Croatian Film Experiences Become Scientific Study Subject
Croatian film experiences are now being looked into in the form of a scientific study. As Novac writes on the 14th of July, 2020, the prestigious British publisher of scientific literature, Routledge, has published a monumental edition dedicated to the interdependence of tourism and the media entitled "The Routledge Companion to Media and Tourism".
This particular edition, aimed at universities around the world and tourism and media industry workers, provides a comprehensive overview of media and tourism convergence research, with particular emphasis placed on the concept of mediated tourism. The publication was edited by eminent scientists in the field: Maria Månsson, Annæ Buchmann, Cecilia Cassinger and Lena Eskilsson. The book brought together leading scientists dealing with this issue from around the world. It also brings with it numerous case studies from the practice of a number of countries, with the world of film playing a special role.
Among the authors of the chapter are Croatian scientists prof. dr. sc. Božo Skoko and doc. dr. sc. Katarina Miličević, who have both dealt with the topic of film-induced tourism on the example of Croatia under the title Challenges of film-induced tourism in Croatia: From Winnetou to Game of Thrones. Namely, Croatia as an alluring tourist destination has been recognised for decades as a prime filming location, where a number of popular films and series were shot. As such, Croatian film and TV tourism plays a pivotal role.
However, much like many other things, the country has undercapitalised Croatian film tourism so many of the facts surrounding it remain largely unknown. In order to further improve audio-visual production, Croatia established the Croatian Audiovisual Centre public institution back in 2008, and in order to use the film in international promotion, in 2013, it adopted a special Croatian film tourism strategy.
Based on the efforts of HAVC, a number of productions were filmed in Croatia, such as Game of Thrones and Star Wars in Dubrovnik. The paper analyses the advantages and disadvantages of film-induced tourism for the identity and image of the destination. The authors also analyse the example of Croatia look into what type of film production is used to promote the destination, and what efforts are needed to capitalise on it. It also delves deeper into what situations the promotion of the destination through film can cause confusion among tourists and actually damage the destination's image. The authors have been dealing with the brand and image of tourist destinations for many years now, but also the country as a whole.
Skoko is a professor at the Department of Strategic Communication at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, and one of the first researchers of the phenomenon of the brand and the image of the state in this area. He is also the co-founder of the leading Croatian communication management agency - Millenium promocija. Miličević is an assistant professor at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia and the Zagreb School of Economics and Management, as well as a partner in the global consulting company "Horwath HTL Zagreb". In addition, she is the director and co-founder of the company "thinktourism".
Thanks to the scientific study of the Croatian approach and the engagement of Croatian scientists internationally, there is no doubt that Croatian film experiences will become an inspiration to many around the world, but also an incentive for domestic institutions to better use the raw power of film in Croatia's international positioning in the future.
For more, follow our lifestyle section.
Croatia-Slovenia Commission on Krsko Nuclear Power Plant Meets
ZAGREB, July 14, 2020 - The Croatian-Slovenian commission overseeing an agreement between the two countries on the regulation of relations concerning the jointly owned Krsko nuclear power plant met in Zagreb on Tuesday and approved the third revision of decommissioning and radioactive waste disposal programmes.
The commission, meeting for the 14th time, discussed the work of the plant and the funds raised for decommissioning and waste disposal, the Croatian Environment and Energy Ministry said in a press release.
Croatian Environment and Energy Minister Tomislav Coric and Slovenian Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec said they were pleased with the final approval of the programme revision.
"I thank the Slovenian side for the good cooperation," said Coric.
"The programmes approved a key for maintaining (the plant's) excellent and safe work," said Vrtovec, thanking Croatia "for the achievements."
The commission's 15th meeting is planned for the first half of next year in Slovenia.
The Krsko plant, located in Slovenia, is to stop working in 2043. In 2018, Croatia adopted a national radioactive waste disposal programme which defined the former military complex Cerkezovac in the Dvor municipality as the location for a waste disposal centre.
Divjak: Everyone in Ministry Tested Negative for Coronavirus
ZAGREB, July 14, 2020 - Everyone in the Ministry of Science and Education who was tested on Tuesday for the coronavirus has proved to be negative but they will remain in self-isolation until July 22 as a precautionary measure, Minister Blazenka Divjak posted on her Facebook profile.
"All of us in the ministry who were tested today are negative for the coronavirus," Divjak wrote and added that as a precautionary measure they would remain in self-isolation until July 22.
Epidemiologists will continue to determine contacts and prescribe measures for the ministry's employees if they deem that to be necessary, added Divjak.
Ministry officials were instructed today to self-isolate and urgently be tested for the coronavirus after the ministry state secretary tested positive.
Minister Divjak posted earlier that she is currently working from home and that all processes and preparations for the next school and academic year were continuing according to plan.
