July 7, 2020 - After a little more than 3 years of effort, persistence and work, Buba Bar has opened in Vinkovci as the first cafe in Croatia that employs people with disabilities.

HRTurizam writes that in December 2016, a crowdfunding campaign was launched on the Indiegogo platform, which was, among other things, the second most successful crowdfunding campaign in 2016. With the noble goal of opening the first cafe in Croatia to employ people with Down syndrome, the honorable Buba Bar was born.

The brave and more than praiseworthy vision finally brought a smile to the faces of ten people with Down syndrome and other people with disabilities in Vukovar-Srijem County who realized their basic human right - the right to work - with their first job in life.

Udruga Bubamara

The campaign was launched by the Association Bubamara from Vinkovci, which cares for over 1,600 people with disabilities in Vukovar-Srijem County, employs over 200 people, and has successfully applied for and implemented over 100 projects. The Bubamara Association, which with its excellent results, unofficially bears the title of the most successful association in Croatia, and is an excellent example of the development and business of associations.

Alen, Domagoj, Dario, Ivana and Marija are just a part of the team that started working at Buba Bar, and in the past a few years, they diligently practiced and honed their skills to make their start as successful as possible. The group was trained, and through various activities and events where they had the opportunity to show their skills, both in the city of Vinkovci and throughout Croatia, they showed that they are ready for a new challenge.

As part of Buba Bar, there is also a bowling alley with four lanes as new entertainment in Vinkovci!

Udruga Bubamara

Perhaps the biggest victory of the Bubamara Association is that they fought for a change in legislation so that people with disabilities can now work without fear of losing their rights, i.e., disability benefits, as has been the case so far.

Namely, it was Buba Bar who contributed to the change of national policy through amendments to the law, which ensured that persons with disabilities can now work without being deprived of disability benefits or reducing any rights.

Buba Bar will also be an education center, but also an example to other caterers to recognize the potential of people with disabilities. Thus, Buba will at least become a place where people with disabilities will exercise their basic right - the right to work and, of course, a salary, and will have the opportunity to contribute to the community through their work.

In the end, the Bubamara Association points out that they hope that Buba Bar, as the first example of social entrepreneurship, will serve as a model for others in Croatia.

To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

 July 7, 2020 - So who is visiting Croatia this summer? A look at the top 20 countries by number of visitors for the month of June, according to the official statistics. 

There is no point in comparing statistics with previous years with the extraordinary year that 2020 has become .But where are the tourists from who made it to Croatia in the month of June?

Official statistics released by the tourism chiefs show that there were 722,565 foreign tourists in June 2020, compared to 2,851,865 at the corresponding time last year. Here are the top 10. 

1. Slovenia - 206,652 - Border fully open since May 28

2. Germany - 203,537 - Border fully open since May 28

3. Austria - 71,762 - Border fully open since May 28

4. Czechia - 65,889 - Border fully open since May 28

5. Italy - 31,968

6.. Poland - 31,297 - Border fully open since May 28

7. Hungary - 23,963 - Border fully open since May 28

8. BiH - 17,396

9. Slovakia - 14,277 - Border fully open since May 28

10. Switzerland - 9,826

11. Serbia - 5,874

12. Belgium - 3,066

13. Romania - 2,713

14. UK - 2,379

15. France - 2,265

16. Ukraine - 2,080

17. USA - 1,853

18. Russia - 1,785

19. Lithuania - 1,401 - - Border fully open since May 28

20. Latvia - 1,195 - - Border fully open since May 28

With a reported 110,000 Slovenians owning holiday homes in Croatia, coupled with their proximity to Croatia, it is no surprise that Slovenians arrived in the greatest numbers, followed by Germans, who were keen to get to the beach after the lockdown. 

Unsurprisingly, the list is dominated by the 10 countries whose borders were fully open since May 28, with only Estonia not making the list. 

Switzerland's position in 10th is worthy of mention. Despite being high-spending tourists in a destination which is accessible by car and direct flights, it was not included in the 'The Vacation You Deserve is Closer than You Think; campaign. That campaign was launched to just 7 countires - Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Czechia and Slovakia. 

