June 27, 2020 - Split Restaurant Zrno Soli is the first restaurant in Croatia to be certified COVID-19 safe by Adriacert.

Dalmacija Danas reports that leading auditors of TÜV adria and Adriacert, i.e., project leaders Ph.D. Damir Ježek and quality control Joško Bekavac and other associates of the Exquisite Quality platform, on behalf of Adriacert, awarded the SARS-CoV-2 certificate of technical safety measures to restaurant Zrno Soli in Split. This certificate confirms that Zrno Soli operates in accordance with the highest standards and guidelines following legal health care measures and the Act on the protection of the population from infectious diseases and related ordinances, decisions, instructions and recommendations of the Croatian Institute of Public Health and other competent bodies and institutions.

A detailed independent review established that all measures were taken for safe operation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their strict adherence was ensured, with emphasis on the adoption and implementation of best practices and standards, while maintaining quality communication with restaurant guests.

All restaurant guests must disinfect their shoes at the entrance with a special mat and should disinfect their hands. In addition, there are mini disinfectants on the tables that the guest uses during their visit to the restaurant, and can take them with them, too. The restaurant is cleaned and disinfected several times during the day, both in the hall and in the kitchen. In addition to cleaning and disinfection, spacing was implemented between the tables, according to the recommendations of the Civil Protection Headquarters, and the tablecloths are changed after the departure of each guest, as is the practice already.

The obtained certificate is further proof that Zrno Soli prioritizes its guests, their well-being, protection and safety.

Adriacert Ltd. is an international certification body that covers Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro, giving top-level professional certification services to raise business capability. 

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June 27, 2020 - On Saturday, June 27, a new swimming season opens at the City Pool in Sinj.

As the director of the ‘Kamičak’ company Marina Cvitković revealed, all preparations have been made, and the pool is ready for use. From this year, and thanks to City Councilor Ante Šušnjari, who managed to secure an additional 100 thousand kuna from the City of Sinj with an amendment for preparatory work on the pool, in a colorful and visually more appealing environment, the people of Sinj will be able to drink coffee, enjoy ice cream and swim in one of the cleanest swimming pools in Croatia.

"We have updated and painted the space a bit, we finished the work in the engine room, and it is worth mentioning that we have one of the cleanest pool waters in Croatia, which is regularly inspected. The purchase of a new robot for cleaning the pool shell is in progress, and we have changed all the lighting fixtures in the pool so that our pool will be pleasing to the eye in the evening as well," says director Cvitković.

The new swimming season will take place according to new epidemiological standards, which means respecting physical distance and mandatory disinfection. The head of the city pool, Stipe Blajić, claims that the water in the pool, given the constant disinfection and sampling, is safer this year than the sea.

The working hours of the pool will be from 9 am to 9 pm, and ticket prices will remain the same as last year.

"The price of using the pool for the first hour is 10 kuna, and every hour after that 5 kuna, with the condition that swimmers will pay 10 kuna between 9 am and 12 noon, or three hours of swimming. The price of a monthly ticket for everyday users will be 200 kuna, and we have other monthly tickets depending on the day of arrival in the week," said Blajić.

The swimming school will start operating in July.

Source: Ferata

As Novac writes on the 26th of June, 2020, following the carrying out of the necessary public procurement procedures, the IGH Institute was awarded three new contracts with Croatian roads (Hrvatske ceste) for the construction supervision and reconstruction services of three traffic routes with a total value of around 12.3 million kuna.

This is a complete supervision over the construction of a highway of more than six kilometres in length through Karlovac in the direction of Split, which will improve traffic safety and capacity, especially during times of increased summer traffic. In addition, the new road will completely bypass Turanj, a settlement that has been extremely congested so far, and will connect to the already built Korana bridge. As already mentioned, IGH together with its partner will supervise the construction, and the value of the contracted work for the company stands at 4,606,992.00 kuna.

The second contract signed with Croatian roads is also for the complete supervision over the construction of the 3.2-kilometre-long bypass of Beli Manastir, which will better solve the need for the reduction of traffic, especially transit, through the very centre of Beli Manastir. This is extremely important because it is expected that the further construction of the Corridor Vc motorway will further emphasise transit traffic. The value of these contracted works for IGH amounts to 3,379,990.00 kuna. The deadline for completion of works is 22 months from commissioning.

Finally, the third contract with Croatian roads includes the supervision over the reconstruction of the new pavement structure of the state road between the settlements of Normanci and the Municipality of Petrijevci, with a total length of slightly more than 17 kilometres. Of particular interest in the project is the planned construction of 14 kilometres of new bike/cycling paths with the reconstruction and extension of 9 kilometres of pedestrian paths. The deadline for construction is 24 months, and IGH will conduct a complete inspection, while the value of the contracted work for the company amounts to 4,300,020.00 kuna.

