ZAGREB, Sept 14, 2020 - In the last 24 hours, Croatia has recorded 65 new COVID cases and three fatalities, and the number of active cases stands at 2,220, the national COVID-19 management team said on Monday.

Of the total number of COVID-19 patients, 310 are in hospitals, including 22 on ventilators. Currently, 8,217 people are self-isolating.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case of the infection was registered in Croatia, 13,598 people have been diagnosed with the new disease, and of them, 227 have died, while 11,151 have recovered.

To date, 225,014 people have been tested for the virus, including 3,180 in the last 24 hours.

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September 14, 2020 - The jubilee 70th Hanzekovic Memorial will be held in Zagreb on Monday and Tuesday this week. Held since 1951, it is the oldest sports event in Croatia and honors the tragically deceased athlete Boris Hanzekovic.

Index.hr reports that 'Hanzek' has been a Zagreb sports symbol for seven decades. Neither war nor politics, nor financial problems, nor the coronavirus have stood in its way for 70 years. Even today, when the sporting world is more uncertain than ever, athletics live on by the Sava.

The 70th edition of the Hanzekovic Memorial will be held on Monday and Tuesday under this year's competition slogan "Serbus Hanžek moj". History reveals that the first meeting was held as a club duel between Mladost and Dinamo in 1951. Later, it grew into an international meeting and slowly gained international status.

Until 2009 it was the Grand Prix, since 2010, the IAAF World Challenge meeting, while last year, it entered the prestigious Continental Tour Gold category. Almost all the biggest stars of world athletics, led by Usain Bolt, performed at Hanzek, but the first stars were and remain Croatia's Blanka Vlasic and Sandra Perkovic.

Through all those years, the popular Hanzek became a symbol of Zagreb, like Dinamo, Cibona, handball, and Janica. Tradition and the connection between the audience and sports is an inseparable part of Zagreb's sports image that travels worldwide and presents the Hanzekovic Memorial as one of the world's best meetings. While the budget and infrastructure are not even close to the biggest, Hanzek remains an unavoidable part of the history of Zagreb, Croatian, European, and world athletics.

This year's Hanzekovic memorial will be different from all the others and will be held following all prescribed COVID-19 measures. While the masked athletes will perform in front of a limited number of spectators, the Hanzekovic Memorial is available to everyone thanks to a TV broadcast to 85 countries on five continents.

While 10,000 tickets are usually in circulation, this year, there will be only 700. And all those 700 - 300 in the east, 220 in the west, 120 in the south and 60 in the north - are on sale for 50 to 100 kuna. Ticket buyers will need to fill out an access form and commit to adhering to all prescribed measures at the stadium. It should be repeated that tickets are on sale at the box office of SRC Mladost near the Sava, where the meeting is held, from 16.00 to 20.00 every day until the start of the competition on September 15, or until everything is sold.

Today, at 19:30, the event kicks off at the Ivan Ivancic Memorial near the Zagreb fountain, while tomorrow, the 70th Hanzekovic Memorial is held at the Mladost Stadium near the Sava, starting at 17:50.

You can read more about this year's event here.

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September 14, 2020 - After NEMO (Network of European Museum Organizations) published the conclusions of a study in May on the impact of COVID on museums, it was predicted that there would be a "long-term dramatic decline in revenue" until the end of 2020. A look at how museums in Croatia are coping. 

HRTurizam reports that when museums began to open and tourists arrived at the beginning of the summer, there was hope that the drop in visits would not be as significant as predicted. Although cultural tourism accounts for 40% of the tourism in Europe, a certain positive trend of tourist arrivals did not affect the number of visitors to museums. Namely, only in July and August in Croatia, was there a drop in visitors of 79.18 percent.

The Museum Documentation Center (MDC) conducted a survey on a sample of the most visited Croatian museums, among which those that traditionally bring the largest number of foreign tourists in the summer stand out. In the first wave of the pandemic, many museums reported revenue losses ranging from 75 to 80%. According to the MDC, large museums and those located in tourist areas counted losses in the hundreds of thousands of euro a week.

According to the annual statistics collected and analyzed by MDC in recent years, the Archaeological Museum of Istria in Pula and the Split City Museum are the most frequently visited among the top five most visited Croatian museums, under which our most attractive ancient monuments are the Arena and Diocletian's Cellars, the Dubrovnik Museums, and in Zagreb, Klovićevi dvori and the Museum of Broken Relationships. The Nikola Tesla Technical Museum and the Museums of Hrvatsko Zagorje are also very popular, but foreign tourists do not make up most of the audience.

