ZAGREB, June 19, 2020 - Former president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has joined women who have shown their middle finger at statements about abortion made by Homeland Movement leader Miroslav Skoro and some other politicians, making an off the photo of herself with her middle finger extended.

"I am joining all women who with this 'indecent' act are showing their stand and raising their voice against those who are trying to take us centuries back," Grabar-Kitarovic told the Jutarnji List daily, to which she sent her photo.

The former president said the time was gone when men made decisions for women.

"I have always advocated life but I have also advocated a life that has the right to choose. Without pressure, without stigmatisation and without conditions, particularly in the most sensitive situations such as rape," Grabar-Kitarovic said, adding that she had shown her middle finger as a sign of support for "us women and our rights as well as for men who support us."

Grabar-Kitarovic's statement was one in a number of reactions prompted by Skoro's statement that "if a woman becomes pregnant after being raped, she should agree with her family what to do next."

Commenting on those reactions, Skoro said that his statements were being taken out of context because there was nothing he or the election candidates of the Homeland Movement could be reproached for.

June 19, 2020 - Tourism is on hold, but most of us have plenty of time. So let's look at the virtual resources available to explore Croatia virtually. We continue our new Virtual Croatia series with the tools to discover Šolta.

A few weeks ago I wrote that being a tourism blogger in the corona era was about as useful as being a cocktail barman in Saudi Arabia. I feel less useless now, a few weeks later, and I am encouraged by the number of Croatian tourism businesses who are contacting us wanting to start thinking of promoting post-corona tourism. 

One of the challenges of writing about tourism at the moment is that there is nothing positive to write about. With people confined to their homes and tourism in Croatia currently not possible, many have decided to go into hibernation until it is all over. 

I think that this is a mistake, and I have greatly enjoyed the TCN series by Zoran Pejovic of Paradox Hospitality on thinking ahead to tourism in a post-corona world.  You can find Zoran's articles here.

Way back on March 14 - several lifetimes ago - I published an article called Tourism in the Corona Age: 10 Virtual Ways to Discover Zagreb. The way I saw things, now was an OUTSTANDING opportunity for tourism promotion. People have time, they yearn for their freedom and former lives, so give them the tools to thoroughly research and enjoy your destinations, and you will have then longing to be there. And when they do come, they will have a deeper understanding of the destination due to their research. 

South Africa and Portugal were the first to do their post-corona tourism promotion videos several weeks ago (Post-Corona Tourism Planning: Lessons from South Africa and Portugal), a trick which has been followed by other tourism countries, the latest being Croatia with the national tourist board campaign, #CroatiaLongDistanceLove, going live yesterday.

But while these campaigns create longing and market presence, they don't really educate. People now have time to really get into destinations. And dreams of escape to somewhere more exotic are high on the list of priorities of many. 

So TCN has decided to help with that education with a new series called Virtual Croatia, where we will be helping you discover many of Croatia's destinations with all the best virtual tools available on your self-isolating sofa at home. 

We started with Tourism in the Corona Age: 10 Virtual Tools to Discover Hvar.

After this, we put our a press release (which you can read here in English and Croatian) offering a free article to any local tourist board in Croatia who would like the free promotion in our Virtual Croatia series. 

The Sinj Tourist Board was the first to respond, and now you can see just how rich the tourism offer is in this proud Alka town - your virtual tools to Discover Sinj. This was followed by DIscover Opatija, Discover Brela, Discover Rogoznica, Discover Stari Grad, Discover Omis, Discover Lumbarda and Discover Jezera.

Next up, Zorana Kaštelanac of the Šolta Island Tourist Board, who sent us some virtual tools to help us discover the island of Šolta. 

Let's begin! 

Šolta - the Island Closest to Split

Visit Šolta, promo video from 2018.

2014 promo video.

Official video

TCN's own Tash Pericic produced a video about Šolta as well

Meet the wonderful villages of Šolta

Gornje selo

Nečujam

Grohote

Rogač

Maslinica

Discover Šolta as Our Guests See it

A video by the Adriatic Waves 

A 4K video by Ivan Mišak

Find out more about the Hotel, Marina & Restaurant Martinis Marchi on Šolta

Martinis Marchi promo video, 2018

Official Šolta Website & a TCN feature article on Šolta

Download more materials about Šolta from their tourist board website, where you can also discover Šolta's beaches, food and wine and active vacation opportunities. 

