ZAGREB, June 19, 2020- Two police officers have been suspended from duty and face disciplinary action following an incident on June 11 when one of them caused slight injuries to an illegal migrant while the other did not stop him or report him, the Karlovac Police Department said on Friday.

The two officers have been placed in custody and face disciplinary action for a serious breach of duty.

According to the police statement, on the evening of June 11, a foreign national was brought to the police station in Slunj with visible injuries. The man at first did not want to say what had happened, and when he did, his statement was different from those made by the two police officers who brought him in. A subsequent investigation found that one of the police officers slightly injured the foreign national, while the other failed to prevent such action and did not report him.

June 20, 2020 - Dubrovnik was the first city in the world to introduce quarantine in 1377, a fact that has interested international media since the start of the coronavirus epidemic.

Namely, HRTurizam writes that while epidemics were raging around the world in the 14th century, including the plague, revolutionary measures were adopted in Dubrovnik to prevent the introduction and spread of infectious diseases in the Republic. The Adriatic Pearl was the first city in the world to introduce quarantine in 1377, the first system of anti-infective measures.

Thus, the people of Dubrovnik, already famous sailors and merchants at that time, prescribed measures for the protection of health and provided conditions for business even in times of great danger from the plague. After the first decision on anti-infective measures from 1377, the Senate chose the islands of Bobara and Supetar, the monastery of Sv. Marija on the island of Mljet, then in the middle of the 15th century, the construction of an infirmary in Danče began, and in the 1530s on the islet of Lokrum. In 1627, the construction of the Lazaret in Ploče began, which are the only fully preserved quarantine complex in the European part of the Mediterranean, and have been under UNESCO protection since 1994.

The emphasis on the Dubrovnik tradition in the fight against various epidemics since the 14th century has had an extremely positive response in international media, points out the Dubrovnik Tourist Board.

Some of the world's most famous media reported the story of the world's first quarantine, like the Washington Post, BBC, NYTimes, BBC News Mundo, Corriere della Sera, France 24, Bild, Rtl, La Vanguardia, 24 Horas, and ABC News.

The Dubrovnik Tourist Board and the City of Dubrovnik have thus used this important bit of history for marketing purposes in constant communication with foreign media, as well as in all promotional activities.

They also recently released an animated film called "Dubrovnik - safe vacation", starring the knight Orlando, who takes viewers into history, back in 1377, when the idea of quarantine in Lazareti was conceived as a way to fight various epidemics.

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

Tourist boards will have more than they're likely to have assumed previously at their disposal to promote Croatia here at home and across Europe to try to encourage foreign tourists.

As Morski writes on the 19th of June, 2020, the 68th session of the Tourist Council was held recently in Opatija, where the members of the council, in the presence of the Minister of Tourism Gari Cappelli and the director of the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ), Kristjan Stanicic, adopted amendments to HTZ's Annual Work Programme and Financial Plan for 2020. The new plan envisions a reduction in total revenues of the Croatian Tourist Board for this year of about 35 percent compared to the original plan, while a reduction of about 40 percent is projected on the expenditure side.

''Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where tourism is the most affected industry, we found ourselves in a situation of preserving health, as well as jobs, where our government provided direct assistance to half a million employees, as well as a number of benefits for businesses. As such, we've introduced a number of relief measures for those in the business of tourism and hospitality, and we sent those changes via an e-Conference to the regulations on tourist membership fees which reduce the prescribed lump sum amounts by 50 percent,'' said Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli when commenting on the current situation in respect to the economy.

''We approached the amendments to the Croatian National Tourist Board's Annual Work Programme and Financial Plan due to the extraordinary circumstances that arose as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic, which is still strongly influencing global tourism trends. This new plan ensures the continuity of promotional activities on the foreign market through joint promotional activities for the main summer part of the tourist year, which we'll carry out in cooperation with the system of the tourist boards and our key partners in selected markets, for which members of the Tourist Council approved seven million kuna,'' stated HTZ's director, Kristjan Stanicic, emphasising that intensive promotional campaigns on European emitting markets have been underway since the beginning of June, and that the strong promotion of Croatian tourism on the domestic market will begin soon.

By the decisions made by the Tourist Council, budgets for the implementation of new joint promotional activities for the year 2020 with regional tourist boards were readily accepted, with which HTZ will co-finance up to 50 percent of the value of media plans for destination advertising, as well as for cooperation with foreign tour operators and carriers promoting their programmes for Croatia and operating in foreign markets. i

These include numerous European markets like that of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Italy and the United Kingdom.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of June, 2020, the funding has been provided to the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Museum of Arts and Crafts and the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb. INA has so far donated more than 1,500,000 kuna to the fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and repair the damage caused by the Zagreb earthquake that struck the capital back in March.