"There is no doubt that just like we managed to launch remote learning overnight, the ministry will manage to work remotely for just over a week. This is, after all, a peaceful transitional period," she wrote, calling on everyone to be responsible and cautious towards themselves and others.
Referring to unofficial sources, the media today reported that the ministry's state secretary had attended a wedding party in Zadar, where some people had previously been identified to have caught the coronavirus. After returning to Zagreb she did not undergo a test or go into self-isolation and in the meantime attended a staff meeting of the ministry's officials and other meetings.
Group of Faculty of Humanities Employees and Students Hold Protest Walk
ZAGREB, July 14, 2020 - A group of employees and students of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb on Tuesday marched from the faculty to Government House and handed in their petition against the Zagreb University Rector's recent decision to suspend the faculty's dean Vesna Vlahovic-Stetic.
Professor Neven Jovanovic, for whose appointment as dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences the University Senate withheld consent in April, said that they wanted to hand in the petition, which is supported by 8,000 signatures, to the government and that they demand the resignation of Rector Damir Boras, accusing him of taking the university in the wrong direction.
Jovanovic said that only the government and the prime minister could stop the attempts to stifle democracy in the university.
One of the participants in the protest walk was Tomislav Tomasevic of the We Can political platform who said that he supported the protesting students and professors. Tomasevic accused Boras of abusing the autonomy of the university since he became rector.
Protesters carried banners with messages: "No Pasaran!", or "The Faculty is Ours!" and messages promoting left-libertarianism.
Last week, Rector Boras suspended Vlahovic-Stetic and that decision caused strong reactions. Boras's decision ensued after a final ruling by the Zagreb County Court of June 26 which found Vlahovic-Stetic guilty of harassing Vice-Rector Ante Covic, thus harming the dignity of employees in the sphere of communication, social relations and quality of their professional status.
The court ruled that Professor Covic was subjected to harassment by Vlahovic-Stetic from the start of her term in office as dean in November 2017 to 15 November 2018, when his employment contract expired. Boras said in his decision that Vlahovic-Stetic had also caused financial harm to the Faculty because it now has to pay its former employee HRK 25,000 (€3,300) in damages plus HRK 11,250 (€1,500) in litigation costs.
Commenting on the case, Science and Education Minister Blazenka Divjak said in a Facebook post that academic cliques were destroying the system of science and education and that "the Covic-Boras axis is causing huge damage to the system" as well as that "the University must do better."
This past Thursday, students, and professors at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences staged a protest outside the faculty building against the rector's decision.
Capak: If Divjak Is Positive, Gov't Members Won't Have to Self-Isolate
ZAGREB, July 14, 2020 - Croatian Institute of Public Health director Krunoslav Capak said on Tuesday that if Education Minister Blazenka Divjak tested positive for coronavirus, the other government members would not have to self-isolate because they all wore masks at a meeting on Monday.
All Science and Education Ministry staff, including Divjak, were instructed by epidemiologists today to self-isolate and get tested because the ministry's state secretary Ivana Franic tested positive.
Yesterday Divjak and all ministers attended a meeting of the national council for the introduction of the euro chaired by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.
"Divjak herself and other staff must self-isolate. Some have already been tested and the results will be known by evening," Capak said at a press conference of the national COVID-19 response team.
Asked if Franic had attended a wedding and breached self-isolation,, he said, "I know there was a big gathering, but I don't know if it was a wedding... I can't answer if their self-isolation was breached."
No increase in infections after the election
Capak said there had been no increase in coronavirus cases after the July 5 parliamentary election.
Capak: If Czech tourists have been infected here, we'll communicate that
He said it had not been confirmed that the Czech tourists who claimed they were infected in Croatia were indeed infected here. If they were, we'll communicate that, he added.
Capak said a Serbian citizen was repatriated and that he was tested in Pula the day he arrived, and that a family who arrived from Sweden were infected in Sweden and were self-isolating in Pula.
He said an infected Macedonian family was in Zadar County and would stay there until they recovered, and that a positive British citizen was in Split but that it was not known where or when he was infected.
Croatia Confirms 52 New Coronavirus Cases, One Death
ZAGREB, July 14, 2020 - Over the past 24 hours 52 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Croatia, bringing the number of active cases up to 1,183, and one person has died, the national COVID-19 response team said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference, Health Minister Vili Beros said Croatia had registered 3,827 cases since the novel coronavirus appeared 141 days ago.
The latest fatality was a man in Zagreb, born in 1951, who had many underlying conditions but was not on a ventilator. Since the start of the epidemic, 120 persons have died.
Five patients are on ventilators, one more than on Monday, and 129 patients are hospitalised.
Over the past 24 hours, 11 patients have been discharged from hospital and 33 have recovered at home. There are 81 active cases among medical staff, seven more than on Monday, and 508 are self-isolating.
To date 95,920 persons have been tested, including 1,745 over the past 24 hours, and 4.03% of the samples have been positive. Men account for 48.41%.