Although only at the beginning of 2021, when we collect statistical data for the whole of 2020 from all museums in the Republic of Croatia, will we be able to determine the dimensions of the number of visitors accurately. A decline of 79.18 percent was recorded on visits to these five museum houses in July and August according to the survey.

Dubrovnik museums in July and August 2019 had 84,480 visitors, and this year 18,197 or a minus of 78.4%. Last year, the Split City Museum recorded 99,761 visitors in the middle of the season, and in 2020, 15,589 or a drop of 84.3%. The Archaeological Museum of Istria, the absolute champion of attendance for years, lost 55.6% of visits this summer and fell in the summer months from 247,344 to 109,687.

Klovićevi dvori Gallery, although collectively recording an increase of 13% from 17,555 to 19,861 visitors, in its comprehensive report explains that 17,000 visitors were "earned" by the changes caused by the pandemic and earthquake, moving the Baš Naš festival from June to July and bringing back the outdoor spaces Večeri na Griču and the Summer Stage Amadeo. When you look at visits to the exhibitions in Klovićevi dvori and Kula Lotrščak, you can see that visits dropped from 16,555 last summer to 1,361 this season.

A good indicator is Zagreb's globally most popular Museum of Broken Relationships, where COVID ate 85.9% of visitors. Namely, last year's 34,045 visitors in July and August fell to 4,788, which is not surprising because a comparison of Croatian Tourist Board data shows that in July 2020, the city of Zagreb recorded a decrease of 76% in tourist arrivals compared to the same month last year.

What this decline means to those museums that make serious money on tickets is best shown by the data provided to MDC by Darko Komšo, director of the Archaeological Museum of Istria. This museum earned HRK 8.4 million on tickets at all its sites last summer in July and August, and HRK 4.5 million in the same period this year. The loss of almost four million means that this agile museum lost almost 150 thousand euro every week this summer. The data will be even grimmer at the end of the year because the season is over, COVID is unfortunately not, school visits and excursions are on hold, and most of Zagreb's museums remain closed.

Croatian museums, like those around the world, have been hit by an unprecedented crisis.

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September 14, 2020 - The 'Think Pink' humanitarian race known as 'Race for the Cure', which the people of Split and Dalmatia have long embraced, will be held virtually this year on September 25, 26, and 27 to benefit the corona era. Meet this year's Think Pink Split!

"That is why, despite that, we will strengthen our thoughts and will to have even more of us in Split and in Croatia and worldwide. For life, for health, for tomorrow," said the organizers of the event in Split for Slobodna Dalmacija.

This year's Race for the Cure project was creatively designed by the umbrella organization Think Pink EUROPE.

All those interested can apply at www.raceforthecure.eu, with a payment of 50 kn, which is the amount that goes to the County League for the Fight Against Cancer in Split.

Thus, this year, you can run or walk, individually or in a team, wherever it suits you best, in nature, in the city, on the street, in the office, gym, stairs, with friends, neighbors, colleagues, parents, or partners.

"It all depends on creative ideas. It is possible to apply as an individual. It is possible to form a team. It is possible to join a team," the organizers said.

Your race can be dedicated to a person fighting cancer or an organization, and they are virtually awarded the gold medal of the winner.

Each walker/runner can also send a motivational message on the platform of the European countries participating in this project.

The application process is designed so that everything is transparent and individual funds for registration that are donated to the organizer of the action in a particular country, in our case the County League from Split.

"We will open an exhibition of photographs at Fotoklub Split to remember last year's event in which 5,000 people participated. About 60 photographs will be exhibited.

The views of Split in pink were impressive last year and were prominently highlighted on the European platform Think Pink. This year, we will announce the project with Pink Peristyle and St. Dujam," the organizers announced, inviting everyone to participate:

"At a time when all sporting events and all activities are being postponed, let's show that we are united online and that we will make the biggest race in Europe and be supportive of cancer patients."

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September 14, 2020 - The 4th round of HNL was played from September 11 to 13, 2020. This round featured the Eternal Derby at Poljud, where Dinamo was better than Hajduk, while Osijek crushed Rijeka 3:0. 

