Entrepreneurial Mindset 2020 Conference Speakers: Meet Ognjen Bagatin
September 6, 2020 - The second Poduzetnik Mindset (Entrepreneurial Mindset) conference takes place online on September 10. Continuing our look at the speakers, co-organizer and Mr Positive, Ognjen Bagatin.
There has not been a lot to smile about for most people in 2020, and that is certainly true if you are a Zagreb-based entrepreneur. The double whammy of corona affecting business and an earthquake damaging your home and business would be more than enough to wipe the smile from anyone's face, but not Croatia's Mr Positive, Ognjen Bagatin.
(Ognjen Bagatin with his Berlin award)
A trailblazer in the global medical tourism industry (his Bagatin Clinic was named International Cosmetic Surgery Clinic of the Year 2019 in December at the International Medical Travel Awards in Berlin), and a passionate promoter of Croatia 2.0 and stronger business links with the diaspora, Bagatin is one of the co-organizers of the excellent Poduzetnik Mindset conference, which will have its second edition on September 10 in Zagreb and be broadcast online. Bagatin is also speaking at the event and offered some thoughts on the progress of the entrepreneurial scene and changing mindset in this TCN interview.
The second Entrepreneurial Mindset conference takes place on September 10, following last year's successful gathering. How has the entrepreneurial scene changed in Croatia in the last 12 months?
Although it seems like we are moving slowly, I think in the last 12 months there has been movement in having more and more entrepreneurial stories in the media. We have a new show on TV called Entrepreneurial Mindset, in partnership with EY Croatia on N1 Television. This is becoming very popular because we share great stories and amazing entrepreneurs who are changing the world for the better.
Through our media platform, we have met and talked to hundreds of amazing and successful entrepreneurs and have seen the better side of Croatia and our purpose is to share their stories to the public so they will inspire more and more young and old to go and chase their entrepreneurial dreams.
With corona coming, entrepreneurs had a tough time dealing with this issue, but they will come out of this stronger and more connected among each other...
The things are changing, I see so many examples of excellence, and the next step is to grow that community so that it can bring positive change for the Croatian economy.
Corona has obviously affected your plans considerably. Tell us about this year's conference and some of the key presentations.
Indeed, but that didn`t ruin our plans to organize it anyway... We had planned this conference to be in Concert Hall Vatroslav Lisinski for 1800 people, but corona has ensured that even more people will listen to our speakers speak.. We have more than 3000 applications at this moment and our proud that this content is very popular and that we are helping these great speakers become new role models for others.
This year we will have great speakers and it is very hard to underline just a couple, so I will mention them all because EY Croatia and Poduzetnik team have picked them carefully just for you.
So this year, our audience will have an opportunity to hear an amazing sessions from successful and experienced entrepreneurs , and here is the list: Joe Bašić, founder and director of MPG South East Europe, organizer and promoter of Ultra Europe ; Paul Bradbury, owner and founder of Total Croatia News; Bernarda Cecelja, member of the board at Bernarda d.o.o.; Saša Cvetojević, owner of MBE Adriatic; Jan de Jong, director of Webpower Adria; Ivan Franičević, president of the board at RASCO; Ana Hanžeković, member of the board at Hanza media; Jasminka Horvat Martinović, president of the board at Wiener osiguranja VIG; Korado Korlević, croatian scientist and astronomer, head of Zvjezdarnice Višnjan; Ana Lisak, director at Catering Lisak; Orlando Lopac, director at OrlandoFit; Zoran Mamić, president of supervisory board at TOMMY; Mate Rimac, founder and CEO at Rimac automobili i Greyp bikes, Manny Stul, CEO tof Moose toys, Emil Tedeschi, president of the board at Atlantic grupe; Boris Trupčević, director at 24sata; Ana Volk, member of supervisory board at Sunce hoteli d.d.; Ksenija Vrbanić, owner of Xenia Design and others...
One of the nicest touches last year was to have the front row filled not with politicians but high school students with entrepreneurial minds. You then organized other events for the younger generation. Tell us about that, and the levels of interest from the students.
