International Cuisine In Zagreb: La Turka
August 4, 2020- Continuing our series on Zagreb’s international food offer and the stories behind these cuisines and businesses. This time, the authentic Istanbul experience of La Turka.
My name is Tayfun Azakli. I lived in Istanbul all my life. My mother’s family is from the part of Turkey near the Greek border, but my father’s family all come from the other side, near the border with Jordan. The western side is very close to the Balkan region in terms of food and culture. They like meat and vegetable dishes. On the Black Sea side, near Jordan, the diet is much more based on fish. The climate is also very different. It’s sub-Tropical there. They have tea fields. My grandparents were tea farmers. My mother’s parents were also farmers, but in their more European climate, they grew wheat, sunflowers, like here. They also speak different languages. On the Black Sea side, the people are not ethnically Turkish. They are Laz.
La Turka's retail manager Fares Hadad and co-founder Tayfun Azakli © Mateo Henec
I lived in Slovakia for two and a half years before coming here. I worked for Cisco Systems for 15 years – it’s one of the top 5 IT companies - and that’s where the job took me. My wife is Croatian and we decided to relocate here. We lived here for two and a half years initially, then we went to Dubai for six or seven years before coming back here two years ago.
I have two sons. I didn’t want them to grow up in Dubai. Dubai is very nice, but there’s a certain life standard. I think that if you get used to that lifestyle, you couldn’t be happy anywhere else. It’s very high end. Almost every house has a maid or nanny. Your income is three to four times what you would get in Europe. This is a huge contrast to my childhood. My mom was a teacher, my dad a civil servant. We had a limited income. Challenges to finish the month. I would work in the fields when I stayed with my grandparents. My kids were growing with a completely different perception of life in Dubai. I don’t expect them to have the same experience as me. Times have changed. But, I don’t want them to be handed everything on a plate.
La Turka © Mateo Henec
Zagreb is a very safe and calm place to live. There is no rush in the day. The pace is quite slow. It can take some getting used to. People are nice. In any big city – be it Istanbul or London - people can be rushing and also quite rude. That doesn’t happen here. There are a lot of opportunities for businessmen here. It’s a good combination, a good place to invest. For me, at least.
In 2012 I met my business partner, Vedi Zarifgil, here in Croatia. He’s also Turkish and married to a Croatian. We started the company the next year. Originally, we were focussed only on wholesale and export. Only last year we decided to go into retail. We partnered with our friend, Fares Hadad, to open this store. It’s gone well. We plan to open two more in Zagreb during the next six months.
Ten years ago in Zagreb, there were only a few Chinese restaurants and a couple of bad Mexican places. Now, it’s very vibrant. The product that we sell is not foreign to people here, but they usually only know the Bosnian version. This is the Turkish version.
La Turka © Mateo Henec
We’re very careful about the quality of our product. For a niche product like this, I believe that you must present it at a very high quality. Then, it will sell. We didn’t expect to be so much of a hit, but we were successful from day one.
The main product we sell is baklava. The Bosnian version is made with walnuts. That’s what grows there. Ours has more finesse. In comparison, we make ours with extremely thin layers of pastry and the main nut we use is pistachio. In Bosnia, they tend to use a lot of syrup. Ours is drier. The syrup must not overpower the flavour of the pastry, the nuts, and the ghee (clarified butter). It’s a very fine balance. You should be able to taste each ingredient.
A selection of halva at La Turka © Mateo Henec
We import our pistachios from southern Turkey. Ghee is quite expensive; it’s rarely used in Bosnian baklava. Certainly not commercially. We have around 30 different variations of baklava on sale. We use almonds, pistachios, walnuts, cashew. For each of those varieties, we also have chocolate versions. For the classic baklava, the amount of nut is set, and it is ground. For alternative versions, we use whole pieces, sometimes with cream.
The presentation is key. It must look good. Classy. We want people to stop and look. We chose this street to open our business because everyone ends up here at some point. All visitors come to register at MUP. Our main client base walks here every day.
Baklava and Turkish coffee, served on the terrace at La Turka © Mateo Henec
We also have around 40 different kinds of Turkish Delight, halva (made from tahini, with different versions using cacao, chocolate). We sell the finest quality coffee available in Turkey. It’s quite unlike anything on sale here. We also have Turkish tea, which we present complimentary to anyone who comes to sit and try our food.