Slaven Belupo v. Sibenik (0:0)

Slaven Belupo and Sibenik opened the 4th round in Koprivnica on Friday, September 11, 2020. 

Krstanovic missed a penalty just before the half, and the game went without goals.

Belupo is currently in 8th place with 3 points, while Sibenik is in 9th with one point. 

Osijek v. Rijeka (3:0)

Osijek and Rijeka met on Saturday, September 12, 2020, for their 4th round match at City Garden Stadium. 

An early goal by Jugovic had Osijek in the lead in the 5th minute. Rijeka's Arsenic saw a red card in the 37th minute, which drastically changed the game. Osijek scored their second goal one minute later for 2:0 at the half.

Osijek secured their victory with a goal by Mierez in the 75th minute, which was the final score of the game. 

Osijek is currently in 6th place with 4 points, while Rijeka is in 5th with 4 points. 

Hajduk v. Dinamo (1:2)

Hajduk and Dinamo met for the season's first Eternal Derby at Poljud on Saturday, September 12, 2020. 

Kastrati gave Dinamo the lead just three minutes before the half for 0:1. Five minutes into the second half, Orsic scored a stunner for 0:2 

Hajduk's Juric was able to get a header in the back of the net in the 88th minute for 1:2, which was the final score of the game. 

Hajduk is currently in 3rd place with 7 points, while Dinamo is in first place with 12.

Istra 1961 v. Varazdin (0:1)

Istra and Varazdin met in Pula at the Aldo Drosini Stadium on Sunday, September 13, 2020. 

The game's only goal was scored by Senic in the 37th minute, which gave Varazdin the 0:1 victory. 

Istra is currently in the last place with 0 points, while Varazdin is in 4th with 7 points. 

Lokomotiva v. Gorica (1:2)

Lokomotiva and Gorica closed out the 4th round in Zagreb on Sunday, September 13, 2020. 

Lovric scored for Gorica in the 32nd minute for 0:1 at the half. Lovric increased Gorica's lead in the 85th minute to 0:2, though Karacic was able to get one in for Lokomotiva for a final result of 1:2. 

Lokomotiva is currently in 7th place with 4 points, while Gorica is in 2nd place with 12 points. 

All games were played without the presence of spectators. You can see the full HNL table here. 

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September 14, 2020 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as British Airways cancels Zagreb in October, TAP Portugal returns to the capital in 2021, and Lufthansa operates 14 fewer flights than in August.

Croatian Aviation reports that British Airways has made changes to its flight schedule for October, and there was a further reduction on the London Heathrow - Zagreb line.

As announced earlier, British Airways operated its last flight on the London-Zagreb route on September 6 and withdrew all flights until the end of this month. Until a few days ago, the company again offered daily flights on this route from October 1, though passengers were advised to wait to purchase tickets on these flights because they could be canceled, which has now happened.

British Airways has canceled all flights until the end of October on this route, and the company will not operate to Zagreb for the rest of this year's summer flight schedule.

However, a change has been made that leaves the possibility of returning to the winter flight schedule. Namely, from Sunday, October 25, the company offers direct flights on the London Heathrow-Zagreb line four times a week, every Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Flights on Tuesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays are in the afternoon, while the flight on Fridays is announced in the morning. A320 aircraft have been announced on the route.

Regular aircraft traffic on this route will depend solely on the booking status and the yield itself. British Airways offers return tickets on this route from the end of October for less than 700 kuna, and just a year ago, it was almost impossible to find a direct flight between Zagreb and London for such an amount.

Once again, the company failed to achieve satisfactory business results on this line in September. The question arises about how this will then be possible in the winter flight schedule when demand is significantly weaker than the summer months. Thus, further flight cancellations on this route and the complete withdrawal of British Airways from Zagreb by the spring of next year is possible.

Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reports that the Portuguese national airline TAP has announced its flight schedule for the 2021 summer season. The Lisbon - Zagreb line is being re-introduced!

Namely, TAP Portugal has announced its new routes for next year's summer flight schedule, and Zagreb is among several destinations. The company already operated regularly on the line Lisbon - Zagreb, but it was discontinued in March 2016.

Flights on the line Lisbon - Zagreb have been announced since the beginning of the summer flight schedule, on March 28, 2021, and will operate three times a week, every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Tickets are already on sale on the airline's website.