Yes, our goal for this year is to inspire our students in 4 different cites (Osijek, Zagreb, Rijeka and Split), but due to corona, our plans were canceled, and instead, we organized Enterpreneurial mindset for students and young people with the goal of promoting entrepreneurial values among them. We had in our live event 1200 students listening to our conference from 7 different countries and 35 different Universities and schools. This was a big win for all of us, because this is proof that young people and students are considering entrepreneurship and are looking for inspiration from successful entrepreneurs.
We will definitely continue with these kinds of events and help inspire and support hundreds and thousands of new young entrepreneurs and professionals who will stay in Croatia and help us build a great economy here.
The entrepreneurial eco-system seems to be getting stronger in Croatia, and the Glas Poduzetnika association is a great focal point. Tell us about that eco-system, as well as the areas you see the biggest opportunities for change.
I will reflect on that every crisis is an opportunity, and corona has brought us a major crisis. But in that crisis, new communities have grown such as Glas Poduzetnika, and I think this is now a turning point for Croatia to put the focus on the economy and how to grow it, how to attract more investment, have to export more, how to grow our GDP in the next 5-10 years, and find some higher purpose for all of us that will unite us (like the famous World Cup in 2018.)
We need a powerful vision of Croatia in 2030. and a mission that will drive us forward.. I think doubling our GDP per capita in the next 5-10 years is a very powerful vision, and then we find leaders and doers who will help us achieve it.
Jan de Jong's campaign for a digital nomad visa has shown spectacular results, and this will be a great thing for Croatia. How significant is this in your opinion, and how do we take full advantage?
I think it is amazing, and I have heard about that idea last year at an MBA Croatia conference from Andreas Gerdes. Then it was just an idea, and now, with brilliant Jan de Jong spreading the word and helping the government look at the opportunities of this niche we are getting into. This will, together with the student visa (referring to Hrvoje Balen from Algebra), be a new era of tourism in Croatia and all year round.
We need these niches to bring us more opportunities and brainpower from all over the world. I think this is just the beginning and beg our government to speed the law policy issues so we can launch it next year as only the second country in Europe..
We will take full advantage by opening up for professionals from all over the world, not just foreign, but also our diaspora, because this could motivate them as well to return home.. The good thing, everything is in our hands, and I beg our government to not „drop the ball“ this time and go from talking to realizing this idea.
The conference is called Entrepreneurial Mindset. Why is the mindset so important here in Croatia, and how do we change it?
With this conference we are promoting new values like vision, courage, innovation, creation, growing through mistakes, never giving up, taking responsibility, cooperation, celebrating others success and so on, and this is kind of values and mindset is what we want to be mainstream in the years ahead.
We want to open the eyes of people and make them aware that opportunities are everywhere and we bring them people that have succeeded in Croatia, that are willing to share their stories and help others grow. We will succeed only when we start to appreciate others' success as our own, because the more people who succeed in Croatia, the easier it will be for the rest of us to succeed.
Our young families are moving abroad in search of happiness and we want to show them it can be here if we all have a common goal like doubling our GDP per capita in 5-10 years..
You are the pioneer in medical tourism for Croatia, an industry with huge potential. Where are things at the moment, and what needs to happen to push things forward?
This was supposed to be the best year ever for medical tourism, but...
Things started rolling after lockdown but not in the numbers we all wanted, but this is just temporary, next year there will be new opportunities for our healing spas, clinics, hospitals, and medical wellnesses. Especially because we as a sector must have a chance to be able to apply to new EU funds 2021-2027.
If we want to grow as a country economically then this is a niche we need to be not among the best, but the best. We have great private health and dental institutions that are doing an amazing job, and now we need to bring some new investment in this sector.
The health sector needs to work together and create a whole eco-system that supports this industry, from schools, to EU funds, positioning Croatia as a hub for health tourism and taking advantage of digitalization of our processes inside of our health institution. If we work on that and have government support (not just oral support), then we can make this happen.
I personally will do everything I can to make sure Croatia is one of the leading countries for health and medical tourism in Europe.