We want to offer an authentic taste of Istanbul. Everything from the interior design to the music we play helps us do this. We’re aiming to be a little like the Grand Bazaar. Except we don’t sell carpets, obviously. Ha!
You can visit La Turka at Petrinjska 47
You can read the introduction to our series on Zagreb international cuisine and the first installment here
To follow our whole series on international cuisine and to follow the Croatian restaurant and gastro scene, keep an eye on our Gourmet pages here
PM: We Are Sending a New Message about Relations between Croats, Serb Minority
ZAGREB, Aug 4, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Tuesday that it was of crucial importance that 25 years after Operation Storm a new massage was being sent about relations between Croats and the ethnic Serb minority, between Serbia and Croatia, and about what kind of country Croatians are building.
Commenting on the planned attendance of Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic at the central commemoration of Operation Storm in Knin, Plenkovic said that the attendance of a political representative of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) at the commemoration was an important signal.
Minorities are an integral part of the Croatian society and their representatives are our legal and political legacy of the past 30 years, Plenkovic said.
As for reports that members of the wartime Croatian Defence Force (HOS) were planning to attend the commemoration wearing T-shirts with the inscription For the Homeland Ready, Plenkovic said the government had been informed of such plans.
"I expect those who are part of the official protocol to wear T-shirts that identify their units that fought in the Homeland War or official T-shirts provided by the War Veterans Ministry," he said.
Asked if Milosevic's participation in the Knin commemoration would lead to a policy of better social integration for ethnic Serbs, Plenkovic said that minority representatives, including those of the Serb minority, had been part of the parliamentary majority in the last parliament and that their participation now had been raised to a higher level.
"Based on our mutual trust we will work, as we did in the last term in office, on promoting the equality of all citizens and on making it possible for everyone to live in dignity in line with 21st century standards. Specifically, that means electricity and water supply in isolated communities," Plenkovic stressed.
Minister Medved's visit to Grubori, Serb villages not political tradeoff
As for War Veterans Minister Tomo Medved's visit to Grubori, where a group of Serb civilians were killed in the aftermath of Operation Storm, and to Serb villages without electricity and water supply, Plenkovic said that it was not a political tradeoff.
"That is an important political and civilisational gesture by the government, showing respect for all victims. We are aware of the faults and crimes that happened in the aftermath of Operation Storm and we believe that it is good to pay tribute also to the Serb victims," he said.
Asked how much mutual relations were burdened by reactions on the Serb side and by the Serbian president, Plenkovic said that what his government was doing was Croatia's internal matter.
"We are talking about relations between the government and our coalition partner, the political representative of the Serb minority. We make our decisions for ourselves, for Croatia, and as I have said, they send out the message that 25 years after the war we have achieved all our strategic goals, that Croatia is a democratic country, that it has its institutions and legal order and that it is integrated in the EU and NATO," Plenkovic said.
A Croatia that is dealing with economic, health, financial and security challenges has the strength to send messages like this one, he said.
"What someone has to say about it is not a top priority for us. What matters to us is what we do for the sake of relations in the Croatian society," the PM said.
PM Plenkovic Lays Wreaths at Mirogoj Cemetery
ZAGREB, Aug 4, 2020 - On the eve of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and War Veterans Day and the central commemoration in Knin, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic laid wreaths at Zagreb's central Mirogoj cemetery with the message that the government is paying tribute to all who gave the most for the country's freedom.
PM Plenkovic, Deputy Parliament Speaker Zeljko Reiner and the head of the prime minister's office, Zvonimir Frka-Petesic, laid wreaths at the Wall of Pain monument, the Central Cross in the Alley of Fallen Croatian Homeland War Defenders, the grave of Croatia's first president Franjo Tudjman, and at the common grave of unidentified victims of the 1991-95 war.
Plenkovic said the government especially remembered the operation that enabled the liberation of the then occupied areas and helped create conditions for the subsequent reintegration of the Croatian Danube River region and restoration of Croatia's territorial integrity.
"That is why I'm glad that tomorrow we will all be in Knin to mark the 25th anniversary of Operation Storm," he said.
Thunderstorm Hits Karlovac Area, Istria
ZAGREB, Aug 4, 2020 - A thunderstorm hit parts of Croatia on Monday evening, with the area of Karlovac, south of Zagreb, and the northern Adriatic region of Istria being the most affected.