Departure from Lisbon is planned for 8 am, with arrival in Zagreb 2 hours later. A319 and A320 aircraft with a capacity of 144 and 174 seats, respectively, have been announced on the route.

Croatia Airlines operates seasonally on this route, but this year, due to the pandemic's impact, the route was not in operation. TAP Portugal is the first airline to announce a new route to Zagreb Airport for next year's summer flight schedule.

Finally, Croatian Aviation reports that German Lufthansa has reduced traffic to four Croatian airports, and the same number of flights was retained only to Zagreb. We bring you the current flight schedule for September.

Lufthansa will continue to operate to five Croatian destinations until the end of September; Zagreb, Pula, Zadar, Split, and Dubrovnik, but certain departures were canceled on almost all routes. Compared to August, the company will have 14 fewer flights a week to Croatia.

The Frankfurt - Dubrovnik line will operate twice a week until the end of September, on Saturdays and Sundays, one flight less per week than August (flight canceled on Wednesdays).

The Munich - Dubrovnik line operates 4 times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. The flight was canceled on Saturday.

The Frankfurt - Split line operates 3 times a week, every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. The flight was canceled on Friday.

The Munich - Split line will operate 4 times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, until the end of September, while the flight is canceled on Fridays.

The Frankfurt - Pula line operates 2 times a week, on Fridays and Saturdays. The flight was canceled on Monday.

The Munich - Pula line operates once a week, on Saturdays. The flight was canceled on Sunday.

The Frankfurt - Zadar line operates twice a week, on Saturdays and Sundays. The flight was canceled on Wednesday.

The Munich - Zadar line operates once a week, on Saturdays. The company retains the same number of flights as in August on this route.

The Munich - Zagreb line operates 5 times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Lufthansa kept the same number of flights on this route as in August.

The Frankfurt - Zagreb line is not in operation, and the company does not plan to launch it until the spring of next year. On this route, flights are operated by Croatia Airlines, and Lufthansa has them on sale thanks to a code-share agreement between the two companies.

The Frankfurt - Zadar line operates twice a week, on Saturdays and Sundays. The flight was canceled on Wednesday.

The Munich - Zadar line operates once a week, on Saturdays. The company retains the same number of flights as in August on this route.

Until the end of September, Lufthansa will offer 48 flights a week on its nine routes to Croatia, or 14 fewer flights than in August this year. The company has not yet finalized its flight schedule for October, but it is to be expected that there will be further cancellations on the routes to the mentioned airports.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes on the 14th of September, 2020, following the coronavirus-dominated 2020 tourist season, which ended better than expected for all but travel agencies, along with measures to preserve jobs and liquidity, it will be crucial to enable the implementation of the Tourist Land Act, and complete investments stopped or slowed by the pandemic. Representatives of all segments of tourism agreed with that, and they were gathered by the Minister of Tourism and Sport, Nikolina Brnjac, at a joint press conference on Friday.

By the end of August in Croatia, when taking into account all accommodation facilities plus nautical tourism, 6.8 million arrivals and 47.6 million overnight stays were realised, ie 41 percent of the arrivals and 53 percent of the overnight stays realised in the same period in 2019. Of that, foreign tourists realised 5.5 million arrivals and 38.3 million overnight stays, while domestic tourists realised 1.3 million arrivals and 9.2 million overnight stays.

The results of the enfeebled 2020 tourist season exceeded the initial predictions of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), which believed that Croatia would manage to generate only 30 percent of last year's tourism turnover during this highly unusual 2020 tourist season.

"Before us lies the realisation of the rest of the tourist year and preparations for next year, drafting a new strategic document for tourism development and a series of activities aimed at maintaining the stability of the tourism system, strengthening its resilience and speeding up the recovery process, European Union funds also have a role to play,'' stated Brnjac.

In terms of the percentage of overnight stays realised when compared to last year, the best traffic this summer was recorded in the nautical sector (70 percent), family accommodation (66 percent), but this wasn't the case along the entire coast, camps (57 percent) and finally hotels (44 percent). Weekenders made up only 3 percent less traffic than last year, and in some destinations like Vir they made up the vast majority of guests. This summer, hoteliers were under the pressure of cutting prices, which is why their income was 5 to 15 percent lower than the physical indicators, according to a survey by the Croatian Tourism Association presented by the association's director Veljko Ostojic.