25 Things to Know about the Closest Island to Split

When can Šolta expect your visit? 

To discover more of virtual Croatia, you can follow this series in our dedicated section, Virtual Croatia. 

If you are a local tourist board in Croatia and would like your destination featured in this series for free, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Subject Virtual Croatia (and destination name)

June 19, 2020 - On Dnevnik Nova TV, Davor Bozinovic revealed how the National Civil Protection Headquarters will react in case the number of coronavirus patients in Croatia continues to grow, but also whether strict measures will be introduced again.

"You know we have always said that with measures we balance between economic activities and the protection of life. There are currently no indications that some measures should be tightened, but this is always a possibility. We will see in which direction this hotspot is going," he said on T.portal.

He says citizens are not recommended to travel outside the country, unless necessary. "If you travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and other countries in the region, there really must be a reason, and you shouldn't go for something you can do without. We have long noted that cross-border movement carries risks. As far as tourists are concerned, we have prescribed all measures in catering and tourism," says Bozinovic.

Asked whether the measures at the borders will be tightened, Bozinovic said that there is no need for that at the moment because there have been no tourists in Croatia in recent days. He added that tourists fill in the data in the application for tourists coming to Croatia.

"We have opened a headquarters in Zadar and Split that deals with security in the coastal areas," he said, adding that in the event of an outbreak, they would react promptly. "I am sure we have, and if we don't, we will have the answer to every challenge," said Davor Bozinovic.

When it comes to weddings and larger celebrations, Bozinovic says that if everyone adhered to all the prescribed measures, there would be no need to talk about whether it will be possible to hold large celebrations normally. He revealed that the arrival of citizens from third countries would not be allowed soon. "We will certainly not go for liberalization in the foreseeable future. The European Commission has issued recommendations. We will see the epidemiological situation," concluded the Chief of the National Headquarters. 

Asked whether all citizens, including those in self-isolation, will be allowed to go to the parliamentary elections and fulfill their civic duty, Davor Bozinovic said that epidemiologists would make recommendations for those people as well. "But I wouldn't prejudge the numbers or whether there will be any. There is communication between the DIP and the Headquarters," he said.

For more news in Croatia, follow our dedicated page.

June 19, 2020 - Health Minister Vili Beros said that the spike in coronavirus cases after a long time without any or a small number of patients is under control, and that the Republic of Croatia wanted to attract as many tourists as possible.

Slobodna Dalmacija reports that Minister Beros participated in the meeting of the County Civil Protection Headquarters in the Dubrovnik City Hall, from which they boasted that there are no more patients infected with COVID-19 in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, three months after the first recorded case of infection on March 19.

He stated that the coronavirus pandemic is a crisis, unlike anything we've witnessed before. 

"We talked about new circumstances and challenges. We are interested in getting as many tourists as possible, but it carries a certain danger. The task of the expert group of the Ministry of Health was to develop mechanisms in all cases, and I asked staff members not to relax. Some things we also need to anticipate because it is optimal if we are one step ahead of the virus," he said.

Speaking about the increase in the number of patients in the Republic of Croatia (11 new cases in the last 24 hours), Beros said that he had heard from the director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Krunoslav Capak, and that the situation was under control.

"All patients who came from abroad are not tourists, but Croatian citizens who have been to neighboring countries for short visits. We have a number of measures ready to limit such movements if we see that the cases are repeated in the coming days," Beros said.

He noted that all epidemiological measures should be adhered to, but also stated that the issue of wearing protective masks is not grounded yet.

Director of Civil Protection and Assistant Minister of the Interior Damir Trut said that the meeting of the County Headquarters discussed the coronavirus, but also the fire and tourist season.

"We have seen everything and we want to prepare the Headquarters for all activities. They have done all the tasks at school. The Headquarters will remain active in the summer months," said Trut.

County Chief Josko Cebalo said that after the opening of the borders and the beginning of the tourist season, there was an increase in the movement of people through the county, which increases the risk of the recurrence of the coronavirus in southern Croatia.

