March the 23rd, 2021 - Croatian furniture stores have seen an increase in revenue, but there are a third less of them currently in operation as their numbers have been going down since long before the pandemic struck.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, although the impression is that the number of Croatian furniture stores is constantly growing, Fina's data shows the total opposite. In the last ten years, the number of Croatian furniture stores fell by 37 percent (from 349 back in 2009 to 219 in 2019), and the number of employees in this sector decreased by 16 percent (from 3177 to 2672).

At the same time, net salaries for those working in this industry increased by an impressive 77 percent (from 3,917 kuna to 6,925 kuna), and total revenues in those ten years rose by more than 1 billion kuna or 45.5 percent, from a total of 2.33 to 3.39 billion kuna. There are three main players in the market when it comes to Croatian furniture store - Lesnina rather unsurprisingly holds the leading position, followed by the equally popular Ikea and Jysk.

These three furniture retailers operating within Croatia's borders also generate 86 percent of all revenues - Lesnina almost 1.1 billion kuna, Ikea 851 million kuna, and Jysk 562 million kuna in total.

More than 100 million in revenue is generated by Intermod from Zadar and Mima Furniture from Pula, and in the top ten in this regard are also ART Interijeri - kitchens 2000 from Split, ART Interijer Zagreb, Vokel from Imotski, Nas dom namjestaj (Our home furniture) from Vinkovci and Themelia from Zagreb. Lesnina is also the leader in terms of profit (66 million kuna back in 2019), while Jysk had a higher profit than the third on this list, being Ikea.

The results of operations in the conditions of the ongoing coronavirus crisis are yet to be announced, but in the last decade, the most difficult year of all for these retailers was 2014, which was concluded with a net loss of 111 million kuna.

For more, follow our business section.

March the 23rd, 2021 - Connecting Croatia is continuing to progress down in Dalmatia as Peljesac bridge is coming together, removing the need for a border crossing into Bosnia and Herzegovina via Neum.

As Vecernji list/Josip Bohutinski writes, by the end of February, 49 out of a total of 165 segments of the steel span structure had been installed on the Peljesac bridge construction site. Back in mid-February, a segment with a total length of 52 metres and weighing 581 tonnes was placed between the sea pillar S3 and the land pillar S2. By the end of last month, according to Hrvatske ceste (Croatian roads), all of the steel pillars on Peljesac bridge had been driven in and concreted, and all work on the construction columns, pylons and the like had been completed.

The pillars are 38 to 54 metres high, and the pylons on the six central pillars are 40 metres high. On the bridge itself, the assembly and welding of segments of the steel span structure, the installation of oblique tensions, and earthworks on the access road to the bridge are currently in progress in the huge, strategic connecting Croatia project.

It has since been learned that, according to the dynamic plan of the contractor, the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), the completion of the last segment is scheduled for early October this year. And that means that Croatia will finally be connected in a little over half a year. The works on the bridge won't all be finished then, the final works will go on until the end of the year.

The placement of the last segment will have a symbolic meaning for connecting Croatia as a strategic project for the entire country. The merging of the two parts of the Croatian mainland should have happened a few months before, but due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the dynamics of work on the construction site was quite significantly disrupted. However, the Chinese have so far done 65 percent of the work on the much anticipated bridge, and the current realisation on that project amounts to 1.3 billion kuna, out of a total of 2.08 billion as previously contracted. According to Croatian roads data, the last two ships with segments from China should arrive at the construction site on April the 21st and May the 17th, approximately.

According to Croatian roads, the production of segments of the Dalmatian bridge has continued in the plants over in China. After the arrival of the first and second shipments of steel segments, the third shipment was divided into two shipments. The first shipment, carrying a total of 16 segments of the span structure, arrived at the construction site on January the 8th this year. The total weight of these segments is about 3952 tonnes. The second shipment brought a total of 29 segments back during the middle of this month.

While new parts for the bridge are coming to the construction site, specialised welders from China are also continuing work on enlarging the segments of the span assembly. There are currently 543 workers on the construction site, of which 144 workers are technical and support staff, and the rest are engineers and sailors on the ships.