Serbia and BiH have long been large markets for Croatian tourism, although Serbia is no longer considered a strategic market. So much so, in fact, that despite Croatia being the main sponsor of the Belgrade Tourism Fair as recently as 2011, the Croatian National Tourist Board no longer has a stand at the region's biggest tourism fair. Serbian and Bosnian numbers would have been higher for June, had temporary quarantine restrictions not been introduced. 

It is also interesting to note that despite the fact that EU external borders were officially closed, three of the top 20 countries were from outside the EU, among them the United States. 

Expect July's numbers to increase significantly and to also be introduced much more by something which was largely absent in June from many countries - flights. 

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The Netherlands - as of July 21, Croatia is placed on the "Orange" list by the Dutch government, which means that both the Croatian nationals and the Dutch nationals returning to the Netherlands from Croatia are strongly advised to self-quarantine for 14 days.

July 7, 2020 - With the two trends happening at the same time, the rising number of tourists in Croatia, and the rising number of new coronavirus-infections in Croatia, it's almost inevitable that the two will collide. What to do if a tourist gets corona while vacationing in Croatia? 

We've received numerous questions regarding this relevant matter, and in this article, we will attempt to answer most of those questions. Our answers are mostly the translation and the summary of two documents issued by the Croatian Public Health Institute (one regarding tourists, and one regarding the criteria for finishing the isolation; both links to .pdf documents in Croatian). 

So, in a form of FAQ, what do the people in charge of epidemiology in Croatia recommend:

1. What to do if you feel symptoms?

First of all, you need to let the people working in your accommodation that you feel ill. Every hotel, apartment, motel, or camp in Croatia should know what to do in that situation and have one person who will be in charge of that. They'll ask you not to leave your room, provide you with the surgical masks, and contact a local doctor. The doctor will determine if you're really a potential COVID patient, and organize the testing and further steps that need to be taken. You're not to leave your room until you get the test results back, and neither are your close contacts. Nobody will be allowed to enter your room, so you will have to keep it clean yourself (it will only be a day or so before your test results arrive). The food will be delivered to your door. If you test negative, the isolation measures are canceled and you're free to enjoy the rest of your stay in Croatia.  

While you really shouldn't do it yourself, without coordination with the local health authorities, here's an article describing the process of getting tested in Croatia for foreigners - it will cost you 1500 kunas.

2. Do you have to get tested in Croatia?

If you report to anyone that you suspect that you have COVID, you will get tested in Croatia. If you suspect it but want to go home in order to get tested, please be advised that it's highly risky behavior, both for yourself, your family (or other close contacts) or for anyone you might encounter along the way, so at least take extra precautions (masks, gloves, no close contact with anyone).

3. If you test COVID-19 positive, do you have to go to a hospital? 

No. You will be taken to a hospital if your condition is serious enough that you need to be hospitalized. If you are suffering milder symptoms, and it's considered safe for you not to be in a hospital, you will not be taken to one. 

4. Which hospital?

That will be decided by the medical staff at your location. Numerous hospitals in Croatia are capable of taking COVID-19 patients, and you will probably be taken to the closest one, but the disease is unpredictable, so it's possible that things will change if you need additional care. 

5. How long will you have to stay in a hospital? 

Nobody can answer that question. There are so many factors, and as we said, the disease is quite unpredictable. Some recent studies show that the median stay in the hospital for those patients who do not need mechanical ventilation is around 10 days; that certainly does not mean that EVERY patient gets out of the hospital on their tenth day. 

6. How much will the hospital stay cost?

Croatian media reports that the average hospitalization of a COVID-19 patient costs around 50 thousand kunas, for those patients that didn't require mechanical ventilation, and somewhere around 100 thousand kunas for those that did. Again, those are just averages and the actual cost depends greatly on the individual circumstances for every patient. The usual hospital stay per day in a Croatian hospital costs around 500 kunas, with the price going to close to 1500 per day in the ICU or on mechanical ventilation. 

7. Who pays for the hospitalization? 

For all Croatian citizens, all of the hospital costs are covered by the HZZO (Croatian Health Insurance). 