The storm, which was accompanied by hail, with hailstones the size of an egg, caused damage to roof tiles and cars and knocked down trees, prompting calls to local firefighters to help remove the damage and protect property.
Maison d'Istrie in Brussels, Istrian Gourmet Heaven at the Heart of Europe
August 14, 2020 - A wonderful outpost of Croatian gourmet tourism in the heart of Brussels. Meet Maison d'Istrie for your finest Istrian specialities in the heart of Europe.
One of the more unusual things about the excellent food in Croatia is that there is not really a national cuisine. Croatia is exceptionally strong in its regional cuisine, with local specialities across the country very different from elsewhere. The truffles, pastas and Boskarin beef washed down with Mavazija and Teran in Istria contract with the excellent seafood, pasticada, Plavac Mali and Posip of Dalmatia, which is different again from the hearty meats, fis paprika and Grasevina of Slavonia. It is a wonderful combination, and the late, great Anthony Bourdain rightly commented that Croatia had 'world-class wine, world-class food, and world-class cheese.'
But while Dalmatians will look forward to a gift of kulen from Slavonia or truffles from Istria, the region's restaurants rarely travel. It is quite rare to find an Istrian restaurant in Dalmatia, for example, or a Dalmatian restaurant in Slavonia.
Which is why it was quite a surprise on a recent visit to Belgium to discover a restaurant very far from home - Maison d'Istrie.
Located on Avenue Louise, the restaurant introduces itself on its social media as follows:
"Maison d’Istrie is much more than just a B&B, restaurant and wine bar. Our wish is to transfer love for Istrian Mediterranean gastronomy to Belgians and beyond. It’s a concept which offers a truly unique experience of a new taste in town."
Owner Bojan Radetic sat down with me over a glass of San Servolo to explain more about the origins of Maison d'Istrie and what they were trying to achieve. You can see the interview with the man from Pula above, as well as the incredible collection of Istrian wines, which would be the envy of many restaurants back home in Istria.
Maison d'Istrie opened two years ago and is the only Croatian restaurant in the Belgian capital. As such, it is an excellent promotional tool for Croatia and is popular with locals, Croatian expats and the many Belgian visitors to Croatia, who long for a reminder of summer on the Adriatic. During the recent Croatian Presidency of the EU, it was also a popular diplomatic meeting point, and continues to be so.
And the emphasis is very much on freshness and authentic products. More than 80% of the food is prepared on site, including Istria's famed pasta and gnocchi, while suppliers such of Karlic for Istrian truffles, show that no expense has been spared in the search for quality.
I only discovered the restaurant due to a road trip back in June with the indefatigable Nikola Bozic, owner of leading meat restaurant Djurina Hiza in Varazdinske Toplice. Having already set up a corona lockdown steak delivery service all over Croatia back in April, Bozic expanded his operations to connect with the Croatian diaspora in parts of Europe, as well as Croatian gourmet businesses.
Bozic arrived with some gifts, which were very appreciated by the Maison d'Istrie chef - it is not every day that you find your chef singing with a quality dry-aged steak from Croatia. One early result of this first meeting is that both will be participating in the European Week of Regions and Cities initiative in October, one more chance to promote the excellence of Croatian regional cuisine.
A super friendly and welcoming place, with a really quite outstanding selection of authentic Istria, in the company of passionate Istrians more than happy to talk about their beloved region and gourmet highlights.
Hvar Achieves Tourism Goals They Had Hoped for This Year
August 4, 2020 – At the beginning of the crisis caused by a coronavirus, in Hvar, they hoped to achieve 30 percent of last year's tourism traffic. So far, they have succeeded, and July is even at 45 percent of last year's traffic. In August, they hope for an additional 15 percent of the increase.
In July, 16,602 arrivals were realized on Hvar, which is 31.73 percent compared to last year, and 91,073 overnight stays, which is as much as 45 percent compared to last year.
In the first seven months of this year, a total of 19,924 arrivals were realized, which is only 17.28 percent of last year's arrivals. But, there's been 114,661 overnight stays which are 30 percent compared to last year, as they hoped.
More tourists expected to come
"On August 3rd, 4,324 guests were staying in Hvar, which is 62 percent compared to the same day in 2019,“ says Petar Razović, the director of Hvar Tourist Board, adding that compared to the numbers from one month earlier, on July 3rd, when Hvar had only 1,629 guests and only 21 percent of guests compared to 2019, it's an increase of 2,600 guests.
