July 1, 2020 - The Croatian Government's official Koronavirus.hr website issued some official travel updates yesterday. Please find it below in full. 

As of midnight, all EU/EEA nationals and persons with permanent residence in EU/EEA country can enter Croatia freely, without restrictions. All travellers are, however, advised to fill out the form on the ENTERCROATIA web-page. 

The EU Council today adopted a recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU. Travel restrictions should be lifted for countries listed in the recommendation, with this list being reviewed and, as the case may be, updated every two weeks.

As of midnight, all EU/EEA nationals and persons with permanent residence in EU/EEA country can enter Croatia freely, without restrictions. All travellers are, however, advised to fill out the form on the ENTERCROATIA web-page. Third country nationals still have some restrictions in place: they can enter on business or tourism related reasons only.

Based on the criteria and conditions set out in the recommendation, as from 1 July member states should start lifting the travel restrictions at the external borders for residents of the following third countries:

• Algeria
• Australia
• Canada
• Georgia
• Japan
• Montenegro
• Morocco
• New Zealand
• Rwanda
• Serbia
• South Korea
• Thailand
• Tunisia
• Uruguay
• China, subject to confirmation of reciprocity

Residents of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican should be considered as EU residents for the purpose of this recommendation.

The criteria to determine the third countries for which the current travel restriction should be lifted cover in particular the epidemiological situation and containment measures, including physical distancing, as well as economic and social considerations. They are applied cumulatively.

Regarding the epidemiological situation, third countries listed should meet the following criteria, in particular:

• number of new COVID-19 cases over the last 14 days and per 100 000 inhabitants close to or below the EU average (as it stood on 15 June 2020)
• stable or decreasing trend of new cases over this period in comparison to the previous 14 days
• overall response to COVID-19 taking into account available information, including on aspects such as testing, surveillance, contact tracing, containment, treatment and reporting, as well as the reliability of the information and, if needed, the total average score for International Health Regulations (IHR). Information provided by EU delegations on these aspects should also be taken into account.

Reciprocity should also be taken into account regularly and on a case-by-case basis.

For countries where travel restrictions continue to apply, the following categories of people should be exempted from the restrictions:

• EU citizens and their family members
• long-term EU residents and their family members
• travellers with an essential function or need, as listed in the Recommendation.

Schengen associated countries (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Switzerland) also take part in this recommendation.

Next steps

The Council recommendation is not a legally binding instrument. The authorities of the member states remain responsible for implementing the content of the recommendation. They may, in full transparency, lift only progressively travel restrictions towards countries listed.

A Member State should not decide to lift the travel restrictions for non-listed third countries before this has been decided in a coordinated manner.

This list of third countries should be reviewed every two weeks and may be updated by the Council, as the case may be, after close consultations with the Commission and the relevant EU agencies and services following an overall assessment based on the criteria above.

Travel restrictions may be totally or partially lifted or reintroduced for a specific third country already listed according to changes in some of the conditions and, as a consequence, in the assessment of the epidemiological situation. If the situation in a listed third country worsens quickly, rapid decision-making should be applied.

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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.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has thrown the spanner of all spanners in the works for global tourism and Croatia, for which tourism is the strongest economic branch, has been anything but immune to these pandemic-induced, extremely negative trends. Istria, however, is recovering at a remarkably enviable rate.

As Novac writes on the 30th of June, 2020, Istria has recorded some truly encouraging and excellent tourist results for last weekend. Namely, from June the 26th to the 28th, only 6 percent fewer tourists were recorded in Istria than during the same days last year, long before coronavirus was ever an issue one could have imagined.

Last year, on June the 26th, 27th and 28th, 54,000 arrivals and 522,000 overnight stays were realised in Istria, while this year, 51,000 arrivals (index 94) and 300,000 overnight stays (index 57) were realised, which is incredibly impressive. This means that over these three days, Istria has only experienced 6 percent fewer tourists, and overnight stays reached 57 percent, which is much more than the expectations suggested, which went up to a maximum of around 40 percent of last year's, pre-pandemic traffic.

Looking at the whole of the month of June, the numbers are indeed devastating, regardless of this brilliant result for beautiful Istria. Last year, that month held the record with an index of 116 when compared to June 2018, and this year, June is at the level of only 29 percent when compared to last year, local portal Glas Istre writes.