For all EU +EAA citizens, the hospital costs will be covered by HZZO and then charged to their national health insurers. 

All third-country patients will have to pay for their hospital stays and then get refunds from their travel or health insurance companies. 

8. If you test positive and don't have to be hospitalized, do you have to stay in Croatia or can you return home? 

Again, it depends. The local administration should have a location set-up for the patients in this situation, where they'll be able to stay for the duration of their isolation. The same goes for the close contacts of the patients, who will also be asked to quarantine. If you want to return home before your isolation/quarantine period is over, you will have to be approved by the Croatian physicians and your country's authorities. They will communicate through the IHR system and agree upon the conditions of your return.

9. How long is the self-isolation?

For those who have not tested positive, the quarantine period is 14 days. 

For positive patients, it's 14 days since the onset of symptoms, and 3 days since the patient has last had fever. For positive asymptomatic patients, it's 14 days since their initial positive test result. 

10. Where will you be isolated, in your previous accommodation or are there designated spots for the isolation? 

The recommendations by the HZJZ linked above are completely clear: there should be organized accommodation, arranged by the local administration, prepared in advance, for the purpose of accepting foreign (and, in some cases, even some local) patients who have tested positive for COVID-19. The same is valid for their close contacts: there should also be accommodation prepared for them to stay during their 14-day quarantine. 

11. Can a patient get some dental work done after the isolation is completed and the patient is no longer positive? 

After you're no longer positive and your isolation is completed, you're free to do whatever you want to do - return home, stay in Croatia longer... You will, of course, need to make arrangements with the clinic where you wanted to get dental work done.

12. Do you have to get tested to show you're negative before returning back home? 

Croatia does not require you to have a negative test in order to get home. If you are positive, please read answer 7 to see how your return home might happen. 

If you have any other questions we haven't covered regarding the possibility that a tourist gets corona while in Croatia, let us know and we'll update this article with those answers. 

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

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July 7, 2020 - Total Croatia News is 5 years old today. It has been quite a journey - some reflections on how TCN started and where it is going.

Looking back, I can't believe how naive I was. 

To think that I could run a national news portal in English, covering the whole of Croatia, when my knowledge of Croatia barely extended to more than every inch of the island of Hvar, Diocletian's Palace and Zagreb train station. 

I am exaggerating a little, but not so much. 

I don't think I have ever written the story of how TCN got started. Back in 2015, I was writing for an international Google News website, and I was reasonably well read, sometimes making the top 10 writers of the week. Many of my articles got 1-2k Facebook likes, which came with a bonus, so life was good. 

And then one day, I got fired suddenly, told that my articles were not that interesting or relevant (despite those bonuses for lots of clicks). The fact that an article on Adriatic oil drilling from the perspective of environmental protestors I had written was unpublished minutes before my termination email made me speculate as to the reason. Whatever the reason, I was no longer a writer for the site. 

"Why don't you start your own news website?" asked a friend and long-time supporter. "There are some English sites about Croatia, but none focused on daily news."

Why not indeed? And so in I waded, having no real clue about Croatian realities or politics, beyond my Hvar tourism bubble. 

I wanted to make a splash on the first day and target the diaspora, a natural readership market for those with love for Croatia not matched by their linguistic abilities. How better to impress than an interview with the Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs, I mused - that would show how serious I was. 

And if the said foreign minister had been more to the right than Vesna Pusic, I might have felt a warmer embrace from the likes of Sydney and Melbourne. 

It was an inauspicious start, and one about to get worse. One of my main writers got quite seriously ill soon after we launched (thankfully more than fine now) and it wasn't long before the other hopped on a plane to Athens and was never heard of again. Add to that the unforgiving Croatian army of keyboard warriors, and it was clear that I had taken on more than I could handle. 

But then, slowly, things began to change. A core team began to develop - Lauren, Dani and Iva - who have now been at TCN for four years, as well as the rock that is Vedran, provided not only stability but much more knowledge about Croatia, how it worked and the pitfalls to avoid. With their help and guidance, TCN took shape. Report the politics, but keep out of the politics, give people what they want in terms of information, and celebrate the little guy. 