"To prevent this from happening, we are preparing measures and instructions with the epidemiological services for hotel houses, private renters and catering facilities, and we are also working out protocols on how to act in cases of infection among guests," Cebalo said.

Dubrovnik-Neretva County Prefect Nikola Dobroslavic pointed out that the absence of coronavirus infections in the county is the result of the work of the Government and the National and County Headquarters, as well as all other services and institutions.

"Many have contributed to the suppression of the pandemic so far. Of course, the key role was played by citizens who responsibly followed all measures and instructions. I believe we will know how to respond to a possible second wave, which should not be a significant danger when we have people like this." concluded Dobroslavic.

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

June 19, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Split, Dubrovnik and Zadar. 

Avio Radar reports that Polish national airline LOT Polish Airlines, a member of the Star Alliance global aircraft, will resume scheduled international air traffic from July 1. Among the first destinations are three stops in Croatia - Dubrovnik, Split and Zadar. 

Zagreb and Rijeka are not on offer in the first 14 days of traffic. Pula was not planned this year or before the pandemic. The flight schedule is only valid from July 1 to 15. 

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

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

The Warsaw-Dubrovnik line will be in traffic twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, instead of the planned 6 times a week (every day except Tuesday). The Warsaw-Split line will be in traffic once a week, on Wednesdays, instead of two flights per week. Flights on Sunday have been canceled. The Warsaw-Zadar route will be offered once a week, on Saturdays, just as it was announced before the pandemic. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft have been announced on all routes to Croatia. 

The biggest news is that the new Budapest-Dubrovnik line, announced for the first time this year, will start operations. Flights will run once a week, on Saturdays, instead of Sunday, which as originally announced. The smaller Embraer ERJ-195 aircraft will fly on this route. 

Avio Radar also reports that Czech airline Smartwings has stopped the sale of all flights on the Prague-Dubrovnik route until the end of the year. The line was planned to operate daily. It was previously delayed until July 1, but is now no longer on offer at all. 

The Prague-Split line already started operating on June 10, and has been planned daily since June 24. If there are no changes, it will be the first regular line that will fly from Europe daily to one of the Croatian destinations on the Adriatic. 

The Ostrava-Split line was supposed to begin operations on June 13, though it has been delayed until further notice. Lines from Poland to Split have been postponed until July 2. 

Lines from Poland to Dubrovnik have also been postponed, but to July 9, while the Gdansk-Dubrovnik route is scheduled to run a week later. 

The Boeing 737-800 aircraft was announced on all routes, but on Wednesday, June 17, a smaller Airbus A319 flew from Prague to Split as a replacement for the partner company CSA Czech Airlines, a member of the SkyTeam global airline association. 

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 18th of June, 2020, Mate Rimac recently opened a new factory in Zagorje, more precisely in Veliko Trgovišće, which is intended exclusively for the serial production of his electric vehicles. The new factory should enable Rimac Automobili to start delivering finished C_Two vehicles to customers as early as next year.

Noting that during this year, Rimac Automobili plans to publish the final design and name of the vehicle, given that the C_Two is still being treated as a prototype, and not the final, homologated vehicle, or a finished product. Initially, the first deliveries to customers were supposed to be made by the end of this year, but this was slowed down by the coronavirus crisis and the quarantine.

The brand new Zagorje plant covers 5036 square metres in total and represents a 60 percent increase in the Rimac Automobili's overall production capacities. Namely, in Sveta Nedjelja, where its headquarters are located, the company has a production plant, a centre for R&D development and other departments on an area covering ​​8345 square metres.

The plant in Veliko Trgovišće, as has since been learned, is a continuation of the expansion of the company's business and won't replace the existing plant in Sveta Nedjelja near Zagreb. Rimac Automobili isn't giving up on the project it announced last year near the Kerestinec castle, on an area covering ​​250,000 square metres. Mate Rimac then pointed out that he wanted to have the company's future headquarters, R&D centre, factory, test site and campus with various facilities located there in Kerestinec.

State Property Minister Goran Maric and Sveta Nedelja Mayor Dario Zurovec have already prepared the ground for the campus by signing a 6.5m-kuna state land donation agreement. Mate Rimac says they're sticking to the plans.