"Overall, June will end at 30 percent of tourist realisation when compared to last year, but the trend that is rising week by week and the announced bookings that continue to arrive give us the hope that July and August could be good. This is all with the clear indication that the situation can change extremely quickly, both in a positive and in a negative sense,'' said the director of the Tourist Board of Istria, Denis Ivosevic.

For more on travel in the coronavirus era, follow our dedicated section.

July 1, 2020 - Reflections on the Croatian Presidency from a Brussels point of view – Welcoming Uhljebi to Brussels and how COVID-19 became the best friend of the Croatian presidency.

Two weeks ago, on a business trip to Brussels, I met with several Croatians working in the heart of Europe. Talk inevitably came around to the Croatian EU Presidency, which ended yesterday. I asked how it looked from a Croatian perspective from a longterm Brussels resident. After a few minutes of discussion, I invited him to write his thoughts, as he clearly had a lot to say. This is his account, written on condition of anonymity due to his job. 

On 1 January 2020, Croatia took over the presidency of the Council of the EU, for the first time since it joined the European Union in 2013. It was a magnificent moment for the Croatian government and Prime Minister Plenkovic personally. An opportunity to shine and show the presidency as something for which he personally deserved merit. The truth and the facts are very far from this. As we all know, the presidency of the Council rotates among the EU Member States every six months. During this six- month period, the presidency chairs meetings at every level in the Council, helping to ensure the continuity of the EU's work in the Council. So it is a regular process, as night follows day.

The Croatian presidency’s programme focused on four main priorities: a Europe that is developing, a Europe that connects, a Europe that protects, and an influential Europe, united under the motto ‘A Strong Europe in a World of Challenges’. Indeed, the times could not be more challenging. Not only in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic which constitutes an unprecedented challenge, but also taking into account Brexit, the EU's long-term budget, the Green Deal and the migration crisis. No less challenging was working with Croatia during the presidency. Although the COVID-19 pandemic was a tragedy it inadvertently helped those involved in the activities of the Croatian presidency. More ironically we could say that COVID-19 was sent to save the Croatian presidency.

You might think it's a joke, some funny story, or that I am exaggerating?

To give you an overview of the first three months that reflect how the Croatian presidency would look like, we should go back to the beginning of 2019. Why a year ago? Because each country has up to two years of preparations prior to taking the helm of the Council. From the coordination with their Brussels-based people working for the EU institutions and private sector, regional offices, MEPs, for the organisation of meetings, the hiring process, to more operational and technical issues, both in Brussels and at home. But this was not the case with Croatia. I am surrounded by Croats working in diplomacy, regional representations, EU institutions and for the private sector. Most of them are public affairs professionals that were eager to temporarily join the Croatian crew in Brussels and to help their country to lead the presidency. It is a common practice applied by all states.

So, after the Christmas holidays when we were back in Brussels, in mid-January 2019, I met with them and we spoke about the process which should have started already and they were very enthusiastic about it. They were absolutely sure that the upcoming hiring process would be fully transparent so they would be able to apply and with their knowledge and experience in those six months help the presidency. Everyone who works in the EU public affairs sector is familiar with the presidency's procedures so they were sure that the job vacancies would be published soon.

Since February is mostly a busy period in Brussels, we met at the beginning of March with a completely different approach. They had some inside information that the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs would start the hiring process in Spring, but as time passed we were aware that this was not going to happen. To be precise, some processes had already started in late 2017 within the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds. Suddenly the word was being spread, people started saying that these positions were ‘reserved’ for who else than Uhljebi, people who are members of the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union). To explain the familiar Croatian story they just needed to apply and this job was promised to them as well as a high position within the Permanent Representation, without any special skills and qualifications. The most relevant and important criteria was to be a member of the ruling party HDZ.

Unfortunately, even in Brussels, Croatia could not abandon the Uhljebistan way of doing things. So they were not planning to hire experts (Croats!) living in Brussels, assistants to Croatian MEPs whose mandates have just ended, but their plan was to bring to Brussels a bunch of Uhljebs, people they didn't want in the ministries, state-owned companies and public administration in general and they wanted to get rid of them and send them to Brussels. From Osijek to Dubrovnik, some of them were already working for the representative offices in Brussels and they were waiting for other positions which would ensure that they wouldn't have to do anything, so maintaining their usual familiar practices.