In addition, they recently signed a contract for the supervision and quality control of the rehabilitation of the Krk Bridge worth a little more than 1,000,000.00 kuna.

IGH currently has around a thousand active contracts for the full range of services it offers, primarily in construction, making it a leading engineering company in the construction sector. Additionally, during the last and this year, IGH hired more than 100 new colleagues, which saw it exceed the number of 500 employees, and in the coming period it plans to hire even more manpower.

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As Jozo Vrdoljak/Novac writes on the 25th of June, 2020, as part of the already popular Terme Tuhelj complex which is located in continental Croatia, a new luxury glamping resort has been opened. It is an investment worth three million euros and marks another cash injection that the coronavirus pandemic hasn't put a stop to.

The modern glamping resort at Terme Tuhelj is an upgrade to the existing Vita camp, the first five-star camp in continental Croatia, which opened its doors last summer - which, in stark contrast to this one, was remembered as a record one for the Croatian tourism sector.

"We have clear goals, a vision and a strategy, which has been confirmed by the [opening of] the new glamping resort, which will soon, I'm convinced, be full of guests. We know that we're on the right track. Last year, we generated ten million euros in revenue and 136 thousand overnight stays, almost a third in Krapina-Zagorje County.

With continuous investments from year to year, we're continuing to raise the bar of quality and respond to the demands of the tourism market, we're look positively to the future during these uncertain times that did slow us down, but they didn't stop us from realising our plans,'' said Vasja Cretnik, the director of the new Terme Tuhelj Luxury Glamping Village within the Terme Tuhelj complex.

The new Glamping Village offers 36 modern mobile units, a wellness area, a whirlpool, saunas and massage rooms. The investment, which is worth three million euros as previously stated, was realised in cooperation with their Austrian partner Gebetsroiter, a company with almost forty years of tradition in creating the highest quality camping destinations.

All of the facilities of the camp, as well as the various attractions in Terme Tuhelj - from the Sauna World, through to the rich wellness offer to Water Planet with its popular swimming pools and adrenaline slides - are available to the guests of Glamping Village.

For more on continental Croatian tourism, follow our travel page.

As Marija Brnic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 25th of June, 2020, a package of measures for Croatian winemakers was adopted which will allocate 38.5 million kuna for wine distillation and 5 million kuna for crisis storage.

On the exact day when new data on the number of people infected with the new coronavirus in Croatia were published, Croatian winemakers finally received a bit of very welcome good news from the Government that a package of intervention measures to mitigate the negative consequences of the pandemic on wine sales was accepted.

The measures regard the conversion of the existing multi-year national programme to help the wine sector, which will, as stated, allocate 38.5 million kuna for crisis distillation of wine, and 5 million kuna for the crisis storage of wine.

For the wine sold and delivered to the approved distiller, five kuna per litre of wine has been provided and a large number of Croatian winemakers/producers are interested in the costs of transporting wine to the distiller being reimbursed, and it is expected that several dozen producers will apply for this measure.

One of them is Josip Pavic from Erdut vineyards, who is also the president of the Wine Association of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK). "It won't save Croatian winemakers, when it's estimated that wine consumption will fall by 50 percent due to the coronavirus crisis, but it will ease the situation," said Pavic, adding that there isn't much of an alternative to be had because harvest time is coming and warehouses are full.

Similar measures are used by other countries across Europe, which, in addition to crisis distillation and storage, also apply a third solution, the so-called green harvest in vineyards, which we haven't considered in Croatia, but some Croatian winemakers, such as Vlado Krauthaker, carry it out themselves.

Green harvesting cuts costs

"This seems like a quality solution, because we'll reduce the yield to 50 percent earlier and we'll have fewer grapes, we'll reduce the cost of production, but in turn we'll raise the quality of wine," explained the famous winemaker, adding that it's difficult to estimate losses this year.

Dino Galic from Kutjevo says that the winery will apply for both measures, more precisely for storage of about 100 to 200 thousand litres for Kutjevo, and that their Đakovo wines (between 200 and 300 thousand litres) will apply for crisis distillation.

"We also proposed that the Government, in these extraordinary conditions, help Croatian winemakers with subsidised purchases. Such measures would preserve current liquidity, which will be quickly jeopardised,'' says Galic, adding that this package won't save producers, but any help is welcome. Most Croatian winemakers sell their products here on the domestic market, but due to the uncertain tourist season, the placement of wine is still "hanging in the air", and the situation is no better on foreign markets either.

The problem, as Krauthaker explains, is in the hyperproduction of wine on a global level, and Croatia is not recognised on the world wine list. At the moment, even strong winemakers from countries like France are devising plans to mitigate the losses of this sector.