As for the access roads, along the section Duboka - Zaradeze, which is 12 kilometres long and is being built by Strabag, and the 2.4-kilometre-long Debeli Brijeg tunnel was ahead of schedule. The contracted value of works on that section is 478.3 million kuna. In addition to the route itself, this very demanding section includes the construction of two tunnels, one viaduct and two bridges.

According to current data, last month, the contractor on that section continued the excavation of the route, the construction of embankments and external drainage, and works on facilities - including the underpass on DC8, the Dumanja ravine I and II bridges and the Kamenica and Debeli brijeg tunnels. As such, on a part of the route on the Peljesac peninsula, work was done on the wide excavation of the route and the construction of embankments and external drainage all the way to the Kamenica tunnel where blasting is being carried out.

The Greek company Avax is building the Ston bypass, the Zaradeze - Prapratno and Prapratno - Doli sub-sections, covering a total length of 18.1 kilometres. There are also very demanding facilities on this route - two tunnels and one viaduct and one bridge. The value of this contract is 511.6 million kuna. All the foundations of the pillars and abutments were completed on that route near the Prapratno viaduct.

For more on strategic projects connecting Croatia, follow our lifestyle page.

March 23, 2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia as Qatar Airways flights to Zagreb will be operated twice a week from the end of this month. 

Croatian Aviation reports that Qatar Airways will introduce the second weekly flight on the Doha - Zagreb - Doha route on the first days of the airline's summer flight schedule.

Qatar Airways has been operating only once a week (every Friday) between Doha and Zagreb for months. From Monday, March 29, the airline will operate on this route twice a week, every Monday and Saturday, on A320 aircraft, the smallest in the fleet of this well-known airline.

Only 8 return flights were announced in April, 4 more than in previous months (January, February, and March). A total of 1,920 seats between the two mentioned cities are available in April.

Until a few days ago, the airline offered two flights a day between Zagreb and Doha from June, but that has also changed and they are currently only offering three flights a week (Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays), which is certainly far more realistic to be achieved in the season ahead. 

Two flights a week have also been announced in May, and there is a great possibility that the airline will further adjust its flight schedule to Zagreb for June, but we will know more soon.

With two flights a day to Zagreb, Qatar Airways offered great opportunities in terms of connections to Asia, Australia, and Oceania, which is certainly not possible with either one or two flights a week.

Recall, Qatar Airways made changes to its flight schedule for the rest of the winter and the start of the regular flight schedule back in January. 

This airline had announced an increase in the number of weekly flights to Zagreb during the Christmas and New Year holidays, launching the second weekly flight on this route. Due to weak demand, they were not realized, so they operated on the Zagreb line only once a week, every Friday.

Qatar Airways did not have the capacity to fill its smallest aircraft in the fleet (A320) to Zagreb, all due to the impact of the global pandemic and passenger restrictions between countries. 

For the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia, CLICK HERE.

March 23, 2021 - Celebrated former Croatia national handball team player Ivano Balić should soon join the national team staff to assist coach Hrvoje Horvat in the coming period.

24 Sata reports that Balić should act as Horvat's first assistant, and Igor Vori, who has played a double role so far, should remain only the national team's sports director in the future.

While the news about Ivano Balić's engagement is still unofficial, sources close to the Croatian Handball Federation have revealed that Balić agreed to accept the offered position of an assistant coach. The formality of the appointment and official announcement will be at the HRS Board meeting and then at the Assembly, in the second week of April, immediately after the Easter holidays.

The first next action of the Croatia national handball team is the EHF EURO Cup, a competition in which the teams that directly qualified for the European Championship in 2022 will compete: Spain and Croatia as finalists of the last European Championship and Slovakia and Hungary, which as hosts do not have to play qualifiers. The EHF has organized a special competition for these four national teams, which continues on April 26.

As it is usual to send invitations to players two weeks in advance, it is expected that the association will complete the procedure of appointing Ivano Balić as soon as possible. Given the current epidemiological situation, it is not yet known where all the matches will be played, but Croatia should play in Varaždin. The possibility remains to play two matches with the same opponent on the same court if it is easier to organize it due to other countries' epidemiological situation.