To learn more about the virtual Poduzetnik Mindset 2020 conference on September 10 - and to register - visit the official website.
Beautiful 3D Maps of Croatia, its Islands and the Adriatic
Sunday, 6 September 2020 – Fafarikula from Zadar creates beautiful bespoke 3D Maps of Croatia, its islands, the Adriatic, and the world. Made from wood, they're the perfect souvenir to take from the coast
A stay on the Croatian coast is full of one-off experiences. Each island is unique, every wine and sunset is different. The same cannot be said for some of the mass-produced souvenirs available.
But, one small Zadar company has created a wonderful alternative to plastic keyrings and ill-fitting slogan t-shirts. Fafarikula makes beautiful 3D maps of Croatia, its islands, and the Adriatic. Made from wood and available to order, they can hang in your home and remind you every day of your trip to the Croatian sea.
The 3D maps of Croatia are made using a laser cutter and depict an accurate representation of shorelines and sea depths. Five layers of wood are used in their construction, then fixed atop one another.
Ida Šimunov and Marko Rihelj are the couple behind the 3D maps of Croatia. They founded their quality souvenir company, Fafarikula five years ago. They have a range of maps already available, but if you've fallen in love with one particular destination, they can make a bespoke map just for you. In addition to the 3D maps of Croatia, the company has recently produced maps of the Mediterranean and the whole world. They also make wood-bound notebooks, pendants, and a huge variety of fridge magnets.
Though a relatively new option for visitors, these 3D maps of Croatia come from a long line of map-making. Maps are one of the oldest things that humans attempted to paint. The earliest archaeological maps include cave paintings and ancient maps of Babylon, Greece, China, and India. However, the earliest known maps are of the stars, not the earth. Images dating to 14,500 BC found on the walls of the Lascaux caves in Dordogne, southwestern France map out part of the night sky, including three stars – Vega, Deneb, and Altair - as well as the Pleiades star cluster. The Cave of El Castillo in Spain holds a wall map dating from 12,000 BC of the Corona Borealis constellation.
A map-like representation of a mountain, river, valleys, and routes around Pavlov in the Czech Republic, carved on the tusk of a woolly mammoth, has been dated to 25,000 BC, making it possibly the oldest known map of all time. The word map comes from the medieval Latin 'Mappa mundi' with mappa meaning napkin or cloth and mundi meaning the world.
All photos © Fafarikula
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Croatia Confirms 225 New Coronavirus Cases, One Death In Past 24 Hours
ZAGREB, Sept 6, 2020 - A total of 225 new coronavirus cases have been registered in Croatia in the past 24 hours and one person has died, the national COVID-19 response team said on Sunday.
The number of active cases has increased to 2,758 and 296 of them are hospitalized, including 21 on ventilators.
Since February 25, when the first case of infection with the novel virus was confirmed in Croatia, 11,964 people have been infected, of whom 198 have died and 9,008 have recovered. Currently, 8,964 people are in self-isolation.
To date, 191,360 people have been tested, including 3,509 in the last 24 hours.
New measures for Bjelovar-Bilogora County
At the suggestion of the Civil Protection Headquarters of Bjelovar-Bilogora County, the Civil Protection Headquarters of the Republic of Croatia adopted a Decision on September 5th on the introduction of necessary epidemiological measures for Bjelovar-Bilogora County.
The decision applies from September 7th, 2020, and limits the number of people at wedding ceremonies to 50, at other private ceremonies to 20.
Also, the number of persons who may be present at funerals is limited to 50. Carmine can be held only in a family circle with a maximum of 20 people, and condolences must not be expressed through close contact.
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Milanovic: Protest Is Democracy, Going To Care Homes Is Idiocy
ZAGREB, Sept 6, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic on Saturday commented on a protest in Zagreb against COVID restrictions, saying that protest is a democracy but that the fact that the protesters stood outside nursing homes was idiocy and disastrous.
He was responding to questions from the press on Rab island if the rally in Zagreb was a festival of democracy, as the participants claimed, and if he considered any restrictions contentious.