Through its daily operations and socially responsible behaviour, INA continues to be a partner and support for the community. Aware of the difficult situation in which the historic core of the city of Zagreb found itself after the devastating earthquake, INA decided to donate an additional 800,000 kuna to the aforementioned institutions.

"On behalf of all members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts and myself, I'd like to sincerely thank you for the generous donation you sent us, which we really need in these difficult times. By supporting the highest Croatian scientific and artistic institution, INA, as one of the historically leading companies in Croatia, has once again expressed its social responsibility by providing an inspiring example of solidarity and friendship. We truly appreciate your valuable and quick help, which will be invaluable in the restoration of the Academy's property,'' said Academician Velimir Neidhardt, President of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, which owns damaged buildings located in the historic protected part of town.

"On my own behalf and on behalf of all employees of MUO, and I'm convinced that I speak on behalf of the entire cultural public, I'd like to express my gratitude to INA for the valuable donation that will be an incentive for us, despite all of the adversity, to equip the museum building for visitors and continue with important programmes to preserve the cultural identity of us all. Thank you, INA, for recognising our efforts and vision to restore the splendor of one of the oldest fundamental national cultural institutions in the Croatia, the Museum of Arts and Crafts,'' said Miroslav Gasparovic, the director of the Museum of Arts and Crafts, which was closed to the public due to severe damage caused by the Zagreb earthquake.

"Thank you for your contribution to enable us to return the possibility of re-exhibiting archeological material to the citizens of the City of Zagreb and the general public as soon as possible. We believe that with the help and support, we'll be able to restore the permanent display we had before the earthquake struck, improve the presentation and ensure the safety of our visitors. We'd like especially thank you for recognising the urgency of the action, which enabled us to start as soon as possible with interventions in the rehabilitation of the building, restoration and other interventions,'' said the director of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, Sanjin Mihelic.

The Vranyczany-Hafner Palace, built back in 1879 and which has housed the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb since 1945, has been given the yellow label "temporarily unusable" and the museum is closed to visitors due to earthquake damage.

"The oil and gas industry has been affected by the crisis, which isn't something that has bypassed INA either. We're adjusting our business and we've been forced to revise our investment plans, but even in such a situation, in INA and the entire MOL Group, we're aware of the need to invest in the quality of life of the society in which we live and work. Residents of Zagreb, as well as numerous institutions in the protected historical core that were destroyed in the earthquake, are facing difficult circumstances. It's our duty to help, because this is the moment when we can show that together we're stronger than a natural disaster. INA has been on this path for years and continuously provides support to scientific, cultural and artistic institutions, and we're going to continue to do so in the future,'' said INA CEO Sandor Fasimon.

In order to help repair the damage caused by the earthquake that hit Zagreb, INA donated 250,000 kuna to the "Together for Zagreb" campaign and a further 100,000 kuna to the Children's Clinic in Zagreb back in April.

In addition, 250,000 kuna was donated to the ''Dr Fran Mihaljevic'' Clinic for Infectious Diseases and the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Health Centre in order to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. 100,000 kuna was donated to the Dr. Ivo Pedisic General Hospital in Sisak and the Red Cross.

The Special Hospital for Childrens' Chronic Diseases in Gornja Bistra and the Croatian Institute of Emergency Medicine were donated 50,000 kuna each, the Rebro Pediatric Oncology Foundation was provided with a donation of 200,000 kuna, with the Pula General Hospital also receiving 100,000 kuna.

In addition, INA donated 50,000 kuna to the Kamensko Association, which sews cotton masks, while 10,000 kuna was donated to the Rudjer Boskovic Technical School in Vinkovci to make visors on 3D printers that the school then donated to Croatian hospitals. INA also helped supply the Civil Protection Headquarters of the Republic of Croatia with a deficient surface disinfectant by donating 720 litres of INA Denizol, a new product produced by INA MAZIVA, which was also donated to the Zagreb Homes for the Elderly.

Corporate responsibility and social engagement are an integral part of INA's business operations and are part of a long tradition focused on social and economic progress. The preservation of the cultural public good is certainly one of the key features for the further development of our society.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 19th of June, 2020, about 500 connections will be provided by the electrification programme to Croatian Roma settlements throughout the entire country within the Government's Operational Programme for the Roma national minority, Vecernji list reports on Friday.

