As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 25th of May, 2020, this season, in order to increase the safety of guests, Valamar is introducing something called the "CleanSpace - 100% privacy" service, which guarantees that key points of contact in rooms and mobile homes are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, and that no one enters the accommodation unit before the scheduled guest arrives. In addition, the service offers complete privacy in the room throughout the guests' stay with the guarantee that the staff will enter the accommodation unit only at the invitation of the guest themselves.

Valamar Riviera, known as the largest tourist company in Croatia, started opening its tourist facilities once again on May the 22nd, 2020, with the opening of the Lanterna Premium Camping Resort in Poreč and La Pentola restaurant in Rabac. By the end of May, the other twelve Valamar camps will open across Istria and Kvarner. 

The opening of accommodation facilities owned by the tourist giant Valamar is a continuation of the plan to open the tourist season in Croatia, as announced by the Ministry of Tourism and the facilitated border crossing regime in May and June for Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and Poland. After that, it will be possible to open tourism up further to other markets depending on the epidemiological situation as time goes on.

For the past 90 days, Valamar's focus has been on managing the crisis caused by the global COVID-19 epidemic. As such, Valamar's business was successfully "paused", all jobs were preserved and the company was preparing for a restart while the priorities were to provide liquidity until the normalisation of business in 2021. Emphasis was placed on the modification of products and services to increase overall guest safety and accelerate existing digitalisation projects.

In the last 60 days, Valamar has modified its products and accelerated the development of its various digitisation projects to improve the services it can offer for the 2020 tourist season. In 2020, the accommodation capacity of hotels, resorts and camps will be reduced by 20 percent to provide even more space for guests in various areas. The key pieces of innovation that will be implemented at the re-opening of Valamar's numerous facilities are the "V Health & Safety" programme for the safety of guests, the aforementioned "CleanSpace 100% privacy" enhanced system for the cleaning of hotel rooms and mobile homes, the "Valfresco Direkt" online shopping and food delivery services, the "Online reception'' service and the "Bed & Brunch" concept.

V Health & Safety is a comprehensive programme encompassing health, safety and environmental standards, as well as advanced cleaning protocols aimed at further strengthening the hygiene standards that Valamar applies in its facilities. V Health & Safety protocols are harmonised with the safety recommendations of the World Health Organisation, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and the Croatian Institute of Public Health. From 2020 onwards, every accommodation facility owned by Valamar will have a V Health & Safety manager who is available to guests 24/7 throughout their stay, and should it be necessary, in close cooperation with the Croatian health system, manages the provision of health care for Valamar's guests.

This season, in order to increase the safety of guests, Valamar is introducing the "CleanSpace - 100% privacy" service, which has been detailed above.

As a result of the acceleration of digital development in 2020, the ''Online Reception'' service will be available to all hotel and camp guests. This service enables the check-in and check-out of guests via the Internet, thus simplifying arrival and departure procedures.

Bed & Brunch is a new restaurant concept in the Old Town Holiday and Sunny B&B hotels, which, instead of the classic half board scenario, offers an extended breakfast and brunch that guests can enjoy from 07:00 to 13:00, which gives them even more space and simplifies meals and hotel stays.

As part of the preparations for the restart of Croatian tourism amid the coronavirus pandemic, Valamar has developed a new service called Valfresco Direkt in just 60 days, which will be launched in early June in Istria and will be available to all citizens, tourists and Valamar guests.

Valfresco Direkt will enable the online ordering, purchase and delivery of domestic products directly to Valamar's customers, with special emphasis having been placed on partnerships with Croatian producers and family farms. In addition to a wide range of fresh local products, which are strongly supported by local producers, Valfresco will also offer a selection of ready-made dishes. The project will be premiered in Istria, and then the service will be extended to other Valamar destinations across the Republic of Croatia.

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The tourist turnover for Croatian private renters, at least when judging by the current state of reservations, could be at the level of a mere 30 percent of last year's turnover this season.

As Novac writes on the 25th of May, 2020, as predicted by Nedo Pinezić, the owner of the Quanarius tourism consulting company and provider of household accommodation services in Malinska, the recovery of tourism in Croatia will begin only next year and will be long-lasting.

''Family accommodation is good because we have a lot of loyal guests. There have also been new inquiries, reservations and announcements, and a lot of those arrived from Italy. The will to travel hasn't subsided,'' said the family tourism expert in the show "TNT" which is aired on N1 television.

He added that it would be very helpful for tourism workers to classify European regions into red and green zones, and it is important that tourists know exactly which protocol smust be followed when visiting a particular country. The instructions and recommendations, he says, can never be stressed or made clear enough.

''We receive dozens of emails with the same content in them. Tutorials on YouTube would be very helpful, to illustrate how to prepare accommodation and deal with things after guests' departure. There are a lot of unknowns in this,'' he pointed out.

We must, he says, be ready for the situation of a tourist getting sick, and we must have a clear protocol for dealing with and repairing possible damage. These are questions that are more than likely playing on the minds of Croatian private renters as tourism begins to gradually and cautiously wake up again.