"From day one we have been saying that the elderly and the sick are the ones we must care for, not teenagers, my generation. To go outside retirement homes and say that corona is a child's play, which I saw they did, is a disaster... If they are protesting against masks, that's okay."
Speaking of restrictions, he said, "One should be more disciplined than usual, that's the only measure."
Asked what he would tell people who claimed that coronavirus did not exist, Milanovic said ironically that they were "very fine people."
Asked what would happen if the virus entered kindergartens and schools, he said children and youth were the least at risk. "It's time they finally go to school because this has been going on too long."
Milanovic and Slovenian President Borut Pahor were on Rab for the 77th commemoration of the liberation of inmates from the Kampor fascist concentration camp.
"The banality of evil," he said of the WWII camp. "This wasn't a typical extermination camp. This was a camp where you bring Slovenians and Croats because they crossed you for some reason, not just because they are Slovenians and Croats, and leave them to die in a year, you don't feed them. That's the banality of evil. Somebody watched that, those guards, for a year."
Asked if he and Pahor discussed bilateral topics, Milanovic said, "We talk all the time... about the situation in the region, everything that goes on around us. About the right-wing in Europe. I don't mean traditional Christian values but... I don't like the words 'anti-European policy' because that means nothing, but there is a number of leaders and politicians in Europe who see the enemy in everything."
Asked if he and Pahor talked about the reopening of borders given that Slovenia put Croatia on the red list of COVID countries, Milanovic said there was a reason why Slovenia did that.
"The number of daily cases of infections increased because almost a million foreigners arrived in Croatia in July and August so that we could make money. That's not surprising. That's the price we consciously paid both as a state and as a society, and we should finally accept that... Let's not be surprised that almost a million foreigners passed through Croatia, leaving their money here, socializing, forming crowds, and that some got infected. But that's the price of the risk we were all willing to take. Slovenia's reaction was expected, that will change."
Asked if he would ask Pahor that Slovenia apply the regional COVID model towards Croatia, like Germany, Milanovic said, "He doesn't decide on that, just as I don't in Croatia."
He said they often spoke on the phone. "The topics are political, concerning the region, the Balkans, the eastern Balkans."
Asked if he heard the appeals from the ruling HDZ, the minister of defense, the parliament speaker, and the prime minister that he should be more rational with military resources, Milanovic said he did not. "Since I'm the commander in chief, I'll decide what's more rational, if they really said that. We are being very rational."
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Croatia Handball Learns Opponents for 2021 World Championship in Egypt
September 6, 2020 - The Croatia handball team, lead by coach Lino Cervar, can be satisfied with their draw for the World Championship in Egypt next January.
Egypt will host the 27th World Handball Championship in January, which will be held from January 14 to 31, 2021.
In the draw held in front of Giza's pyramids, the Croatia handball team learned that they would play in Group C against Japan, Angola, and Qatar.
Lino Cervar's team was drawn into a relatively easy group and will play against national teams that are not included in the shortlist of favorites for the title.
Croatia was lucky in the draw because they could have ended up in groups with France, Hungary, Iceland, Belarus, Brazil, and several other dangerous national teams.
"We can't say we're unhappy with the draw. Next year is very demanding because, as you know, the World Championship awaits us, then the Olympic qualifiers, and hopefully after that, the Olympic Games in Tokyo. It is very important that we all stay healthy during this whole corona situation. We recently beat Qatar in Porec at the Croatia Cup, Japan is a national team that is continually growing, and I, as the coach of Macedonia, played against Angola, and I know that they can be challenging. I wouldn’t think and calculate too much further because every game is a story unto itself. We have to be healthy and motivated, and then there should be no difficulties," said the coach of the Croatia men's handball team, Lino Cervar.
The World Cup in Egypt is the first in history with 32 national teams. They are divided into eight groups of four national teams, of which only the weakest will be eliminated in the first round. After that, four groups are formed with six national teams each, of which in the end, the two best go to the quarterfinals, i.e., the knockout phase and the fight for a spot on the pedestal. The round of 16 therefore, no longer exists.
