ZAGREB, 13 April, 2021 - The main Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) indices rebounded on Tuesday, with the Crobex rising by 0.26% to 1,887 points and the Crobex10 by 0.07% to 1,182 points.

Turnover at the close of the trading session was HRK 3.45 million, 500,000 lower than on Monday.

None of the stocks passed the turnover mark of one million kuna. The highest turnover, of slightly over HRK 500,000, was generated by the stock of the Podravka food company. The price of its share fell by 0.72% to HRK 550.

A total of 36 stocks traded today, with 12 of them registering share price increases, 12 recording price decreases and 12 remaining stable in price.

(€1 = HRK 7.570542)

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

ZAGREB, 13 April, 2021 - Foreign tourists who generate at least one bed night in Zagreb can be tested for COVID-19 at 50% of the price and about 20 have already been tested over the weekend, the director of the Zagreb Tourist Board (TZGZ), Martina Bienenfeld, said on Tuesday.

TZGZ is the first regional tourist board in Croatia that has opened a testing station for foreign tourists as had previously been proposed by Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac.

Testing to be co-financed

In addition to opening the testing station, TZGZ has decided to cofinance testing that is conducted during weekends and public holidays, Bienenfeld told Hina.

TZGZ will cover half the cost of testing for tourists, she said, estimating that the greatest demand will be in the coming period and that that will depend on the percentage of inoculated tourists from the countries they are coming from, but also of employees in tourism and citizens themselves, and finally on the introduction of Digital Green Certificates at the EU level.

Testing during weekdays will be at the normal price and already about ten Zagreb hotels are providing testing services. Testing can also be conducted at Zagreb's airport.

Providing opportunity for tourists to extend their stay

"One of the important reasons why we decided to co-finance testing in the days noted is that this provides the opportunity for tourists to extend their stay in Zagreb, because they do not have to worry where and when they can be tested when returning to their countries and they can avoid quarantine," said Bienefeld.

All the necessary information regarding testing is available at www.infozagreb.hr/korona-virus in various languages, she said and added that the first tourists tested this way last weekend (10 and 11 April) were from Italy, Denmark, Germany and Albania.

Bienefeld said that since the beginning of the year until 11 April, almost 65,000 tourists had visited Zagreb and they generated 177,500 bed nights, which is about 47% of arrivals and 58% of bed nights generated in the comparable period in 2020.

Compared to the record 2019 year, that is about 27% and 37% of arrivals and bed nights respectively. 

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 13 April, 2021 - The Culture and Media Ministry has suggested including reporters and media workers in priority groups for vaccination against COVID-19 due to the risk of infection being higher than for the rest of the population, the Croatian Journalists Association (HND) said on Tuesday.

According to a notification from the ministry, reporters can express interest in being put on the list of priority vaccinations.

The HND will be collecting data from interested reporters until midnight 14 April, the association said, noting that expression of interest will in no way affect interest in vaccination expressed previously with one's family doctor or via the cijepise.zdravlje.hr platform. Previous registration for vaccination should not be cancelled until the moment an invitation to vaccination arrives from the Croatian Public Health Institute, the HND said.

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

ZAGREB, 13 April, 2021 - The Bridge party on Tuesday criticised the government's National Recovery and Resilience Plan, noting that investing in the public sector will not finance economic recovery but rather cause new scandals and clientelism.

"Each kuna invested in the private sector will yield a return of four kuna and each kuna invested in the public sector means a maximum return of one kuna, if the money is used efficiently, which in Croatia is not the case," Bridge MP Zvonimir Troskot said at a news conference.

He said that he condemned the stigmatisation of people who think critically about the National Recovery and Resilience Plan as "people whose patriotism is dubious."

Ruling HDZ MP Grozdana Perić last week said that those who criticise the National Recovery and Resilience Plan "do not love Croatia."

"Grozdana Perić and the prime minister's special advisor on economy, Zvonimir Savić, are not the only economic strategists. There are the Institute of Economics, the Croatian Employers' Association, the Entrepreneurs' Association as well as independent economists who are saying that the National Plan is not good," said Troskot.

"If entrepreneurs are again disregarded, we won't have money for wages, pensions or COVID allowances," he said.

Bridge against banning "For homeland ready" salute

Bridge MP Nikola Grmoja commented on initiatives to ban the Ustasha salute "For the homeland ready."

"As regards the insignia of the Croatian Defence Force (HOS), that is a legal unit of the Croatian Army. We are not for bans but rather for education and clear distancing from all totalitarian regimes, Fascism, Nazism and Communism alike," said Grmoja, noting that one should not link HOS with the 1941-45 Independent State of Croatia and the Ustasha.