''We're accelerating the production of prototypes, so this new investment is necessary for us to be able to deliver vehicles to our customers next year. We're still working on the campus project, our long-term location, but given the size and timeline of that project, it's imperative that we have the appropriate facilities in place by then,'' Mate Rimac explained.

In the new plant, Rimac Automobili will produce thirteen C_Two prototypes by the end of this year, which will be used for testing and homologation. Most of these vehicles will be destroyed in crash tests and other tests.

So far, the company has produced a total of four. Rimac Automobili plans to make a global homologation for the C_Two model so that it can be sold worldwide in the final version in the same way as the vehicles of all other brands have been. All of this includes the production of ten vehicles in pre-series production, which is also something they intend to realise by the end of 2020.

The company explained that full homologation, without any shortcuts, is a process that takes three to four years from the first concept to full prototypes and finally to actual vehicles out on the road. Rimac Automobili is sticking to those deadlines, and the first C_Two was presented at the Geneva Motor Show back in 2018.

"The only way to accomplish all of this is through rigorous crash tests that require different prototypes, each with a specific purpose, so, for example - some prototypes from the plant in Veliko Trgovišće will go directly to crash testing, and others will be used for other types of tests,'' noted Rimac.

In order to be able to produce the required number of vehicles by the end of the year, and thus to test future serial production, the company opened this new plant in Zagorje. Its initial production capacity is four vehicles per month. In addition, they have shortened the production process to five weeks and it is now twice as fast. The new plant consists of five main zones.

''We’ve worked hard to bring the C_Two to the level it's at now and I want our customers around the world to feel the enjoyment of 1914 horsepower in a fully electric hyper vehicle,'' said Rimac, adding that he is proud that they achieved all this in the die conditions created by the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

"We didn't reduce the number of employees or their salaries," said Rimac. He noted that investors are still following their moves. Last September, Porsche increased its stake from 10 to 15.5 percent. The first investors in Rimac Automobili appeared six years ago. Then Colombian Frank Kanayet Yepes, Chinese Sinocop Resources and the owner of Forbes invested 10 million US dollars in the first investment round.

It was the first investment in a technology startup based here in Croatia. A year later, Rimac Automobili won its first major development deal. Three years ago, the Chinese Camel Group invested a massive 30 million euros in Rimac Automobili. A couple of years ago, Mate Rimac presented the amazing C_Two, agreed with Camel to build a factory in China worth one billion kuna, won a 600 million kuna R&D deal and received an investment of 18.7 million euros from Porsche in exchange for a 10 percent stake in the company.

After that, Hyundai and KIa invested huge amounts. The company's financial indicators for 2019 are not yet known. According to Poslovna Hrvatska (Business Croatia) in 2018, Rimac Automobili had revenues of 72.7 million kuna, a loss of 19.9 million kuna and investments in fixed assets of as much as 174.6 million kuna.

For more, follow Made in Croatia.

The application (app) that tracks individuals infected with the new coronavirus, as well as their contacts, was launched over in Germany yesterday, and will soon be available for Croatian citizens.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of June, 2020, there are now newly infected people within Croatian borders and another forty people have been placed in self-isolation. According to the announcements of the ruling party, we should have had this information and similar data available to us in the palms of our hands.

Specifically, this sort of information was supposed to be made available to Croatia within the application developed by APIS. More than a month has passed since that particular announcement.

As stated, the application that tracks individuals infected with the new coronavirus and their contacts was launched in Germany yesterday, and it will soon also be made available to Croatian citizens. They have been working on its production in APIS for the last month.

"We're still waiting for the approval of both Google and Apple in terms of the Ministry of Health as the holder of this application, and we expect that everything will be done in July," said Sasa Bilic, CEO of APIS IT for RTL Danas (Today).

The coronavirus tracking application does not reveal a person's identity.

When people get in touch, the app exchanges so-called keys or identifiers via Bluetooth on their mobile phones. If someone later becomes infected with the new coronavirus, with their voluntary consent, that information is stored and the app alerts their close contacts about the presence of the disease.

Once a day, the application downloads a list of ''infected keys''.

In order to exchange these anonymous keys, the users of the application will have to be at least two metres away from each other and spend at least fifteen minutes in contact.