The championship is played in two cities. Three halls are located in Cairo and its wider surroundings, and the fourth is in Alexandria, which is 125 kilometers away from Cairo. Egypt still hopes that spectators will be able to attend the games.
Source: HRS
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Flights to Croatia: Eurowings Reduces Flights to Split Airport
Septemeber 5, 2020 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as Eurowings reduces flights to Split Airport.
Croatian Aviation reports that due to the introduction of restrictive measures that apply to all who travel to Germany from Split-Dalmatia, Sibenik-Knin, and Zadar counties (mandatory testing for COVID-19 and self-isolation until the test results are presented), Eurowings has recorded a decline in demand resulting in numerous cancellations on lines to Split Airport.
In mid-August, Eurowings announced its flight schedule to Croatia for September, in which it announced an increase in the number of weekly flights from a number of German cities compared to August.
Due to restrictive measures and the epidemiological situation in Croatia, Eurowings, just like everyone else, is recording a decline in demand on routes to Split, which results in the cancellation of certain departures and a new, reduced flight schedule for September this year. Eurowings was supposed to run 40 operations a week to Split Airport this month, but that will not happen.
You can find the new flight schedule below:
Split - Dusseldorf will operate 3 times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, from September 26 (previously planned 4 flights a week, the flight is canceled on Sundays),
Split - Hamburg will operate twice a week, on Mondays and Sundays, from September 7 (previously planned 4 flights a week, flights are canceled on Tuesdays and Saturdays),
Split - Cologne will operate twice a week, on Thursdays and Saturdays, from September 7 (previously planned 5 flights a week, the flight will be canceled on Tuesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays). Eurowings had two daily flights on this line on Saturdays, leaving one in traffic.
Split - Stuttgart will operate 3 times a week, on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, from September 7 (previously planned 4 flights a week, the flight is canceled on Sundays),
Split - Hannover continues to operate according to the original plan, once a week, on Saturdays,
Split - Berlin continues to operate according to the original plan, twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Eurowings will have 26 weekly operations to Split in September - as many as 14 flights a week less than originally planned.
In other Croatian airports, there are currently no reductions on Eurowings routes, and traffic is moving according to the flight schedule that was announced earlier. Further cancellations are possible and will depend on restrictions for travelers traveling to Germany from Croatia.
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US Open: Marin Cilic and Donna Vekic Fail to Make Last 16
September 6, 2020 - Marin Cilic and Donna Vekic failed to join Borna Coric and Petra Martic in the last 16 of the US Open.
Donna Vekic has said farewell to this year's US Open. The 24-year-old Osijek native lost her 3rd round match to 32-year-old Cvetana Pironkova, who plays with a protected ranking in New York (due to childbirth). Pironkova celebrated 6:4, 6:1 in her first tournament since Wimbledon 2017.
Donna started the match solidly, kept the score even at 4:4, and then took only one more game until the end of the match, the first in the second set. Vekic only used one break point out of four in the match. In the second set, she managed to get only four points on her opponent's serve. It was their fourth meeting and the fourth victory of the Bulgarian tennis player.
The third-best tennis player in the world, Austrian Dominic Thiem, proved to be too strong for Marin Cilic in the 3rd round clash of this year's US Open. The tournament's former winner (2014) lost after four sets - 6:2, 6:2, 3:6, 6:3.
The Austrian won the first two sets in just 65 minutes of play, and Cilic did not reach a single break point in that period.
Cilic woke up in the third set, and in the sixth game, he stole his opponent's serve for the first time and reduced the score to 1:2 in the sets. Who knows how the match would have unfolded if Marin had used one of three break opportunities to lead to 3:2 in the fourth set. Thiem managed to save them at 15:40 and immediately stole Marin's serve in the next game. This was their third meeting and the third victory for Thiem.