Krauthaker says the solution is for manufacturers to start connecting and acting together promoting their region, in order to gain recognition, and they will have to invest more in that.

Most Croatian winemakers used measures to preserve jobs during the crisis, and didn't need to lay off workers, and in addition to this particular package of measures, Minister of Agriculture Marija Vuckovic announced possible further measures to help yesterday, but she didn't specify what they could be.

As the parliamentary elections draw closer, the most important thing for Croatian winemakers is to start implementing the measures just adopted as soon as possible. Yesterday, the Vice President of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce for Agriculture and Tourism, Dragan Kovacevic, appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture and especially to the Agency for Payments in Agriculture to start implementing these measures urgently, so that winemakers could receive support as soon as possible.

"We expect an urgent announcement of the tender for the implementation of these measures, so that due to the deadlines, they wouldn't jeopardise the realisation of the secured funds, especially for the crisis storage measure.

The members of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce Wine Association are therefore looking for a quick reaction and a simple tender procedure, without unnecessary administration,'' stated Dragan Kovacevic.

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June 26, 2020 - Hajduk and Slaven Belupo met at Poljud Stadium for the 31st round of the Croatian First League. It was Hajduk's first game in front of home fans since the league came to a halt because of COVID-19. 

After Gorica topped Rijeka at Rujevica Stadium on Friday night, Hajduk met Slaven Belupo in front of their fans for the first time in 114 days. Recall, while other clubs were able to welcome back their fans already a few rounds ago, the Split club had to serve a punishment of a game behind closed doors. 

With the coronavirus on the rise again in Croatia, stricter measures were enforced at the stadium. Namely, temperature checks were reinstated for journalists at the entrance, while we were asked to disinfect our hands before entering. Furthermore, we had to sit one per table instead of the usual two. The jumbo screen at the stadium also reminded fans to keep a distance of 1.5 meters. 

Whether they feared the coronavirus would spread or were boycotting because of Hajduk's last two losses and drop to 5th place, the stadium wasn't nearly as full as expected, considering the Split club's beloved fans haven't seen them play in the flesh in almost four months. Namely, only 4,523 fans were in attendance. 

Hajduk played with a bit of a weaker squad on Friday night, missing a few starting players due to injuries and yellow cards. Slaven Belupo was also in a weaker form. A win for Hajduk was imperative.

The fans at Poljud showed enthusiasm at the beginning and Torcida's chants certainly helped Hajduk to their first goal. Caktaks scored a penalty for 1:0 in the 10th minute. 

Slaven Belupo equalized thanks to an easy goal by Medjimorec in the 25th minute. The game ended 1:1 at the half. 

The second half started with only one Hajduk substitution, as Dolcek came on for Colina. Hajduk was quick to score their second goal, which came in the 59th minute. A header by Eduok rattled the Belupo keeper for 2:1!

Belupo was awarded a VAR penalty in the 90th minute, which was hit wide to keep the game 2:1 for Hajduk. Nine minutes of injury time were added, though neither team was able to score. Hajduk won 2:1. 

Dinamo and Osijek close out the 31st round on Saturday at Maksimir Stadium. Stay tuned for our 31st round recap on Monday. 

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ZAGREB, June 26, 2020 - Prime Minister and HDZ party leader Andrej Plenkovic said on Friday that at the moment he did not see any reason to get tested for the coronavirus again and that he usually consulted with experts on such matters.

"I am not a 'do it yourself' person when it comes to medical consultations, I have a habit of consulting with experts. That is what the Scientific Council is for. If they suggest that I do so, I will consider doing that. At the moment, I don't see any reason for it," he said during a visit to Koprivnica when asked by reporters if he planned to get tested for the coronavirus again.

Asked what would happen if it eventually turned out that he, too, was positive for COVID-19 after all the contacts he had at the recent Adria Tour tennis tournament in Zadar, he said that there was no need for him to answer hypothetical questions.

ZAGREB, June 26, 2020 - Croatia has confirmed 56 new cases of the coronavirus and currently, the total number of people infected since the outbreak stands at 2,539, the national COVID-19 response team said on Friday.

"Fifty-six new cases have been identified in the past 24 hours, which means that 2,539 people have been infected with the coronavirus," deputy director of the Croatian Institute for Public Health (HZJZ) Marija Bubas told a press conference.

There are 23 new cases in Zagreb, 12 in Osijek-Baranja County, 5 each in Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Split-Dalmatia, and Zagreb counties, 2 each in Zadar and Koprivnica-Krizevci counties and 1 each in Brod-Posavina and Varazdin counties.

A total of 75,437 sample tests have been taken, including 780 in the past 24 hours. 51 patients are being treated in hospitals however there aren't any patients connected to ventilators.

To date, 2,150 people have recovered from the virus while the death toll stands at 107.