"Camps had better demand, they realised 57 percent of last year's overnight stays. In addition, 4 and 5 star hotels were better filled by about 10 percent, and 5 star campsites had the best occupancy. This is a good indicator for the future development of tourism,'' said Ostojic of the 2020 tourist season. For next season, he considers it important to adopt a national safety label, which will be just as important as now.

Sean Lisjak, president of the Nautical Sector Association at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, revealed that marinas accounted for 85 percent of last year's turnover this year, but will lose 150 million euros in September and October due to border closures. The annual revenue of the nautical charter last year was around 770 million euros.

The director of the Croatian Tourist Board, Kristjan Stanicic, pointed out that the CNTB's revenue this year will stand at around 200 million kuna, ie 150 million kuna less than last year, but he pointed out that it will be enough for the campaigns that are being prepared for 2021.

"The final preparations for the promotion of the post-season are underway, during which we're going to focus on the nautical offer, the continental offer, eno-gastronomy and the offer of Croatian national parks and nature parks. Throughout September, we'll conduct campaigns on our most important markets, as part of which we plan to thank all tourists for their trust when choosing Croatian destinations.

We're also working intensively on preparations for 2021, in which we'll position Croatia even more strongly as a safe tourist destination with a focus on markets that have responded best to promotional activities this year, such as Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia and Hungary,'' said Stanicic.

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As Tomislav Pili/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 13th of September, 2020, well-known Karlovac entrepreneurs Marko Vukovic and Ivan Zabcic have officially taken over all shares of Karlovac bank, and financial experts believe that their motive is probably down to local patriotism and the desire to diversify their business portfolio, given the marginal profitability of small banks in the Croatian banking system. Vukovic and Zabcic are better known to the public as the owners of the weapons manufacturer HS Produkt, and the duo now hold a majority stake of 75 percent at Karlovac bank.

They acquired the Karlovac bank shares during the recapitalisation of the bank back in 2014, when, as stated in the offer, they invested a total of 112.7 million kuna, and an additional 20 million kuna back in 2016. At a session on Thursday, the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (Hanfa) approved a voluntary takeover bid, which the duo announced on Friday. Their offer relates to more than 1.3 million ordinary shares marked A, almost 3 million ordinary shares marked B and 7128 preferred shares. Vukovic and Zabcic offer 6.51 kuna for each ordinary share, and 65.10 kuna for each preferred share. An unofficial calculation shows that they prepared a total of just over 28 million kuna for the purchase of these Karlovac bank shares.

On Friday, the shares were the biggest loser on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, and they sank almost 9 percent to 6.60 kuna on a solid turnover of 213,000 kuna. This is also the highest turnover on that section since the end of July 2015. In the offer, Vukovic and Zabcic point out that they don't expect their offer to significantly affect the bank's future operations, as they intend to support the preservation of existing stability and encourage the continuation of Karlovac bank's long-term strategy towards developing a stable, innovative and modern credit institution.

They also announced that the organisational structure of the bank, its employment policy and the employment status of employees, as well as the places where the bank performs its activities will not change. They don't intend to change the existing composition of the bank's management board either. Vukovic and Zabcic also stated that after the completion of the takeover procedure, they intend to initiate the convening of the bank's general assembly at which they would propose a decision on a withdrawal of its listing on the Zagreb Stock Exchange. Since the offer is ongoing, the law prohibits Vukovic and Zabcic from making public comments, including about their motives for taking over a small, local bank.

In an informal conversation, the financiers point out that the desire to own a bank in the area where they live and work and to diversify the business they deal with is a probable motive for this investment. Namely, Karlovac bank's balance sheet doesn't allow for a strong growth of lending that would bring higher interest income at the moment, experts say. Last year, the bank made a profit of 20.9 million kuna, which was almost entirely used to cover losses from previous years. Vjeko Peretic, the owner of Pro Group pointed out that small banks are struggling to remain competitive with large ones, so the opportunity lies in the development of certain segments of banking business such as the more flexible servicing of financial needs of local communities or niches of certain industries.

"All small banks have had a problem maintaining a high level of capital adequacy and other regulatory frameworks for years, so merging with another bank is usually the best way out in the long run, assuming that the portfolio of the former is interesting to someone at all. Here on our market in today's circumstances, the operations of small banks are marginally financially profitable, almost without exception,'' concluded Peretic.

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