Mate Pavic joined Nikola Mektic in the doubles quarterfinals of the US Open. Pavic and Brazilian Bruno Soares celebrated in the second round against the American duo Jack Sock and Jackson Withrow - 5:7, 7:6 (5), 6:4. The Croatian-Brazilian team was on the verge of defeat, Sock and Withrow served for the victory in the second set with a 5:4 lead, but Pavic and Soares equalized through a tie-break. They had a chance to break in the seventh game of the deciding set, which was enough to pass among the eight best doubles teams in New York.
In the fight for the semifinals, Pavic and Soares will play British team Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski.
Source: HTS
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Will Croatian STOP COVID-19 App Become Redundant?
As Novac/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 5th of September, 2020, installing the STOP COVID-19 application may no longer be necessary for the monitoring of who you have been in contact with via your mobile phone. That is how it will become across the Atlantic in the USA in the next few days, but, it seems that we're still not quite there here in Croatia yet.
Apple and Google, which set a precedent and for the first time directly agreed on a technology collaboration through which they established iPhone and Android compatibility in the area of contact tracking for coronavirus, have now gone one step further. They announced that they will enable official national health institutions to decide that the monitoring of coronavirus patient contacts can be done without the application.
However, with the latest version of iOS 13.7, which has recently started to be offered to users here in Croatia, Apple devices in Croatia don't yet activate the possibility to receive information about contacts that are positive for coronavirus and inform your contacts about you being positive for that virus directly from the operating system. Data for Android hasn't been obtained yet, as a new version of Google's mobile operating system is yet to come.
The Ministry of Economy isn't talking about this topic just yet and a response from the competent ministry on that issue is still awaited, because it is precisely the ministry that must make a decision on that. Well-informed sources of Jutarnji list point out that in the EU, and thus in Croatia, they don't expect Apple and Google to bypass the national authorities and directly offer the possibility of changing cryptographic keys and exposure notifications.
''National applications as well as interoperability between EU countries will still be needed to publish ''infected'' keys,'' a source explained. This is just another confirmation that the decision on the application of the new possibility in Croatia will eventually have to be made by the Ministry of Health.
Apple and Google initially built the technical ability for mobile phones to record and encrypt contacts into their respective operating systems. However, everything else, starting with the conditions for determining whether the contact is relevant, provides information that the owner of the mobile phone was potentially in contact with a confirmed infected person and voluntarily sends information that the owner has been confirmed to be coronavirus positive, therefore, all this should have been made possible by citizens' national health institutions through their own applications.
Unfortunately, countries around the world have proven to be out of line with this task. In Croatia, the national STOP COVID-19 mobile application appeared only at the peak of the tourist season, and not, as expected, before the season actually arrived. The STOP COVID-19 application became active in late July. But that's still good. So far, only six states in the United States have developed their own COVID applications. It's worth remembering there are a total of 57 federal states and territories in the United States. In addition, some of the applications aren't even compatible with each other, although this was the main goal for Apple and Google.
In the European Union, the situation is only slightly better, but as seen in the example of the Croatian STOP COVID-19 application, the number of its users isn't very large. The Android version of the app has been downloaded by more than 10,000 people so far, and the version for Apple ranks slightly better considering that the app is in the fifth place of being among the most sought after in the Health and Fitness category. For comparison, there are four million inhabitants in Croatia and almost all of them own mobile devices, and at least half of all smartphones are advanced enough to be able to install the STOP COVID-19 apps on them. Interestingly, those who use the app on both Google and Apple have given it some pretty good ratings. When it comes to Apple, 72 users left an average rating of 4.5, and on Google devices, 381 gave an average rating of 4.0.
Poor usage as well as a small number of countries that have created individual national apps have prompted Apple and Google to upgrade their OSes with the ability to do contact tracing without the app so it should come as no surprise if other changes follow.
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Tourist Tax Deferral - Who Can Apply for New Croatian Coronavirus Measure?
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 5th of September, 2020, a proposal for an amendment to the Ordinance on the exemption from paying tourist tax for individuals providing hospitality services in a household or on a family farm has now been sent to e-counselling/e-savjetovanje. Just who can apply for this new Croatian coronavirus measure?