"Countries are moving towards solutions that are of course voluntary, which aren't related to determining geolocations, but which use bluetooth technology. As far as we're concerned, at the moment, we're primarily focused on the protection of our citizens, and on the protection of tourists who come to Croatia,'' said the Minister of the Interior, Davor Bozinovic.

There is an idea in place to exchange information with other countries, including Germany, where the application has been downloaded six and a half million times in just 24 hours.

After the keys are exchanged between Germany and Croatia, the user who was in Croatia or the Croat who was in Germany, will be notified that he was in contact with an infected person,'' said Marin Katic, Head of the Web and Mobile Applications Development Department of APIS IT.

In addition to the fact that the use of this coronavirus tracking application is voluntary and free, it can be turned off and uninstalled at any time.

For more, follow our lifestyle page.

In these turbulent times dominated by the global coronavirus pandemic, it looks as if we'll need to wait until the warmer summer months pass before we know the true state of the Croatian hotel and investment market.

As Gordana Grgas/Novac writes on the 18th of June, 2020, for greater security, Valamar Riviera has reduced the capacity of its hotels for this season by 20 percent, they're not thinking of attracting guests by lowering prices but by offering additional services, and after the borders with Austria and Germany are opened, guests no longer have to be quarantined upon returning home.

Croatian hotels are managing to open their doors considerably earlier than what was initially planned, bookings are going better in Istria than they are in Croatia's southernmost city of Dubrovnik because Istria is a car destination. Camps are more full up than the hotels are, while among hotels - those of a higher category are doing better. The above briefly but accurately explains the situation in Croatia after the lockdown due to COVID- 19.

"We've prepared quite well and we have no intention of working with losses. We're opening our hotels with the dynamics that support it,'' Denis Prevolsek of Valamar Riviera notes. Most Croatian hoteliers have announced this year that they expect results at around 30 percent of what 2019's were.

What are the opportunities for the tourism and hotel industry in the years to come? Questions like this were asked at the Colliers virtual round table called ''Tourism 2020-2022: What to expect? What to hope for?'' which was held on Wednesday. The guest speaker was Dirk Bakker, the director of hotel services at Colliers International EMEA.

Hotels were generally an attractive target for investors before the coronavirus crisis struck, and this investment market was discussed, among others, by the member of the Management Board of the PBZ CO pension company Goran Kralj, which has invested a lot in tourism in recent years. He emphasised that the investment market will be very cautious until the situation around the business of hotel companies in 2020 is clarified, since those who are more heavily indebted will probably find it quite difficult to find their feet again.

"What autumn is going to look like is questionable, and the overall macroeconomic situation is important here. It will be interesting to see what the demand for accommodation will be in the next year, and what the implications in the end for tourism will be,'' said Kralj when referencing the Croatian hotel and investment market.

The lockdown will be followed by a year in which the business focus is on surviving and recovering from the coronavirus crisis, says Zagreb City Hotels CEO Josipa Jutt Ferlan, who manages Hilton hotels in the region, and whose biggest source of income is congresses and business travel. They opened three Hilton hotel facilities in the City of Zagreb, held training sessions for the local congress industry in the new epidemiological conditions and are already seeing results.

"We're rational with business and our costs, but we have to start somewhere. We can't wait for the ideal conditions because we don't know when they're going to come,'' she added. They have also acquired a license to operate Marriott hotels, so there are also expectations of that. Commenting on hotel prices for guests, it's a question of a cause-and-effect relationship between supply and demand, lowering price levels can't be the sole driver of the market.

Marina Franolic, regional manager of the international company BenchEvents, says that the autumn will show the real situation on the Croatian hotel and investment market. It will be quite difficult for everyone.

"This is an extremely good moment for new products and projects," said Marina Franolic, adding that the problem is that no one knows how long the situation with the coronavirus epidemic will last. As for hotels in Croatia, she believes that large, branded companies will be more successful because it will be easier to convince guests of their safety, while others will find that somewhat of a challenge. She also believes that there could be a separation between the ownership of hotels and their management, which she considers to be something which would lead in a very positive direction.

For more on the Croatian hotel and investment scene, follow our business page.