One of my colleagues called me to tell me the news and she took the words out of my mouth. We all knew what that meant. From that moment on we were sure that the Croatian presidency would be nothing more than a disaster, a waste of taxpayers' money, without strategy or aim. Everything that followed only confirmed our concerns. Somehow we thought this would not happen this time, because Plenkovic cares too much about the opinion from Brussels, so he would not gamble this time. But it was the opposite, all responsible people in the ministries were familiar with the process, from Zalac who was in charge of the hiring process for their portfolio, together with Pejcinovic Buric, blessed by Plenkovic.

They even published a few vacancies, but these were hilarious and published only to justify the minimum transparency requirements. It was obvious from the job descriptions, the low requirements, the unclear location, to deadlines for interviews that they had already their own people for these positions - "jobs for the boys.” And later these people themselves were complaining in Brussels how complicated the screening and recruitment procedures were, they had to spend a few months in Zagreb, working in the ministries to go through all the necessary security vetting by SOA (Croatian Security and Intelligence Agency). The craziest thing was that theywere still hiring in January 2020, after the start of the Presidency, when they realized they were still short of people and candidates were randomly appearing with no knowledge of what their roles were or what the presidency meant. And Croatian people with a strong background in EU policies, working for the EU institutions again did not get the chance to apply. Why again? Because all of them are people who had left Croatia because of these well-known practices and the Uhljeb environment.

All that followed in the first two or three months of the Croatian presidency was only a reflection on what has already been mentioned. The preparation for the presidency started too late, in August Irena Andrassy was appointed as Croatia's new Permanent Representative to the European Union, just months prior to Croatia taking over the presidency. Later she would be remembered for 'Thanks, goodbye and good riddance’ —the EU’s parting words to the UK.

A large part of the criticism of the Croatian presidency refers to; a lack of openness and transparency, lack of structure and coordination, inefficient and slow communication, weak or missing support for prioritised joint EU events on the topics the Croatian presidency would deal with. Simple examples in daily communication with them range from full inboxes, no written correspondence, preference for telephone calls, waiting for feedback for several weeks to incompetent ministers with no relevant knowledge and language skills. Nevertheless, even official meetings were arranged in cafes as it is the custom in Croatia, to the general surprise of the people working in Brussels. Unfortunately, Croatia did not learn anything from its predecessor, Finland, who did a great job in the area of transparency. Increasing the openness and transparency of the European Union has been one of Finland’s goals, they ensured open, professional, reliable and fast communications as well as publishing the information on all meetings of the Permanent Representative and her deputy with lobbyists. Replying to a media enquiry why Croatia did not publish this information, a presidency spokesperson said that Croatia did plan to eventually publish its ambassadors’ meetings on its website, but the site was currently undergoing a redesign, but as you might imagine they were never published.

What will Croatia's EU presidency be remembered for?

In the broader EU context it will for sure be the violence and abuse of migrants and asylum-seekers by Croatian police on its external borders, Croatian silence on Hungary’s democratic backsliding, but it is also important not to forget Plenkovic's attempt to push through a government legislative initiative which would suspend labour and social rights at a time when other Member States were trying their best to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic and to support people and jobs. But how could it ever be possible to achieve anything positive when Plenkovic was constantly distracted by the crisis in his government, with the dismissal of ministers due to numerous scandals. One of the last being the dismissal of the health minister Kujundzic in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis. Kujundzic as the Croatian health minister should have been in charge of organising the first emergency EU health ministers meeting in Brussels, chaired by the Croatian presidency. The EU’s health commissioner Kyriakides, had called on Zagreb on 29 January to organize the gathering but as Kujundzic had been dismissed, it took another two weeks for the new minister Beros, to organise the meeting in Brussels which finally happened on 13 February. Plenkovic has since done his best to set up the national COVID-19 crisis centre with his people, members of HDZ to fight the COVID pandemic and to help him spread the image of a perfect Croatia to the world.