Only 6 weeks before the launch of TCN, and some 12 years after I moved to Croatia permanently did I hear the word 'uhljeb' for the first time - in an Index news title with my name in it.

And so my view of Croatia changed now that I had crossed the Rubicon. For my new Croatian reality could not return to the old - A Tale of Two Croatias: Before and After the Uhljeb Discovery

My personal journey of discovery continued and I finally made my peace with Croatia, once I had got to Stage 3 - The 3 Stages of Learning for Foreigners in Croatia: Love, Hate & Nirvana.

Once I understood that the best way to approach Uhljebistan is to treat it as an Uhljleb tax necessary in the most beautiful country with the best lifestyle in Europe, in the same way an alcoholic in Norway absorbs the high alcohol tax when he could drink cheaper elsewhere, I was free. Pay the tax, surround yourself with positive people. And accept the things you cannot change, have the courage to change the things you can, and have the wisdom to know the difference. 

And with that mindset, Croatia really is the most incredible place on the planet. 

Here are some random thoughts and things I have learned so far on this five-year journey. 

1. If you want to be liked by everyone, don't start a news portal in English in Croatia.

2. If you can't handle constant abuse, don't start a news portal in English in Croatia.

3. Croatians, especially the diaspora, are a very tough audience. They can love you for a while, but one wrong word and that all changes.

4. The Croatian diaspora is VERY diverse. There are those who rarely visit since their grandparents emigrated from 1945 on who are the most patriotic (although many don't speak the language) who have the biggest opinions about Croatia today, as well as a growing number of 2nd and 3rd generation diaspora who are realising perhaps the daily experiences of a foreigner living the Croatian reality day to day is a better indicator of the realities in Croatia today. 

5. You will never please everyone, and everything will descend to Ustase v Partizani once enough comments get going.  

6. Running a foreign portal in Croatia is fertile ground for the conspiracy theories. I have forgotten who I am currently spying for, as there have been so many agencies I am allegedly working with. Ditto, the dark forces funding TCN (I wish!). 

7. Croatia has SO many incredible people doing incredible things. SO many. They mostly exist in their own bubbles once they pay their Uhljeb tax. But those bubbles are starting to connect, and that is why I am very hopeful for Croatia. Initiatives such as Glas Poduzetnika are just the start of the road to Croatia 2.0. 

8. There are only really two problems in Croatia today - the system and the mindset. If we can go around the system to inject the mindset with positivity, one story at a time, then the system may change. This is one of the things we will be addressing in our new CROMADS project, which will go live in a month. 

9. There is also a third problem, which I call the Death of Hope. There must be a million people in Croatia who desperately want change, but no longer believe it is possible. There are probably another half a million Croatians who feel the same way, and have voiced their protest - the protest of emigration on the streets of Dublin, Frankfurt and Stockholm. If we can get that million to believe that change is coming, it will. 

10. The two viruses of transparency and technology are getting stronger, two of the best weapons that Croatia 2.0 has. Corona has done a lot of damage, but it has also given Croatia a real opportunity for change. 

11. Croatia IS changing, and Croatia 2.0 IS around the corner. It is not a matter of if, but when. 

The last five years have taken me to every corner of this incredible country, and it has given me authentic experiences a Manchester city boy could only dream of, introduced me to characters who are books on their own. 

The future of Croatia is incredibly bright, I believe that more strongly than ever, and change is coming. 

My heartfelt thanks to the 158 contributors for TCN over the last five years, as well as the huge support from our loyal readers from all over the world. I had no idea what I was doing five years ago when I started Total Croatia News, and I am not sure I am any the wiser today, but somehow it feels that we are going in the right direction. 

Thanks for your company in the last five years, and I hope you will join the TCN team for the next five years and beyond. 

.  

July 7, 2020 - The agreement was signed by the Mayor of the Town of Korcula, Andrija Fabris, and the Rector of the University of Dubrovnik, Niksa Burum.