Source: Hvar Tourist Board
Although the majority of guests in Hvar are traditionally foreign guests, especially guests from the UK and the USA, this year most of them are from Germany, Slovenia, and Poland. Also, thanks to the excellent promotional campaign conducted on European markets this year, there's a big increase in the number of guests from the Czech Republic.
"If the health situation remains unchanged, the prediction for August is an increase of an additional 15 percent,“ says Razović explaining that could be achieved because of the arrivals of airline guests from Hvar's traditional tourist markets in the UK and Scandinavia.
Further plans
Out of 13 hotels in the area of Hvar town, only 7 have been opened and their occupancy is 70 percent. Only 40 percent of the capacity is open in private accommodation.
Hvar has always been known in the world as a luxury destination, as well as a party destination. What is surprising this year is nautical tourism, which has recorded an increase in traffic of as much as 40 percent compared to last year. Razović points out that they predicted, "nautical, camping and private accommodation will bring out this year's tourist season“.
Source: Hvar Tourist Board
A plan for further development of tourism in Hvar is to build sustainable, organized, and quality tourism by developing the health, cultural, and sports segment of the tourist offer.
Cultural and sports activities
As for catering facilities, 60 percent of them are open in Hvar, and as Razović explains, their location, price, and type of cuisine have a great influence on their business.
Source: Hvar Tourist Board
All of the cultural and sports events have been canceled, like Hvar Half Marathon that was supposed to be held on June 27th. Only the 12th Lavender Festival took place in July in Velo Grablje, and the 59th Hvar Summer Festival is still going on.
Nonetheless, guests can still enjoy some other activities, such as cycling or sightseeing of Hvar's rich cultural heritage.
Big improvements have been made in the development of cycling tourism, arranging and mapping more than 460 kilometers of bike paths throughout the island. Also, Hvar has been promoted as UNESCO island with 6 intangible assets under protection.
As the Hvar Tourist Board director Razović points out, "guests are most satisfied with the feeling of security related to Covid-19“.
"They have chosen Hvar because of the sun, the sea, wine and food offers, and cultural sights,“ says Razović.
Source: Hvar Tourist Board
Eurostat: Croatia is EU Leader in Disposal of One Type of Hazardous Waste
As Darko Bicak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 3rd of August, 2020, although in Croatia we often complain that we lag considerably far behind most other European Union member states in terms of waste management, the latest data from the EU statistical office Eurostat shows that Croatia is in actual fact the absolute leader in terms of the disposal of batteries and accumulators.
According to Eurostat, in the last three years alone, the Republic of Croatia has collected as much as 96% of all of its sold batteries and accumulators for recycling. The EU average in this regard is a mere 48%, and when it comes to other countries, Poland is behind Croatia with 81%, Luxembourg with 69% and Belgium with 62%. At the back of the line, with less than 40% of the collected waste of this type, lie Spain, Italy, Marla, Slovenia, Greece, and Portugal and at the very end are Cyprus and Estonia with a mark of just 30%. The market for batteries and accumulators across the EU is relatively stable and in 2010 it amounted to 176,000 tonnes, and by 2013, the year Croatia joined the bloc, it dropped to 169,000 tonnes and in 2018 it climbed back up to 191,000 tonnes.
In contrast, there is a significant increase in the amount of collected waste of this type, going from 55,000 tonnes in 2010 to a much higher 88,000 tonnes a couple of years ago in 2018. This means that the share of collected and later disposed of waste batteries and accumulators rose from 35 percent in 2010 to 48 percent in 2018, which is the last processed set of figures in this statistic.
Croatia has a relatively well-organised system for collecting this type of special waste, which takes place through seven companies registered with the Fund for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency (EPEEF). The biggest player here is certainly the Zagreb-based CIAK, followed by Flora VTC from Virovitica, Friš from Križevci, Metis (Cios group) from Kukuljanovo, OS from Zadar, STR akumulator from Đurđevac and Univerzal from Varaždin. The Fund points out that the system of collecting and recovering batteries and accumulators across Croatia was established back in 2007.