At the end of January, Lino Červar proposed Ivano Balić as a candidate for the new coach after Červar resigned from the post but retained the coordinator position for men's handball. The unnatural and illogical position in which the former coach proposes his successor should also be discussed in the Board and the Assembly.

After the debacle at the World Champs in Egypt, Lino Červar was succeeded by Hrvoje Horvat, who had the advantage over the other two candidates: Slavko Goluža and Ivano Balić. At that time, the board of directors did not even consider Balić as a candidate, with the explanation that he did not have the necessary license.

"After an exhaustive discussion and detailed analysis of each of the offered candidates, it was determined that Ivano Balić, unfortunately, does not have the required credentials to perform the function of the coach. Of the two remaining candidates, the Board of Directors member, who is busy with work obligations, decided to maintain continuity in the work of the national team and decided to appoint Hrvoje Horvat as the coach of the Croatia men's senior national team," HRS announced at the time.

In the meantime, the handball team was left without the Olympic Games at the qualifying tournament in Montpellier, France. Still, the HRS leadership stood behind the Croatia coach and entrusted him with leading the team in the coming period. Ivano Balić's engagement should give him additional strength and authority in his attempt to return Croatia to the top of European and world handball.

Until now, Ivano Balić has worked as a coach of the junior national team. He has a coaching license but not a "master coach," which is necessary for the coaches who lead the national teams in the biggest competitions. However, Balić regularly attends lectures and should get a license this year so that he could sit on the bench as the national team coach in the future.

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

ZAGREB, 22 March, 2021 - The presence of the coronavirus has been proved in Zagreb's sewage system, the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) said on Monday.

"The isolation of the viral RNA from wastewater indicates that parts of the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus are present in the sewage system, which confirms that infected people discharge the virus through their faeces and other excretions into sewage," the HZJZ said on the occasion of World Water Day, observed on 22 March.

The HZJZ tested wastewater in Zagreb in collaboration with the Zagrebačke Otpadne Vode wastewater company and the Croatian Office of the World Health Organisation. The project was carried out from 1 December 2020 to 18 February 2021 and was financed by the German government.

The testing results indicate that the viral load of wastewater is in correlation with the number of active cases of coronavirus infection in the city. The number of active cases in Zagreb was 3,913 in early December, dropping to below 1,000 by the end of that month.

The number of copies of the viral RNA was considerably higher in the first half of December, decreasing by the end of the month. The decrease correlated with stricter epidemiological measures that were imposed between 28 November and 21 December, the HZJZ said.

The number of active coronavirus cases in January 2021 ranged from 1,113 to 318, when a drop in the number of copies of the viral genome were recorded in wastewater samples. The low number of copies of the viral genome was also found in February 2021 when the number of active cases in Zagreb ranged from 434 to 280.

The HZJZ noted that the wastewater in the sewage system is affected by precipitation which dilutes it, which is why a low number of copies of the viral genome was observed in days with considerable precipitation.

It also pointed out that the proof of the presence of the viral RNA does not prove the viability of the virus, but that tests like this can be used to monitor trends and provide an early warning of the virus circulating in the population.

After 18 February, wastewater sampling has continued once a week in accordance with the European Commission's recommendation on monitoring the coronavirus in wastewater.

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

ZAGREB, 22 March, 2021 - A Zagreb Mayor hopeful, Tomislav Tomašević, warned on Monday on the first anniversary of the Zagreb quake that nothing had been done in the post-quake reconstruction and promised the rebuilding of the city in four dimensions if he won the 16 May local election.

"We have come to know that we do not have not one decision forwarded to the Reconstruction Fund nor has any action been taken," Tomašević told a press conference in front of the City Hall, which was organised by his We Can party and its partners: "Zagreb is Ours " and OraH parties.

He warned that the fund and Ministry of Construction are passing the buck regarding to whether decisions have been written or not and the problems they had outlined during the debate on the Reconstruction Act have now occurred.

He pushed for bringing together experts under the one roof so that good decisions can be made faster.

Tomašević said the current situation could be seen as an opportunity for reconstruction and also for earthquake-resistant development of the city in four dimensions including physical reconstruction which is aimed at increasing earthquake resilience and developing earthquake-proof infrastructure.