HRTurizam writes that with this agreement on business cooperation, the Town of Korcula becomes an extended location for undergraduate university studies in Nautical Studies, Naval Architecture (Shipbuilding) and Business Economics, Department of Tourism, University of Dubrovnik. It is also the first island university and student town in Croatia.

Korcula thus becomes an extended arm and a branch office of the University of Dubrovnik, which is in line with the development strategy of the town and fits perfectly into the County Development Strategy 2016-2020 to achieve a higher level of education on the islands, educating the islanders, but also all other interested population in complementary studies with the locality. Nautical Studies, Naval Architecture, and Business Economics in the field of Tourism are complementary to the development strategy, and the Town of Korcula is making a significant step towards higher education by introducing complete university education.

The Town of Korcula will remain written in history as the first island where the accredited program of the established Croatian University, the University of Dubrovnik, will be studied.

Administrative, professional and financial assistance from the University of Dubrovnik will facilitate the Town of Korcula's protocol and organizational procedures for starting studies. It was also mentioned that the primary space in the city pool would be replaced with areas from the conceptual design in the "Old School in Dominče" after obtaining the necessary documentation and performing adaptation works.

With the realization of this cooperation with the University of Dubrovnik, the Town of Korcula becomes the first island student city in the Republic of Croatia. By investing in education, sustainable development, complementary studies with the development strategy of the county, and by educating able-bodied staff, Korcula is well on its way to a prosperous future.

To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

July 7, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar, and Pula.

Croatian Aviation reports that as confirmed by SAS, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and reduced demand, the company does not plan to launch numerous seasonal routes to Croatia from Scandinavia in this year's summer flight schedule.

In the summer flight schedule, Scandinavian Airlines operates from numerous airports in Scandinavia to Pula, Split and Dubrovnik, though the company decided against launching numerous lines to Croatia this time around.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

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SAS already operates on several lines to Croatia, from Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm to Split, and from Copenhagen to Pula.

The company has no plans to launch flights to Dubrovnik in July, and it is almost certain that many other routes will also not be in this year's summer flight schedule.

Numerous lines to Split have been canceled

In the summer flight schedule, SAS operated from as many as 9 destinations to Split, while this year only 3 previously mentioned lines will be in traffic.

The company does not plan to launch lines from Tromso, Harstad, Alesund, Trondheim, Bergen, Stavanger, Kristiansand, Aarhus and Gothenburg to Split this year. However, from most of the mentioned destinations, it is possible to travel with one transfer via Copenhagen, Oslo or Stockholm, also with SAS.

Lines from Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm to Dubrovnik are also not on sale and will most likely not be available this year.

Pula Airport and SAS

Pula has been connected to Bergen, Oslo, Stavanger, Gothenburg and Copenhagen in previous summer seasons, but SAS operates only on the line from Copenhagen to Pula and does not plan to launch other lines this summer.

Zadar - a newly planned destination

This summer, the company planned to introduce the Copenhagen - Zadar route and thus add another Croatian airport to its destination network. The flights were originally planned twice a week, but have been completely withdrawn from sale for this year.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes on the 6th of July, 2020, DIV's Croatian owner Tomislav Debeljak filed an official petition on Friday in Norway to open bankruptcy proceedings over his shipyard, Kleven Verft, and its two subsidiaries, of which he became the owner earlier this year.

As it could be read from the Norwegian media, such an outcome came to be after a group of banks terminated a loan agreement for Kleven for one construction and blocked its associated accounts.

Last week, Tomislav Debeljak tried to negotiate with the banks, assuming that their actions were unfounded, but the negotiations didn't result in an agreement and a return to the starting positions, so Debeljak requested the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings.

The loan cancelled by the banks related to the financing of the construction that Kleven, allegedly under pressure from the "locals", took over from another Norwegian shipyard which was about to go bankrupt, but from the statements from DIV it can be concluded that this was only a reason which was listed formally.

The banks went for the termination of the contract after the appointment of the new Management Board back on June the 22nd, more precisely when the dismissal of the top managers and the arrival of Tomislav Debeljak himself as the CEO took place.