When we take everything into account, we can clearly see that there has been no benefit from the Croatian presidency, they spent ten, if not hundreds of millions of Euros, without any positive impact on the economy, tourism or promotion of the Country itself. Without a focus on the country's investment priorities, support of Croatian companies, without any relevant message. They did not take the opportunity to further position themselves economically and diplomatically within the EU. By the way, we should also say that the Croatian MEPs did not contribute in any way.

If we must choose at least one success of the Croatian presidency without thinking it would be the opening of accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia. The biggest disappointment for Plenkovic for sure was the Zagreb summit which had been planned as a potential milestone in the enlargement process and one of the major High-level events in Croatia. I wouldn't bet whose disappointment was greater, his or that of Commissioner Suica regarding her plan for the Future of Europe conference and the performance supposed to launch the conference in Dubrovnik on Europe Day.

We can conclude that unfortunately thanks to COVID we were able to avoid all further mistakes, omissions and embarrassments of the Croatian presidency, which would certainly have happened in large numbers. Right now we are witnessing how the Croatian government is barely able to keep the reins in its hands before the presidency ends, to manage the second Coronavirus crisis currently happening in Croatia and to survive the upcoming elections.

Finally, I would like to point out that many extremely dedicated, capable people, were working for the presidency as well. People that were covering for dozens of Uhljebi whose only goal was to have a reference on their CVs and who proudly pointed this out while walking around Brussels. Unfortunately, the Croatian way of working is the same everywhere, and all parties do the same things, corruption still rules Croatia and that is why there are so many Croats in Brussels and all over the world who are not planning to return. If Croatia had been a normal EU country, in the past six months this government would have resigned at least a dozen times, due to various scandals. But given all these negative circumstances, we must never forget the people who are still trying to be the positive change that Croatia needs so much.

On a parting note ahead of the upcoming German Presidency, it is best to just quote Politico "Given that the current Croatian presidency has arguably under performed [...] it may be just the right moment to have a powerful nation with a reputation for efficiency, in charge.”

As Novac writes on the 30th of June, 2020, the Turkish company MB Geothermal is about to realise the very long-awaited construction of a geothermal power plant in Legrad in Koprivnica-Krizevci County, Podravski reports.

Just over a month ago, the Croatian Government passed a regulation on quotas to encourage the production of electricity from renewable energy sources and high-efficiency cogeneration. According to that document, twenty megawatts of power have been approved for geothermal power plants, and it is precisely that aforementioned Turkish company which will ask for that much power for its power plant being constructed in Legrad.

The Turks could get the support of the Croatian Government because they went the furthest from all those interested in Croatia with their Legrad-based geothermal power plant project. The power plant project has been created, and the only obstacle is the county spatial planning situation, according to which the current version in Legrad doesn't actually provide for a thermal power plant.

The power plant in Legrad, as things stand now, will be constructed with advanced technology, and unlike the project not far from Bjelovar, which the Turkish company has already realised, in Legrad, the carbon dioxide which will be released in the process of steam exploitation, will be returned together with warm water into the reservoir. There are plans to use geothermal water for other purposes in addition to producing electricity, too. It was announced that the remaining water, after passing through steam turbines, would be used to heat a greenhouse and to produce vegetables.

''For now, only a power plant has been planned, but the project also envisages a connection where hot water could, instead of being returned to the soil, be redirected to some other facilities, if there's interest in that,'' said Ivan Sabolic, Mayor of Legrad, who stated that the construction of the power plant has an estimated price tag of 32 million euros, but if the accompanying projects, such as greenhouses or even spas, were realised, the amount of investment would be much higher. The project should start in the spring of next year and be completed by the year 2025.

Legrad has been somewhat abandoned and there is a shortage of residents as many have left looking for better lives economically speaking, mostly to Europe. Therefore, at the beginning of the year, the mayor offered houses owned by the municipality for sale for a mere kuna. The ad read: ''Whoever wants to live in Podravina, on the border with Medjimurje, is less than 40 years old, has a job and has no criminal record, is welcome. The house will cost one kuna, the person can count on additional financial support and a quiet life in the countryside. Quiet, but not boring,'' - Nineteen people responded.

The investor in the Legrad power plant, the Turkish company MB Holding, which includes MB Geothermal, was founded back in 1968, and built the first geothermal power plant in Turkey and later built three more.

For more, follow our business page.