The plan is also to reconstruct public places which will give a social dimension to the historical centre of town and suburbs on the rim of Sljeme mountain that will include local construction companies in rebuilding projects and will increase energy efficiency and improve the quality of living as part of the fourth "green" dimension. 

MP Sandra Benčić added that the Reconstruction Fund had received money however it was not being used because blueprints had not been approved through a tender that was advertised.

They believe that the key mechanism to fund reconstruction is in the European ITU mechanism of integrated territorial management whereby structural funds are are managed by city agglomerations.

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

ZAGREB, 22 March, 2021 - The number of taxi entrepreneurs in Croatia has kept rising since 2009, when a mere 22 businesses of this type were registered to 1,343 in 2019, and an additional 274 taxi businesses were set up from the start of 2020 to mid-March in 2021, the Financial  Agency (Fina) said on Monday.

According to the agency which presented the data on the occasion of International Taxi Driver Day, observed on 22 March, in 2009 there were 47 people employed in this service, and ten years later, taxi businesses employed 1,859 workers.

In 2011, this sector saw a surge in staff when 670 people were hired as against 96 in 2010. This rise was achieved due to a high number of employees in four taxi companies that employed 431 workers on aggregate in 2011:  Autoprijevoz Oliva (138), Cammeo (120), MV prijevoz (100) and Autoprijevoz modem (73).

According to Fina's data, taxi businesses in Croatia operated at a loss in the period from 2009 to 2012, while from 2013 to 2015 companies in this sector operated at a profit on aggregate, to experience a loss in 2016 and 2017. Finally in 2018 and 2019, they recovered, with net profits of HRK 791,000 and 4.1 million respectively.

Broken down by region, the highest number of taxi businesses in 2019 was in the City of Zagreb (700). Primorje-Gorski Kotar County with Rijeka having 145 taxi entrepreneurs in 2019, and was followed by Split-Dalmatia County (131) and Osijek-Baranja County (126).

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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

ZAGREB, 22 March, 2021 - India and Croatia wish to develop stronger tourism cooperation, particularly in the post-COVID period, but even before that through mutual promotions, it was said at the presentation of the latest edition of the local Place2Go tourism magazine at the Indian Embassy on Monday.

In Croatia there is huge potential to develop tourism and tourism cooperation, and the pandemic is actually a good time and opportunity to plan such cooperation and tourism trends between the two countries, India's Ambassador to Croatia Raj Kumar Srivastava said at the presentation.

He sees tourism cooperation with Croatia in medical and wellness tourism, which is something that is being worked on intensively in India but there is also a demand for that from that country.

The ambassador said that in 2020 tourism in India was at about 65% of 2019's level, while its share in GDP did not contract and remained at 9%, mostly due to domestic tourists.

State-Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Tonči Glavina, said that despite the difficult times during the pandemic and suspension in international tourism, India and Croatia can cooperate in promotions, such as this presentation of Place2Go magazine.

"Even though they completely differ with regard to the size of their population, way of life and being in different continents, both Croatia and India nevertheless have something in common that is important for their tourism offer and that is their great diversity in different areas of the country, which can all be tourism products that attract a different public and provide them with experience and adventure," said Glavina.

He hopes that travel to distant destinations will be possible again soon and that tourists will also come to Croatia, which is launching the preparation of a new strategy of sustainable tourism development which is important for the future. He thanked Place2Go magazine for promoting Croatia and its tourism.

Place2Go Director Damjana Domanovac said that as a small business it too experienced difficulties in business during the pandemic but managed to regularly release its magazine and maintain business contacts.

It plans to hold the regular Place2Go tourism fair in Zagreb in mid-May and hopefully if the epidemiological situation allows, both domestic and foreign exhibitors will participate.

Prior to the pandemic, tourism turnover from India was on the increase and in 2019, which was a record year, 70,000 Indian tourists visited Croatia generating almost 160,000 bed nights, which was an increase of 10% year on year while figures in 2020 contracted to 3,000 arrivals and 14,000 bed nights.

To read more travel news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.