He told the local Norwegian media that DIV, in addition to the fact that the clients were affected by the coronavirus pandemic and as such needed to alter their plans, also faced a number of other difficulties due to which the initial business plan for Kleven was drastically changed.

"Shortly after the formal takeover of Kleven, it became clear that not everyone shared our goal of making Kleven a strong and stable shipyard," Tomislav Debeljak said in a statement.

DIV has been reluctant to provide the details, and they only briefly noted they will work to protect their interests and investment, and that they have already launched their own investigation to establish all the facts which led to the move. It has been unofficially circulating that the former managers were fired due to suspicions of concluding harmful contracts for Kleven.

"Based on the results of the investigation, we'll decide on the following activities in cooperation with the institutions of the Kingdom of Norway and the Republic of Croatia," a statement from DIV said.

The shipyard in Ulstein was taken over by DIV after being named the most promising bidder by several Norwegian shipping companies. The details and value of the takeover of Kleven, which was already on the verge of bankruptcy, aren't currently known, so it's difficult to assess the damage that DIV has suffered with this failed acquisition, from which good results were expected in Croatia and Norway through the synergy of the two shipyards.

The first project to be done jointly was presented just a month ago, and it regards the construction of the luxury residential yacht M/Y Njord, which is 281.8 metres long and 33.5 metres wide, boasting 12 platforms and 118 apartments ranging from 116 to 800 square metres in size.

Its construction was contracted for Ocean Residences Development from Malta, and the first phase, the hull construction and its installation should begin this year in Brodosplit, while equipping the vessel at Kleven should be completed in 2024.

For more, follow our business page.

As Novac/Dora Koretic writes on the 6th of July, 2020, although in much smaller volumes than in previous years, tourists have been arriving in Croatia for weeks, unfortunately, just at the moment when the epidemiological picture began to go downhill again. How can we find the balance between the tourism we need to live on and the safety of Croatia's residents? These are just a couple of the topics Novac discussed with the director of the Croatian Tourism Association, Veljko Ostojic.

Have we started to promote Croatia aggressively enough as an ideal destination during the pandemic? In recent days, criticism has been heard that Greece and its competitors have a much better campaign and promotion than we have. Have we lagged behind too much?

''The campaign is well timed because it didn't make sense for us to start earlier until tourism or people going on holiday were in focus. Every campaign is largely determined by financial capabilities and here we are, to be honest, with limited compared to those bigger/stronger than us. Of course, we can always discuss the effectiveness of the promotional messages we do send, as well as how we can create a synergy of funds invested by the public sector with funds invested in promotion by private companies in our key markets. Maybe we could have done better there. But with the classic promotion this year, we have an extraordinary opportunity to send messages that directly affect the decision of tourists to come to our country and, due to the great interest of the media, practically for free, too.

These are messages about the epidemiological situation, the openness of our borders and the level of security within the country, which is something that is of great interest to every tourist this season. In Croatia, we have the best epidemiological situation among our competition in Europe and across the Mediterranean, we were the first to open our borders and we're the only ones with serious tourist traffic, and all that without any tourists infected during their stay in Croatian commercial tourist facilities. No one can dispute that and in that way one must communicate clearly and constantly, from all positions of power. Although Austria is currently investing 40 million euros in its promotion on the German market, Croatia can compensate for this to a good extent only by sending clear messages that we're the closest and safest Mediterranean country for our most important emitting markets.

Are you saying that our messages on this issue were a little confusing?

There's a lot of cacophony about the epidemiological situation and about the possibility of travelling, crossing borders and so on. You have new information practically every half an hour, which is accompanied by different interpretations, and that's confusing to people. Therefore, all those who present data or communicate in any other way should be clear and precise when thinking about the consequences of making their statements. Additionally, due to the crisis this year, all EU countries are trying to keep their people and encourage them to holiday in their own countries and attract additional tourists from other countries, and they're waiting for us to make mistakes so they can use those mistakes to their own advantage.

TUI announced in late June that it would try to reach half of last year's turnover in Greece. And we’re on the map of countries where this operator is doing business, but it seems like they're still sticking to the idea that it’s more cost-effective to step up their efforts elsewhere?