''We all remember the situation with hotel and the cruiser when everyone was quarantined because of a few infected people. I’m not entirely sure we’re aware enough of such a possibility. Such an incident would take us back to the beginning of this whole story, back into the negative zone. Formally, all tourists are covered by an insurance policy. If tourism is important to us, and it is, then we need to talk openly about such issues. People want to know what awaits them,'' concluded Nedo Pinezić.

For more on Croatian private renters, follow our business page.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has seen economic difficulties ensue, with imports and exports being heavily affected in some sectors, much like disruption we're seeing in the transport and travel industry. Peljesac Bridge, a strategic project for Croatia and among the most significant since the nation gained its independence back in the 1990s, isn't immune to the complications the epidemic has caused.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 25th of May, 2020, at Peljesac Bridge's construction site down in Dalmatia, the first element of the span structure was lifted by a crane and placed on the bridge's S5 pillar. On the other pillars, elements of the bridge's steel structure have now been placed, which will act as a support for the installation of the elements of the span structure, 29 elements of which are already on the construction site of the long awaited bridge.

The ''base segment'' of the pavement structure of the future Peljesac Bridge from the shore might seem small at first sight, but it is actually ten metres long and 23.5 metres wide. Despite weighing an enormous 250 tonnes, a one thousand-tonne crane lifted it to a 40-metre-high pillar in a matter of mere minutes.

The first two base segments of the pavement structure have now been placed on the third pillar from the end. The next base segments will be placed on two central pillars. Since there is a navigable corridor between them, they are 55 metres high, and the supporting scaffolding that will temporarily keep the structures standing at that height is increasing in size every day, according to a report from HRT.

The bridge itself should be completed by July the 31st next year, but given the issues that have arisen as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, factories in China have not been in operation for some time. Therefore, this deadline being extended by several months remains a possibility.

For more information on Peljesac Bridge and other construction projects in Croatia, follow our lifestyle section.

May 26, 2020 — This was supposed to be a good year for foodies in Croatia. Michelin Stars, increased visibility, delivery apps, and ever-increasing tourism numbers fueled a gastronomic renaissance in Croatia. Hopes for a boom in 2020 remained high. Now, some restauranteurs and hospitality workers will hope to merely survive until next year.

Dalmatia’s chefs expect a catastrophic season. Not merely measured against the last few years, but overall. Between the coronavirus pandemic, costly epidemiological measures, the ensuing economic downturn, a late start to the summer season and general uncertainty, revenue at some eateries could plunge by 70 percent compared to last year. Some chefs told Slobodna Dalmacija they won’t even bother opening unless they know they’ll recoup costs. 

Restaurants in far-flung locations like Lastovo may suffer the most. Already disconnected from the mainland, a late start to the nautical tourism season combined with limited ferry service is forcing eateries on islands all along the Adriatic to remain closed.
It’s a strange irony of the coronavirus era: many Croatian restaurants think closed is the best way to stay open. At least in the long term. Marčlino Simić owner of Lastovo’s “Porto Rosso” did the math himself and kept his kitchen shuttered.

“For now, I do not intend to open my business because it is only an expense for me if there are no nautical tourists,” he said. “I’ll see around June 15 if anything changes.” He’s not alone. 

“More than 30 percent of Croatian caterers will not open the doors of their facilities,” chef Duje Pisac of Puteus Palace said. “I am also sure that in September a huge number of restaurants and cafes will change owners, go for rent or sell.”

The chef last year brought in cooks and waiters from Serbia; the local labor market couldn’t match his needs. He’d been planning to hold on to the staff for this year, expecting a profitable season.

Puteus Palace, a boutique luxury hotel on Brač, will open on June 15. Cancelations for now remain low but nevertheless both wages and orders have been cut to save cash.

“This is the only way we can make money,” Pisac said.

“We canceled everything because there is no work, and there was a surplus of domestic labor,” he added. “The hotel kitchen where I worked with eight people last year, this year it will fall on three people. And God forbid that I stay on that number until the end of the season.”

Chef Braco Sanjin of Split’s “Kadene” reoriented the menu towards domestic guests — a tectonic departure from its usual offerings. Prices were slashed while attempting to maintain a fine dining experience.

It’s a tightrope many higher-end restaurants are walking — reducing prices but not quality — to compete in an industry already used to razor-thin margins.

“These are all necessary adjustments we had to make to survive this summer,” Sanjin said.

Ivan Pažanin — perhaps one of Croatia’s most-recognizable chefs and television mainstay — is cutting prices by up to 20 percent at “Štorija” in Split. He’s called for lower highway tolls to incentivize travel within the country.

Still, many worry the time lost since the mid-March lockdown will be hard to make up.

“Two non-working months in the busiest part of the year for caterers means a collapse, which will drag on for the next five seasons,” Pisac said. “And the worst will be for the one who took out the loans, or for the one from the lease.”

Šimić has dim hopes for his Lastovo establishment but sees a silver lining for the country.