Taking into account the special circumstances caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that have negatively affected the work of private renters and family farms (OPGs), the Ministry of Tourism and Sport sent an e-consultation recently to propose an amendment to the Ordinance on the exemption from paying tourist tax.
"Tourism is extremely important for the entire economy of the Republic of Croatia. From the very beginning of the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Government of the Republic of Croatia has adopted measures to enable the preservation of jobs and the liquidity of the economy. The measures presented by the Prime Minister at the session held on September the 3rd, 2020, provided the most important preconditions for the continuation of healthy tourism in the uncertain days and months ahead of us. Bearing in mind the specific role of private accommodation in the Croatian tourist offer, we want to help the most vulnerable private renters and family farms with the measures in the amended Ordinance, and we believe that this proposal will enable the better and more successful preparation of the entire sector for tourism in 2021,'' said Nikolina Brnjac.
The amended ordinance, which is in essence a new coronavirus measure would completely exempt renters who, owing to the previous decision on the termination of the provision of hospitality services, and those who did not have any registered overnight stays in 2020, from the payment of tourist tax. The same ordinance will exempt a person from the area of the City of Zagreb, Zagreb County and Krapina-Zagorje County from paying the tourist tax for those capacities located in buildings that were damaged in the earthquake and were marked unusable (with a red mark) or temporarily unusable (with a yellow mark).
"Given the extremely challenging year during which there was a significant decline in tourism activity as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, this regulation seeks to further mitigate the negative consequences for those renters who failed to realise tourist traffic and decided to deregister their capacities, and who would, otherwise, in accordance with the regulations in force from 2020, have been required to pay a lump sum. This ordinance will significantly help in the further implementation of the competent legal norms that regulate the payment of tourist tax,'' said the director of the Main Office of the Croatian Tourist Board, Kristjan Stanicic.
In order to avoid the collection of tourist tax from persons who will be exempted as a result of the the amended ordinance and reduce the administrative burden to the system, for taxpayers who aren't exempt from payment, the deadline for the payment of the remaining debt has been moved to the 30th of September 2020.
For taxpayers who don't meet the criteria for this new coronavirus measure which regards the full exemption from having to pay tourist tax, there are no legal obstacles to the payment of the tourist tax.
It's worth mentioning that since the outbreak of the ongoing pandemic, the Ministry of Tourism and Sport has also adopted an ordinance on the deferral or total exemption from the payment of tourist tax for persons providing hospitality services in households or on a family farm (OPG).
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Child in Coronavirus Self-Isolation? Parent Can Take Sick Leave
As Croatian children finally begin preparing to go back to school and not study from home, many questions have been running through the minds of concerned parents. Just what does a child in coronavirus self-isolation mean for a working parent?
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 5th of September, 2020, Dijana Vuksan from HZZO explained to N1 something that has more than likely been on the minds of many parents are children finally begin returning back to school - what happens in situations if a child becomes infected with the new coronavirus or is prescribed a measure of self-isolation?
"If the competent epidemiologist determines that a child must go into coronavirus self-isolation, a parent is entitled to compensation of their salary during their temporary absence, which is charged to HZZO from the very first day. In case the child is younger than three years of age, then a parent is entitled to salary compensation in the amount of 100 percent of the determined base, and if the child is older than three years of age, then in the amount of 70 percent of the determined base to the maximum prescribed amount of 4,257 kuna,'' stated Dijana Vuksan.
This is the former [way of doing] sick leave, she added: “The compensation in the case of care, ie coronavirus self-isolation of the child and the isolation of the parents, will be the same. The maximum monetary amount is 4257 kuna. If the parent is not assigned self-isolation but only the child is, then their doctor will determine the case of temporary impediment due to the child's care. "
It is then sick leave based on the child's illness, she explained further. However, if the need for parental isolation is subsequently determined, the cause changes, but the compensation remains the same. "It isn't an obligation but a parent's right. If they can organise babysitting or they can manage to work from home, then they don't necessarily have to use the right to this salary compensation,'' Vuksan pointed out.
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