Given the business logic of large global tour operators, their greater focus on large markets in which airline tickets and a package holiday come together, that's understandable. Croatia has always been predominantly a destination that is reached by car, and this year that will be even more pronounced. That's the reality and we must use it.

In addition, large tour operators are the owners or partners in a number of hotels in the destination you mention, so this is certainly a reason for increased interest.

How much will Slovenia's decision to put Croatia on the list of "yellow" countries harm us?

The largest number of Slovenes come to Croatia for tourism in coastal areas where the epidemiological picture, viewed by the daily number of newly infected people, is in the single digits, that's equal or even better than in Slovenia itself. So, as far as tourism is concerned, this problem is easily solved in the case of a real desire to solve it on both sides. Let's not forget that a large number of Croats spend the winter in Slovenia, so the interest in cooperation is mutual.

From your statements so far, it's been easy to get the impression that you're on guard when it comes to British tourists, primarily because of the rather bad epidemiological picture in the UK. Does that mean we’re going to calculate with the British this year?

The decision on border regimes is made by the Government in cooperation with the competent services. Given that they've managed the situation well so far, we have no reason to doubt their assessment. But in some cases one should be careful. As for us in tourism, we're fighting for every guest without any calculation. We're ready to provide a safe environment for everyone, our security standards in all facilities are high and all protocols are implemented. Everyone must be aware that safety is the foundation of success this tourist season and none of the tourism workers can afford to take risks with it.

Should the arrival of tourists be conditioned by a negative coronavirus test?

That's a question for the epidemiologists. We should all always remind ourselves that the result of their excellent work is the fact that we're now in a situation where, among the few in Europe, we have foreign tourist traffic at all. I'd also like to stress that, despite fears that the number of infected people will increase with the opening of the country to tourists, this hasn't actually happened. The increased number of infected people we have at the moment is not due to tourists but exclusively due to irresponsible behaviour and non-compliance with the measures of some of our own residents, and the foci of infection are on the continent, not on the coast, where we have more than 300 thousand tourists every single day.

There was a lot of criticism at the expense of Croatian hoteliers because some of them took money from the state to pay salaries, and then decided not to open their facilities. What's your comment on that?

Any criticism in that direction is unfounded. We currently have 677 hotels and 358 campsites open, and more facilities are opening daily. With the arrival of more guests in July, this trend will intensify and I believe that at the end of the month, almost all of our facilities will be open. After all, as far as the measure you mention is concerned, the aim was to retain jobs and economic operators. All of the criteria, at least as far as HUT members are concerned, has been met.

Do hoteliers have information on what will happen next regarding the Government measures? That is, will you be able to use the option of a 4,000 kuna salary subsidy or will you only have the option of a shortened working week?

There's no doubt that the Government's measures have helped to preserve jobs in the tourism sector. The measures were adopted for a period of 3 + 3 months and we believe that they will be implemented in this way. The main criterion for using the measures is that the income/revenue in the month for which you're applying is 50 percent or lower compared to the same month of the previous year. Who can survive without the help of the state with incomes that are at the level of 20-30 percent compared to last year and still keep all of their employees? In addition, the measure of part-time work isn't suitable for activities that have a distinct seasonality. Given the current announcements from companies in the northern and central Adriatic, there's now a need for new employment in the sector, so we're counting on this measure from September the 1st to April the 1st, 2021, which is necessary for survival until the beginning of the next tourist year.

What is your solution for the survival of the sector?

It's actually quite simple and we've communicated it many times to the media and the Government. Given that the disadvantages in tourism are of such intensity that they endanger the existence of a large number of companies, and thus jobs in the sector, we should focus on two types of measures. The first are measures that maintain the liquidity of companies, and the others are focused on preserving jobs. In terms of liquidity, we need stronger ''pressure'' on domestic sources of financing and lending and a ''fight'' at the EU level, and to preserve jobs we're counting on the aforementioned measure of part-time work, which will be supported by the EU. It is crucial, due to the pronounced seasonality of tourism in Croatia, to ensure these measures until April the 1st next year.

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