Krunoslav Capak has stated that all countries began to relax their respective anti-epidemic measures, after which, the number of newly infected people unfortunately increased.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 30th of June, 2020, Capak sat down to discuss the situation with coronavirus in Croatia and some of the latest developments in that regard.

"Our epidemiological picture has worsened in the last ten days or so. From mid-May to mid-June, we had an extraordinary epidemiological situation and we were the best country in Europe in terms of the number of new cases,'' said Krunoslav Capak, the director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, who spoke about the issue on Skype recently.

He commented on the current situation in the country and said that they had already started planning the opening of certain activities such as schools and colleges.

In mid-June, he added, the situation began to deteriorate when Croatian citizens became infected in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, and at the same time measures were relaxed and people began to behave more freely. After that, there was a case in Đakovo when several people from Kosovo returned to a monastery. He said the two cases resulted in two major new coronavirus hotspots.

Krunoslav Capak believes that the situation is now under control, HZZO is in daily contact with people in the field. He added that these situations cannot simply be resolved overnight, but it is coming more and more under control day by day and they believe that Croatia will have a better epidemiological situation once again in the next ten or so days.

Tourism and borders

Tomislav Fain, the president of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies, commented on what would happen if Slovenia gave recommendations to its citizens not to come to Croatia, which seems unlikely given the most recent news from Croatia's neighbour to the north, unless something changes for the worse rapidly.

"Guests are more afraid of returning and the conditions they'll have to go through when they get home," said Sean Lisjak, president of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce's Marina Association, who appeared on the show from HRT's Pula studio.

He added that Croatia's marinas were full, and that the country's charter traffic has come back to life, but it's still all a very far cry from what we're all used to along the coast at this time of year.

Zoran Niceno, Chief of the Border Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior spoke about the opening of the borders and what will change from the 1st of July onward.

"The European Council has sent a written recommendation on the phasing out of travel restrictions, primarily to those imposed on each other by EU member states, and only then to third countries. The list of third countries hasn't been agreed yet,'' he said.

The decision of the Council will be known on Tuesday, he said.

Krunoslav Capak: We have to learn to live with the coronavirus among us because it isn't going anywhere anytime soon...

"There's indecision and fear on both sides," said Marko Jurcic, an adviser to the president of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK). He believes that the borders should be opened, but with precautionary measures firmly in place. He added that we cannot open the borders without expecting any new cases of infection.

“It requires a light balance,” he said.

Krunoslav Capak said all countries began to relax measures after which the number of newly infected people increased.

''We have to learn to live with the coronavirus among us because it won’t disappear so quickly, there are more variants of what will happen in the future, but at this point we have to learn to live with this virus and stick to our epidemiological measures,'' he added.

He stressed that the coronavirus will not disappear even if there are no tourists, it is here among us in the population and as such it will continue to circulate.

For more, follow our dedicated section on coronavirus in Croatia.

Minister Bozinovic has discussed the situation with the Croatian-Bosnian border, which has irritated many and left some feeling suspicious about the motives behind it.

Many have been asking the question of just why the Croatian border with Bosnia and Herzegovina is going to be opened so early following a significant ''import'' of new coronavirus cases from that country. With many citing the upcoming elections, due to take place this weekend, others feel that the opening of that border negates everything that has been done so far in regard to anti-epidemic and restrictive measures.

In Petrinja, Minister Bozinovic talked to reporter Vanja Kranic from N1 television about the previously announced abolition of mandatory self-isolation for people entering Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"We're still involved in these talks as the presiding [over the rotating presidency of the EU] country. The EU intends to open up to about fifteen countries, including Serbia and Montenegro. As far as Croatia is concerned, we will have Bosnia and Herzegovina on that list. You know that we had imports of the virus from those countries in the past few days, but it was several times higher from Serbia than it was from BiH,'' explained Minister Bozinovic.

He added that what is important is that we have hotspots in Croatia that are firmly under control. "It isn't something unexpected that the numbers are growing not only in Croatia, but also across Europe. Apparently, these all regard milder clinical pictures,'' he pointed out.