“A legal or natural person who places batteries or accumulators on the Croatian market of the EPEEF pays a certain fee which is used for the organisation of the entire system of the collection and disposal of this type of waste. The goal is to reduce the negative impact on the environment with such a systematic approach,'' they say from the Fund. They explain that in other management systems of special categories of waste, Croatia records very good results and has high collection rates. This sector will gain even more importance in the coming period due to the rapid development of electric vehicles, for which, in turn, the battery is a key component. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, there are six million electric vehicles in the world today, and it is projected that this number will rise to 50 million by the year 2030. The value of this new market is estimated at around 250 billion euros by 2025 at the EU level, while the market for all other batteries will reach barely 10 billion euros by 2027.
As pointed out by the director of the Sector for Energy and Environmental Protection of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), Marija Šćulac Domac, the key niche is electric cars and lithium-ion batteries, which are expected to grow by 8 to 9 percent annually. Currently, the demand for batteries is high. Panasonic is meeting the Japanese demand, Samsung is meeting the Korean demand, and Europe needs to find its own source. Sweden's Northvolt is the only large European manufacturer with a large factory in Poland, and France and Germany are launching an initiative to research and develop batteries for electric vehicles with an investment of between five and six billion euros.
The Zagreb company Munja is, at least as far as is known, the only Croatian manufacturer of accumulators and batteries. Zagreb's CIAK is also a significant player in the market, but it is primarily a general importer, agent and distributor for Croatia when it comes to many global battery brands such as Varta, Optima, Trojan, Faam, Miac, Leoch and others. They also have their own CIAK brand, but they don't have, at least as far as is known, production in the Republic of Croatia, and their CIAK Starter batteries arrived from the Johnson Controls factory (Varta, Optima) located in the Czech Republic.
Here in Croatia, there are other companies involved in the sector, including Grom from Velika Gorica and the aforementioned Friš that have their own brands of batteries and accumulators, but which also probably have supplies from manufacturers from abroad.
For more, follow our lifestyle page.
Croatian IGH Institute Contracts Over 52 Million Kuna in New Jobs
The last in a series of contracts was concluded between the Croatian IGH Institute and Hrvatske ceste (Croatian roads), and it concerns the supervision of the construction of 4.5 kilometres of the eastern bypass of the town of Novi Marof.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 3rd of August, 2020, in the past month or so, the Croatian IGH Institute has contracted slightly more than 52 million kuna in new contracts for the supervision and design of infrastructure in Croatia and neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina. The latest in a series of contracts was concluded with Croatian roads/Hrvatske ceste, and it concerns the supervision of the construction of 4.5 kilometres of the eastern bypass of the town of Novi Marof. The value of that contract stands at 4,328,574.00 kuna (excluding VAT), and the Croatian IGH Institute, together with the company Eptisa Adria d.o.o, Zagreb, will supervise the construction of this very important road over the next 26 months.
Its construction will completely relieve the centre of Novi Marof from transit freight traffic that has been passing through the city centre, and will improve the quality of life of residents, while the opening of new economic zones also being part of the wider plan.
Prior to the conclusion of this contract, the Croatian IGH Institute contracted three additional projects with Croatian roads/Hrvatske ceste to supervise the construction and reconstruction of three roads worth 12.3 million kuna, and a contract with Autocesta (Motorway) Rijeka-Zagreb to supervise the rehabilitation of the Krk bridge worth just over 1 million kuna, about which we previously wrote.
Additionally, as a leading member of the community of bidders, JP Autoceste Federacije BiH d.o.o. selected the company for the development of the preliminary and main project of the highway Mostar-Široki Brijeg-border of the Republic of Croatia, and the Polog-border of the Republic of Croatia section (40.5 kikometres) with an approximate value of 29.9 million kuna.
Finally, the seventh major project for which the Croatian IGH Institute has recently been selected concerns the supervision of works on the reconstruction of the Zagreb West Station - Savski Marof railway worth 5.3 million kuna signed with HŽ Infrastruktura, and which is largely financed by a World Bank loan for reconstruction and development (IBRD). This is a project related to the 17.8-kilometre-long section of the two-track railway line located on the RH1 corridor, which is extremely important for international freight and urban-suburban transport, with an average of about 160 trains using it a day.
The IGH Insitute 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. On top of all of the above, during 2019 and this year, IGH has hired more than 100 new colleagues, which has exceeded the number of 500 employees, and in the coming period it plans to hire even more manpower.