This was stated officially following the signing of the contract on financing the programme of connection to the electricity network of households located in Croatian Roma settlements, which was signed by the Minister of Environment and Energy, Tomislav Coric, and the director of HEP - Distribution System Operator, Nikola Sulentic.

In the first phase of the works, there will be as many as 200 connections introduced in the continental Croatian areas of ​​Sisak-Moslavina, Koprivnica-Krixevci, Bjelovar-Bilogora, Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja, Medjimurje and Varazdin counties. The competent ministry has provided two million kuna in total for the introduction of electricity in Croatian Roma settlements across the country, and with this money, HEP ODS will provide connections for all users who meet all of the necessary legal requirements.

All of the owners of the buildings on the connection list had to satisfy numerous conditions in order to get the green light for the electricity introduction, such as the proper provision of proof that the building had been legalised correctly and that all of the accompanying electricity connection fees had been paid in full.

For more on minorities in Croatia and Government initiatives and programmes intended for them, follow our dedicated lifestyle page.

June 20, 2020 - How would you rather spend your money? A car ferry ticket to a Croatian island, or 7 days accommodation in Greece INCLUDING flight from the UK AND money left over for dinner and drinks?

I have spoken to and met with a lot of people in the last few weeks, gathering information and experiences about the tourist season, or lack of it. Once Tourism Minister Cappelli announced that Croatia was 'breathing tourism', the natural expectation was that there would be an upsurge in arrivals, and that there would be the semblance of a tourist season. With a general election just 15 days away, it is important to keep up all the positive stories of what the Croatian Government is doing to bring tourists to Croatia. 

The reality, sadly, is very, very little, despite what you may hear. The Croatian National Tourist Board is only targetting seven countries with its latest campaign - Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia and Poland. No need to target the likes of Switzerland, for example. 

I was in Munich for 24 hours this week, surely a key market for German tourists. I walked all over the centre of town and was looking out for signs of Croatian tourism promotion. 

There was nothing whatsoever. 

Here, at Karlsplatz Stacchus in the centre of Munich, an enticing invitation to visit Austria. 

Talking to various tourism professionals has been very insightful to provide a bigger picture overall. One hotel group told me that 75% of their regular guests (Americans, Brazilians, Asians) cannot physically visit Croatia at the moment, so the best they can expect is 25% of last year. If the arrivals of the other countries will be at the same level.

They won't be. 

Another told me of the change in travel patterns which seems to be emerging. The era of island hopping is slowly changing to a fixed address for a 7-day stay, as tourists would rather have limited contact and onward travel. 

And then there is price. 

Back on March 25, 2020, in Hope v Reality: Will There Be a 2020 Tourist Season in Croatia?, I wrote

Competition for tourists after coronavirus is going to be INSANE

Greece, Italy, Spain, Egypt, France, Turkey, Tunisia, Montenegro and many other countries have very large tourism industries, all of which are in a similar situation as Croatia. They will all be trying extra hard to grab whatever they can from the smaller pot of potential tourists. And one of the key weapons they will fight with is one where Croatian tourism is not particularly competitive. 

Price. 

Expect savage discounts to get at least some tourists to come. Imagine how cheap Italy is going to be, for example, as they need to rebuild their tourism industry. But Turkey, Egypt, Greece - they are better on price than Croatia traditionally, so if there is going to be a tourist season in Croatia this year, there is going to have to be a lot of thought on price. 

Want to know just how insane that competition is? You can currently book a 7-day holiday in Greece from the UK with self-catering accommodation AND flight for £124, departing in the peak season on July 12. Just one of many, many unbelievable deals being offered by Croatia's tourism competition. Check some of them out here.

That £124 for an entire holiday including flight is considerably cheaper than the cost of the return ferry ticket for a family car to the island of Lastovo, and a similar price for the Split to Stari Grad ferry on Hvar. So island visitors are already paying as more or more for their holiday without adding the costs of travel and accommodation.

But worry not, for the Ministry of Tourism is celebrating the fact that Jadrolinija (a State-owned company) is not increasing its fares for the 2020 season. 

If you are travelling on a ferry in Croatia this summer, you will certainly be able to 'breathe Croatia's tourism' as there will be few tourists around you. 

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

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June 19, 2020 — As Dalmatia’s housing footprint expands faster than its infrastructure, locals relieve the swell of sewage and construction scraps however they can. The result: much of Dalmatia’s hinterland is brimming with crap.