When asked whether the Republic of Croatia will still open the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, even if this non-EU European country fails to find itself in the recommendations of the European Union, he answered:

''Recommendations are recommendations. It's difficult to justify the fact that we had 25, 26 entries of the virus from Serbia, to whom we're opening our borders and eight entries from Bosnia and Herzegovina where we should keep the borders closed,'' Minister Bozinovic told N1.

A more detailed report can be read by clicking the link in the first paragraph of this article.

For more on coronavirus in Croatia, follow our dedicated section.

July 1, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Split, Dubrovnik, and Zadar.

Croatian Aviation reports that Dubrovnik and Split airports are recording more airline announcements for July this year, as the flight schedule of three airlines, Iberia, Windrose and Finnair, has been announced. 

Spain's Iberia will return to Dubrovnik Airport with a regular flight from Madrid. The company will launch the Madrid-Dubrovnik route from Friday, July 3, with flights every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A319 / 320/321 aircraft have been announced on the route.

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

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In last year's summer flight schedule, the line operated daily, and for September this year, even A330 aircraft was announced on the route, with which this company operates on intercontinental routes.

Iberia lines to Zagreb, Split and Zadar are not on sale for July.

Ukrainian airline Windrose Airlines has announced the resumption of regular traffic on the Kyiv-Split route. The line will be in operation as early as Sunday, July 5, with one flight per week, every Sunday. As of July 23, the second flight of the week, on Thursdays, is on sale. We remind you that this company will soon operate to Pula, while the line to Zagreb has been postponed until the winter flight schedule.

Finnair announced the introduction of direct flights from Helsinki to Dubrovnik and Split.

The Helsinki-Dubrovnik line is on sale from July 27, and flights are announced once a week, on Saturdays. From August 3, the line will operate twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, until the end of the summer flight schedule, i.e., on October 25.

The Helsinki-Split line is on sale from the same date as the line to Dubrovnik, and from the beginning of August, there will also be two weeks of flights on this line, every Wednesday and Saturday.

Last summer, Finnair flew to Split as many as 6 times a week, while Helsinki was connected to Dubrovnik every day, and on Fridays with as many as two daily flights.

Furthermore, Avio Radar reports that on June 29, Lauda began operations on the Vienna-Zadar route, which did not run last year. This route will run twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays, with the third flight in September, on Wednesdays. 

This is the first announced new regular line for this year that has started operating. The second new line for this year was the Vienna-Dubrovnik route, which is currently not on offer at all. 

Lauda will fly to Split from Sunday, July 5, from Stuttgart. This line will run once a week, on Sundays, which is two flights less than last year. 

July 1, 2020 -  The Novalja Civil Protection Headquarters says no to music festivals on the famous Zrce beach. 

HRTurizam reports that on June 29, 2020, the Civil Protection Headquarters of the City of Novalja held a video conference to discuss the current situation in the City of Novalja regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, with an emphasis on events planned to be held in nightclubs on Zrce beach. 

Namely, the clubs on Zrce have announced that they will open their doors in the first week of July, namely the clubs Kalypso, Papaya and Nomad, while the club Noa has been operating for the last twelve days, of course with all the recommendations and measures. This news raised a lot of questions in the media, even in Slovenia.

The City of Novalja reacted with the mentioned session at which they pointed out that no electronic music festival has been organized in the area of Zrce beach in agreement with the owners of clubs and festivals, and stressed that the City of Novalja does not want to issue any consent for music events on Zrce beach. 

Given the recent events in the Republic of Croatia, and related to the appearance of the coronavirus in some nightclubs, the Headquarters decided that this summer tourist season will not issue approvals to clubs and concessionaires on Zrce beach for festivals, after parties and similar parties. The same goes for party boats.

It was proposed that the same Conclusion be forwarded to the Municipality of Kolan, where the Noa Club and other smaller clubs are located, and which was accepted. An identical conclusion was agreed during the day at the session of the Civil Protection Headquarters of the Municipality of Kolan.

Furthermore, the Headquarters has decided that no further concerts, festivities and outdoor parties will be held until further notice, where a larger number of visitors can be expected.

By the way, there are no people infected with the coronavirus in the City of Novalja. According to the eVisitor system, until June 28, 5,293 tourists (without occasional visitors or weekenders) were registered in the City of Novalja, which is 53.28% compared to the same day last year. Most of the tourists (57.05%) are staying in the Strasko camp.

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