"Banning symbols turns them into a fetish, and we don't want that," he said.

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

April 13, 2021 - The Mitas Adria 4 Islands race in Kvarner is one of Europe’s best mountain cycling tournaments and it is ready for its new edition, to take place next week from April 20 to 24, 2021.

As htz.hr reports, beautiful and picturesque landscapes and great organization have put this race on the calendar of many MTB enthusiasts, which is not surprising since the 4 Islands race in Croatia was declared one of the best in Europe.

This is the sixth edition of this unique MTB race in Kvarner, which has so far been attended by almost 2,000 fans and MTB fans. This year, from April 20 to 24, 2021, contestants will drive again along all four Kvarner islands: Krk, Rab, Cres, and Lošinj.

Credits: 4 Islands MTB

The entry list for the 2020/21 edition has already been confirmed and you can find it here.

Competitors will cover a total of 270 kilometers of track through these four stages and achieve over 5,000 meters of altitude ascent. The race is intended for all-mountain bikers, especially those who are looking forward to the early opening of the season and the beginning of collecting points - UCI scoring in the S1 category, which means that race competitors collect points for their national teams to participate in the Olympics.

More information about the tournament, accommodation, volunteering, or how to get there can be found on 4 Islands' official website.

All you need to know about cycling in Croatia can be found on our dedicated Total Croatia page.

To learn more about sport in Croatia, CLICK HERE.

April 13, 2021 - If the Croatian National Tourist Board starts suing all those who are dissatisfied with their work, the courts will soon be overwhelmed by tens of thousands of lawsuits, Marko Repecki comments.

Although many, even some critics of the existing CNTB, believe that there should be one such system that will deal with the promotion of Croatian tourism in the world, the existing method of financing is problematic, and no less problematic is that the money raised is spent on lawsuits against its critics. 

The Croatian National Tourist Board, which lives off one of the more bizarre parafiscal levies, has sued Paul Bradbury, founder of Total Croatia News, for criticizing their work. Bradbury has been writing about Croatian tourism for years and is quite critical of the CNTB's work.

Like other state organizations and institutions, the CNTB does not submit criticism, although it is financed with taxpayers' money, so they are asking Bradbury for a total of HRK 100,000 through two lawsuits.

One lawsuit refers to statements he made to the Index.hr portal in which he criticized the CNTB for insufficiently following what is written about Croatia in foreign media and for not reacting to incorrect information. The second lawsuit refers to Bradbury's cover photo on Facebook, which read "Croatia full of uhljebs", in which the team from the CNTB obviously recognized themselves, although he did not mention them anywhere. But that was enough to cause them mental pain.

If the CNTB starts suing all those who are dissatisfied with their work, the courts will soon be overwhelmed with tens of thousands of lawsuits. Namely, most of those who pay membership fees to the CNTB, which are practically all companies registered in Croatia, except for a few industries, are not only dissatisfied with their work, but it is not clear to them why they have to pay them, because they have nothing to do with tourism.

Membership fees range from a few hundred kunas a year, when it comes to micro-entrepreneurs, to tens of thousands of kunas for larger companies, which often turns out to be the amount of the annual net salary of one worker. The membership fee is paid according to income, not according to profit, so there are situations where tens of thousands of kunas in membership fees are paid by companies that are in losses.

And of course, for a company to pay a membership fee, it does not have to have anything to do with tourism. There is an example of the wood industry, which really has nothing to do with tourism, and which pays about 60 thousand kunas in tourist membership fees. 

The CNTB system consists of over 300 local tourist boards - one in almost every village. Then there is the CNTB at the state level and nearly 20 other offices around the world, from China, South Korea all the way to Los Angeles in the US. There is no system for measuring their results, or the public does not know about them, so we do not know how many tourists were brought by the CNTB office in Los Angeles, what they actually do, and what their results are.

Although many, even some critics of the existing CNTB, believe that there should be one such system that will deal with the promotion of Croatian tourism in the world, the existing method of financing is problematic, and no less problematic is that the money raised is spent on lawsuits against its critics. 

The Index article in question is still online - you can read it here.

April 13, 2021 – What a sensational discovery! Fish fossils found on Korcula, in Žrnovo, in the hamlet of Postrana, are said to be about 60 million years old!

As Slobodna Dalmacija reports, fossil teeth of fish from the order Pycnodontiformes were discovered in Borovčeva jama. This 43-meter-deep speleological object in the center of the Postrana hamlet was discovered by chance more than two years ago.

Namely, Borovčeva jama was named after Tonči Borovac, who was looking for a suitable place to plant a linden tree when he suddenly discovered the pit.