For more, follow our business section.
Coronavirus: Enfeebled Croatia Airlines Experiences Double the Losses
Croatia Airlines was struggling with its repeated attempts to find a strategic partner and was publishing losses long before the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe, and the appearance of the new virus was the absolute last thing that the Croatian national airline needed...
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes on the 3rd of August, 2020, in addition to tourism and the role in which aircraft play in that, the coronavirus pandemic has hit air traffic as a sector on its own the hardest, with operations falling by more than 90 percent in recent months.
Even without the global coronavirus pandemic, airlines across the world have been undergoing a significant transformation over recent years, primarily due to the increasingly aggressive and increasing penetration of low-budget players, and now due to large losses, there is no national operator that isn't being held up to some degree or another by its home country. Croatia Airlnes (CA) is no exception. The company, which was touched on previously, has been undergoing a kind of business transformation and has been engaged in the search for a strategic partner for many years now.
The coronavirus pandemic stopped all of that indefinitely, and the company reported 173.2 million in losses in the first half of the year on Friday, up significantly from 89.4 million in losses in the same period last year. Croatia Airlines pointed out that they transported 330,935 passengers in the first half of the year, which is a concerning 66 percent less than they did during the first half of last year. The number of passengers in domestic regular traffic decreased by 63 percent, to 83,618, and when it comes to international flights, the decrease stood at 66 percent, down to 244,382 passengers.
Croatia Airlines aircraft has so far performed 5,661 flights during 2020, which is 57 percent less than 2019. The structure of the company's routes was adjusted to the needs of the air traffic and the Q400 fleet was used more, whose capacity is smaller than that of the larger Airbus. Croatia Airlines is currently flying from Zagreb to fourteen European destinations, with London's Heathrow remaining strong.
There are announcements for August that a total of 37 destinations could be opened, which will hopefully provide a much needed boost for Croatia Airlines.
For more, follow our business page.
Croatian Tourism: Could August Traffic Exceed Our Expectations?
As Novac writes on the 3rd of August, 2020, finally, we have crowds and traffic heading towards the coast. Currently, there are about 800,000 tourists in the Republic of Croatia, of which 200,000 are German, 135 thousand Slovenian, 130 thousand are domestic, 74 thousand are Polish and 46 thousand are Czech tourists. A boost for Croatian tourism indeed.
Most tourists are currently staying on the island of Vir, followed by Rovinj, Medulin, Crikvenica and the Istrian city of Porec.
Back in May, the Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB/HTZ) said up to 30 percent of last year's turnover was expected. However, Croatia has already reached 45 percent of its turnover compared to 2019, and July itself was above expectations.
Foreign tourists realised 2.13 million arrivals (50 percent of last July's results) and 15.70 million overnight stays (58 percent of July 2019's results), while domestic tourists realised 325,000 arrivals (91 percent of July 2019's results) and 2.90 million overnight stays (81 percent of last July's results).
If these trends continue, we could have an August with traffic which could exceed all previous expectations for Croatian tourism in 2020. In particular, if we take into account the following data: In July, the largest number of overnight stays was realised by the German market (4.43 million overnight stays, which represents 87 percent of the overnight stays realised last July), followed by Slovenian tourists (3.44 million overnight stays, 88 percent of overnight stays realised last July) followed by Croatian tourists (2.90 million overnight stays, 81 percent of the overnight stays realised last July), Polish tourists (1.60 million overnight stays, 79 percent of the overnight stays realised last July) and nationals of the Czech Republic (1.42 million overnight stays, 72 percent of the overnight stays realised last July).
"These are, given the circumstances, great results and a good announcement for the road ahead. Intensified promotional activities, both invitational advertising campaigns and those of an informative nature, will be carried out until the end of August on the markets of Germany, Austria, Great Britain and Italy, given the fact that these are very important markets for Croatian tourism, and these are countries in which Croatia is on the list of safe countries,'' said the director of the Croatian Tourist Board, Kristjan Stanicic.
The leading destinations in July in terms of overnight stays were Vir (711 thousand), Rovinj (619 thousand), Medulin (553 thousand), Novalja (486 thousand) and Mali Losinj (475 thousand).
In the first seven months of this year, Croatia recorded 4.11 million arrivals and 26.34 million overnight stays.
For more on Croatian tourism in the coronavirus age, follow our travel page.
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