A manmade pool of festering feces sits just 10 kilometers outside of Zadar, near a town adjacent to the airport called Babindub. Excavation equipment dug the hole; trucks laid the gravel leading to it. Now septic tank cleaning services empty their wares there.

The smell of raw sewage and garbage permeates the hot air as the pond grows with every new deposit of feces, then recedes as the summer sun evaporates the water.

Authorities wish they could find a better solution, but the residential market is growing faster than government-funded infrastructure can keep up.

Croatia’s tourism boom set off a cascade of changes along a sleepy coast which once housed merchant seamen, farmers and fishing villages. 

Old seaside stone houses transformed into private accommodations for tourists. Many opted for gut renovations, carting off wheelbarrows-worth of support beams, stones and brick. Second or even third stories were added to increase capacity and available space.

Septic tanks and sewer lines meant for humble single-family homes were now inundated three months a year with constant toilet flushes and frequent showers of multi-apartment dwellings. Residential zones expanded as well, sparking building booms on property once reserved for sheep and a rotation of crops. 

The local infrastructure, already aging poorly, could hardly handle the new annual spike in water use and refuse. Local authorities often did not branch existing sewage lines out to connect newly-built homes, forcing most new houses to include septic tanks that must be emptied by municipal services.

Septic tanks, which have been known to overfill at inopportune times during the tourism season, posed a unique problem. Costly municipal emptying services fuel a black market for poop removal. Many homeowners with overflowing tanks found a solution in the backcountry roads and abandoned parcels on the outskirts of their town. Police in Zadar recently caught three men allegedly dumping household wastewater off a side road. The practice is so common, authorities are trying to control the situation somehow until infrastructure catches up.

Hence, Babindub’s crap hole.

Local authorities in the neighboring municipalities of Bibinje and Sukosan on June 1 approved the Babindub hole’s creation, according to Zadarski List. The governments decided to use the hole as a “temporary” holding place for feces, promising to treat the festering pool with enzymes to break the crap down.

The hole itself has instead turned into an orgy of toilet tissue and pests, with a pool of feces expanding and contracting with new deposits and subsequent evaporation, as if it were a tide of poop. Locals are clearly peeved, but authorities say they are short of options.

“I would be happiest if we had a solution to this problem, but unfortunately we do not have it,” Stipe Bugarija, a member of the local Sewage Board, told Zadarski List. “In order to reduce the damage, we procured enzymes with which the workers spray the pit in order to decompose it faster and faster. If anyone can solve this, let them solve it, because we have no way.”

Bibinje and Sukošan have been at the heart of a construction boom. Once humble outskirts to Zadar’s hub, they’ve now become a long chain of newly-built houses and ongoing construction sites. A stroll through either will see as many construction dumpers and trucks as passenger vehicles. Yet authorities have put off expanding the existing sewage infrastructure or adding new branches to the existing network, requiring to build a new treatment plant first.

Those works are still on hold, and authorities at the national level claim they’re looking into the matter.

ZAGREB, June 19, 2020 - The state should equip the Croatian Air Force with something new and state of the art because what we have now has given its best, President and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Zoran Milanovic said on Friday in the Zemunik airbase.

Attending a ceremony presenting pilot flight badges to cadets in the 24th generation of Air Force pilots, President Milanovic said that each commander is as great as much as he cares for his people and "doesn't treat them as cannon fodder."

"If we raise that to the level of the state, our state should, I believe it will, invest funds and simply supply the Air Force with something more modern and new because what we have at the moment has given its best, it completed a sort of historic mission more than 20 years ago," he said.

A state and people who safeguard their values aren't afraid of costs

We know how procurement went and now it's time for new times. "And that costs but a state and people who know what they have and know how to safeguard their values will not be afraid of those costs and will take them, he added.

Asked about the procurement of new fighter jets, Milanovic said that that is the consensus in Croatian political life but when asked at what stage it was, he said, "at the beginning."

I supported lifting rigorous epidemiological measures

Commenting on the increase in the number of people infected with the novel coronavirus on Thursday, Milanovic said that he "supported lifting and abolishing those rigorous measures."

"We can never go back to that sort of lockdown. That was a reaction to something new, threatening. We will have to protect the elderly and ill," he said.

Reporters asked Milanovic about the investigations into two aircraft accidents at the Zemunik airbase.

"If the investigation is going to be proper, it will be independent. Particularly these investigations in which no one is inclined to cover up anything, or steer the investigation in a certain direction and to desired conclusions. Investigations take time and they are especially rigorous for air accidents," he concluded.