At the Postrana Local Committee's initiative, the pit was explored by a team of speleologists led by Milan Vojinović from Korčula, a forestry engineer and president of the local society for the promotion and preservation of natural diversity "Adriatica."

During Borovčeva jama's research, fossil fish teeth were discovered, which were recently extracted to the surface, after numerous consents and permits.

"As the renovation of the Korcula City Museum is nearing completion, we decided to take the fossil and include it in the permanent museum exhibition. Obtaining permits for this venture was not easy. Still, we received approvals from the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development and the Public Institution for Management of Protected Nature Areas of Dubrovnik-Neretva County. We signed a contract with authorized speleologists to perform works to the pride of the Žrnovo and Postrana residents, and for the benefit of future visitors to the Korčula City Museum," said the Deputy Mayor of Korčula Ivan Šale, a native of Žrnovo.

A depth of 35 meters

But it was harder to pull the fossil out of the pit than to do the paperwork. The pit begins with an awkward narrow entrance. The speleologists descended to a depth of 35 meters, set up a clay hoop, and watered the fossil with a protective rubber, followed by sawing and chiseling of the rock so that the sample could be safely transported to the surface.

It is a Pycnodontiformes fossil, which lived in shallow seas during most of the Mesozoic, spanning 175 million years. Their fossil remains were found worldwide, from the Triassic deposits to the ocean when they became extinct.

They are recognizable by their laterally flattened body and well-developed dentition, which consisted of several rows of rounded teeth with thick enamel surfaces. In short, Pycnodont fish are contemporaries of dinosaurs.

Experts say findings in Croatia are sporadic and limited to Upper Cretaceous sediments along the Adriatic coast. The most common species is Coelodus saturnus, found in localities from Pula to Brač. Some of the specimens from this group of extinct fish are kept in the Croatian Museum of Natural History.

The speleology instructor Branko Jalžić, who, together with his colleague Damir Basar removed the fossil from the Postrana pit, confirmed that this finding would be a valuable part of the Korčula museum exhibition.

Valuable proof and important scientific data

"The project was well-received by all participants, as always when we do underground research on Korcula. We completed the task successfully, the fossil was handed over to the Croatian Museum of Natural History, and it will be returned to Korcula after processing. There is no space in the museum to exhibit a more extensive story from that period, and that is why this small segment will be an important part of the future exhibition. Given the small number of fossils of pycnodont fish, each new find, including this one from Korčula, is a valuable proof of their distribution and important scientific data," explained Jalžić.

He thanked the City of Korcula, the company 'Adriatica,' and the Voluntary Fire Brigade of Korčula, which gave them rooms for sleeping and rest. Many thanks go to Tonči Borovac, who gave them a technique they did not have or they did not have to bring from Zagreb to the island.

He also thank the Public Institution for the Management of Protected Nature Areas of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County, which financed the project and without whose support they would not be able to stay on Korcula.

Not the first fossil found on Korcula

However, this is not the first time speleologists discovered old fish teeth fossils on Korcula. Branko Jalžić, a member of the Croatian bio-speleology society, was a part of a cave research team back in 2018 that found fossil fish teeth at least 100 million years old. The teeth were also found in the same pit, Borovčeva jama. This fish probably lived in this area in the Cretaceous period and belonged to a group called bony fish.

They then discovered a total of three fossils, and in the 80s, the bones of a fossil rhino were found on the island of Korcula.

Fossil fish teeth found in Borovčeva jama on Korčula in 2018 / Adipa.hr

To read more news from Croatia, follow our dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 13 April, 2021 - A large convoy from Bavaria, carrying more than 70 tonnes of humanitarian aid from Bavaria for residents of Sisak-Moslavina County, hit by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake on 29 December 2020, arrived at a divers' base in Petrinja on Monday.

The drive, organised by divers and Ante Šistov, helped collect more than 70 tonnes of construction material, including bricks, oriented strand boards, electrical fittings, doors, tiles, etc.

Šistov said this was the second humanitarian convoy for the region of Banovina, noting that so far more than 120 tonnes of humanitarian aid had already been delivered to the quake-hit region.

The base for the collection and distribution of humanitarian assistance in Petrinja was set up by the HRVI Nemo-Adriatic association of divers-disabled war veterans, with support from the Croatian Homeland War Volunteers Association and the Promocija Ronjenja agency.

The campaign, which is still ongoing, has been joined by numerous divers' clubs and centres from Croatia and abroad, firefighters and rescuers from Slovenia, Italy, Germany, Austria as well as numerous German companies.

For more about earthquake in Petrinja, follow TCN's dedicated page.