Education Minister and Ministry Officials Required to Self-Isolate
ZAGREB, July 14, 2020 - All the officials at the Ministry of Science and Education including Minister Blazenka Divjak were informed by epidemiologists on Tuesday that they had to self-isolate and take COVID tests after a ministry state-secretary had tested positive.
The ministry said in a press release that Minister Divjak had consulted epidemiologists and was instructed to go into self-isolation and to be urgently tested for the virus.
All of the ministry's officials were informed that they should self-isolate after the ministry's state-secretary proved positive, the press release said.
Unofficial sources have said that the state-secretary had attended a wedding party in Zadar, where some people have been identified to have caught the coronavirus. After returning to Zagreb she did not undergo a test or go into self-isolation and in the meantime attended a staff meeting of the ministry's officials and other meetings.
Tomasevic Says Didn't Want to Take Part in Something Resembling "Political Trade-off"
ZAGREB, July 14, 2020 - The We Can political platform leader Tomislav Tomasevic said on Tuesday that they had rejected Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic's invitation for a party-to-party meeting between the ruling HDZ and opposition parties, as for him all that bore a resemblance to political bartering.
Tomasevic said he could see no reason for "what the premier could say to me only what other colleagues from the Opposition should not hear."
He went on to say that he "cannot understand what he can respond to the premier's ideas about how to solve the social and economic crisis awaiting us that could not be heard by others from the Opposition."
Tomasevic criticised the premier for being inflexible and insisting only on party-to-party meetings between him and Opposition leaders.
Tomasevic went on to say that he saw no reason why the entire Opposition should not be present at such talks Plenkovic.
As for the government spokesman's comment that Opposition representatives who turned down the invitation did not realise the gravity of the situation, Tomasevic said that they could see how the situation was serious, however, they do not want to participate in anything resembling an over-the-counter trade-off.
"I find this to be a bad practice," Tomasevic said.
H1 Donations to Bridge, GLAS, Human Shield, New Left Range from HRK 70k to 19k
ZAGREB, July 14, 2020 - The Bridge party received nearly 70,000 kuna in donations in the first half of 2020, according to the reports on political parties' donations.
This parliamentary opposition party received exactly HRK 68,500 from 108 donors. The four highest donations were 4,000 kuna paid by party officials: Sonja Cikotic, Bozo Petrov and Nikola Grmoja each.
The GLAS party reported HRK 51,000 in donations, with its leader Anka Mrak-Taritas having paid 10,000 and parliamentary deputy Goran Beus-Richembergh 8,000 kuna.
The Human Shield party had 23,000 kuna of donations, mainly secured by donations given by its members.
The New Left which secured seats in the new, 10th parliament had donations in the amount of 19,000 and the biggest individual donation in the amount of 10,000 was paid by the Specijalna Oprema Lucko company, whose core business is developing, manufacturing and installing equipment for gas, oil, petrochemical and general process industries.
About 30 political parties have so far submitted their reports on donations and they are available on the Electoral Commission's website.
In the first half of this year the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party received HRK 560,000 in donations for its regular political activities, a report published on Monday shows.
Many political parties, including those in parliament, reported no donations, including the Independent Democratic Serb Party, the Croatian Pensioners Party, the Istrian Democratic Party and Let's Change Croatia. Independent MPs Vladimir Bilek, who represents the Czech and Slovak minorities, and Veljko Kajtazi (Roma minority) also reported receiving no donations.
The Social Democratic Party, Bridge and the Homeland Movement are yet to submit their reports. The deadline is July 15.
Any party that fails to do so by the given deadline faces a fine of between HRK 10,000 and 100,000, while MPs and councillors face a fine of between HRK 2,000 and 20,000.
(€1 = HRK 7.5)
Bridge Says Will Turn Down Plenkovic's Invitation for Meeting
ZAGREB, July 14, 2020 - The Bridge party said on Tuesday that it would turn down Prime Minister's invitation for a meeting with that opposition party, explaining that it believes that only a joint meeting of Plenkovic with all opposition parliamentary parties would have some sense.
Although the Bridge party was initially ready to forget all political differences when it comes to Croatia's interests, and therefore it had accepted the invitation for a meeting in the government, now that party believes "that there is no willingness to ensure a joint and constructive meeting with the whole Opposition."
Bridge writes on its Facebook that separate meetings with each of the Opposition parties would not make any sense and therefore this party is against such talks.
Bridge says that it has already presented its platform's economic plank to the public and that the implementation requires courage and political will.
The party goes on to say that it expects the new government to present its platform in the parliament and to organise a joint meeting with the Opposition.
Last week, Plenkovic, who is to be the prime minister-designate after the results of the July 5 elections, announced meetings with representatives of parliamentary parties so as to reach a consensus on key issues for the country.
A majority of opposition parties seem to be against separate meetings.
