Riviera at a hotel congress which was held on Tuesday.

The congress was held, much like other events in 2020, in a semi-virtual edition for the first time, and the main focus of the participants is the return of Croatian and global tourism after the pandemic, which became likely with the announcement of coronavirus vaccine registration. The congress was opened by Minister Nikolina Brnjac, who stated that the Croatian Government just yesterday presented a new package of assistance to Croatian companies worth 2.1 billion kuna.

"We've initiated the development of a new programme for the allocation of state aid to the tourism sector and other related activities, which we will soon send for approval to the European Commission, and then for adoption by the Government," assured Nikolina Brnjac.

The Croatian tourism industry is optimistic, as are Croatian tourism companies, and the government is of the opinion that in 2021 about 60-70 percent of 2019's turnover could be realised, as opposed to 2020 in which we reached about 50 percent of that period's turnover. Invesments from Croatian tourism companies will begin when tourist traffic start bringing revenue back in. Valamar, for example, delayed its largest investment yet by 12-24 months. That investment is in the Hotel Pinea and is worth a massive 100 million euros. As such, they have high hopes in the emergence of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

"The fastest return of tourists is expected by Istria and the north of the country in general, Zagreb could see a return in the autumn of 2021, and the return of the south and east of the country, ie air destinations, will be slower. We expect to realise about 70 percent of last year’s traffic next year. The vaccine is currently the only solid point we can cling to, but the question is how the realisation of all that will go. Despite that, we're convinced that 2021 will be better than 2020,'' said the President of the Management Board of Maistra, Tomislav Popovic.

Hoteliers across Croatia are aware that a lot of improvisations will need to be done next year, plans will need to be made and bridges crossed when arrived at, there will be a lot of ''last minute'' going on, but this year a lot has been learned and implemented in business and there will be fewer surprises.

"It would be very good for us if the epidemiological picture was favourable from mid-February, on so that we could tell our guests that we're a safe destination and start working towards the Easter period. It should come as no surprise, because this year we've managed to introduce many solutions in regard to safety that would otherwise have taken several years, from the digital privacy of guests to better standards of cleaning and hygiene, which the hotel industry has strictly adhered to," said Veljko Ostojic, the director of the Croatian Tourism Association (HUT).

The CEOs of the largest Croatian tourism companies, Valamar and Maistra, confirmed that there was no coronavirus infection reported within their facilities, although they were very well filled during the season. "It's something we have to communicate to our guests next year as well," Kukurin concluded.

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