“We will be happy to earn 35 to 40 percent this year compared to last year,” he said. “The coronavirus brought us a historic chance to change something, for knowledge to pass from our asses into our heads about which way this beautiful country of ours should go.”

May 25, 2020 —  It survived several empires, wars and an epidemic or two in its 2,000 years of existence. Pula’s Roman Arena has now seen through the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic as well, reopening to visitors every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Archaeological Museum of Istria announced on Monday.

The museum, which manages Pula’s arena and other monuments, closed the Roman relic and other facilities to visitors on March 13 in accordance with measures to combat the spread of coronavirus enacted by the City of Pula.

The amphitheater technically did open once, allowing local cellist Stjepan Hauser to stream a concert from the arena.

Visitors will have to adopt epidemiological measures, and working hours will be extended if there is more interest in visits.

According to the Museum Documentation Center (MDC), Croatian museums had more than 5.2 million visitors last year. The Archaeological Museum of Istria had more than 575,000 visitors.

The arena is the most spectacular monument that Pula offers, and thanks to it, the Archaeological Museum of Istria generates large revenues. 

In the first eight months of last year alone, the Arena was visited by 373,583 tourists. Revenue from tickets was HRK14.6 million, which is 2.6 percent or about HRK370,000 more than in 2018. And there were about two percent more visitors.

ZAGREB, May 25, 2020 - It is in both Serbia and Croatia's interest to make their relations stable and meaningful, which requires stepping up political dialogue, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic and Croatia's Ambassador to Serbia, Hidajet Biscevic, said on Monday.

Dacic received the incoming Croatian ambassador for talks, welcoming him and wishing him a successful term, and expressing confidence that "in the coming period, the two countries will succeed, through joint efforts, to promote overall bilateral relations," the Serbian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The two officials agreed that both countries were interested in making their relations stable and meaningful, and that that required intensifying political dialogue.

Dacic expressed readiness to organise a visit by the Croatian foreign minister to Serbia after the coronavirus pandemic.

The two officials also discussed the challenges faced by their countries during the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, noting that both had overcome it successfully with the measures they had taken.

During the crisis, the two countries "cooperated successfully in organising the cross-border transport and transit of goods and passengers," the Serbian ministry said.

ZAGREB, May 25, 2020 - Croatian Parliament Speaker and secretary-general of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Gordan Jandrokovic, said on Monday that a grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was out of the question, as was a coalition with Miroslav Skoro's Homeland Movement, and that cooperation with Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic was unlikely.

"The HDZ will run in elections by itself, our coalition partners are the citizens, there will be no grand coalition with the SDP, and we will also not enter a coalition with Skoro," Jandrokovic told Croatian Radio, noting that the media should "ask Skoro and (SDP leader Davor) Bernardic if they will cooperate, I think it is about time to ask that question as well".

"There will be no talks with Skoro," Jandrokovic answered when asked if there was a possibility to at least talk with Skoro if that proved crucial for forming a government, and how much of a problem Skoro's partners, for instance, Hrvoje Zekanovic and Zlatko Hasanbegovec, could be.

"You have mentioned certain people, we will not cooperate with them because they are not a team who we consider would be capable of leading Croatia responsibly and seriously," Jandrokovic said, confirming that the HDZ's cooperation with Zagreb's Mayor, Milan Bandic, was also in question.

The HDZ objects to Bandic's criticising the government over its response to the consequences of the earthquake which hit Zagreb on March 22.

"It is unusual that Bandic has accused the government unprovoked, and it seems that we are becoming distant to such an extent that cooperation after the election will be impossible," Jandrokovic said.

As for cooperation with the Croatian People's Party (HNS), Jandrokovic did not want to speak about it as of yet.

We first need to see their election result, I would not comment on it yet, Jandrokovic noted.

Jandrokovic, who will be running in parliamentary elections for the sixth time, did not reveal in which constituency he would run. The decision on the order of candidates on electoral lists must first be reached by the competent party bodies, and before that happens it would not be appropriate to go public with such information, Jandrokovic said.

 May 25, 2020 - More clarity on entry conditions to Croatia with a detailed FAQ from the official Koronavirus website.

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If you can't find the answer to your question, please contact Ministry of the Interior using on-line form.

Do I have to self-isolate after entering the Republic of Croatia?

No. The measure of self-isolation is no longer imposed on all passengers on border crossing points when entering the Republic of Croatia.

It may be imposed only on individuals for whom it is determined during border checks that they have been in contact with a person infected with COVID-19.

However, when entering the Republic of Croatia, border police officers will provide you with a leaflet containing instructions and recommendations issued by the Croatian Institute of Public Health which you have to comply with in the following 14 days.
 
I entered the Republic of Croatia prior to 9 May 2020 and I was imposed self-isolation. Do I still have to self-isolate?

All measures of self-isolation imposed by border police officers were revoked on 9 May 2020.

However, persons who were imposed self-isolation prior to 9 May 2020 must comply with the instructions and recommendations issued by the Croatian Institute of Public Health for 14 days after their entry into the Republic of Croatia.
 
Which documents are Croatian nationals required to show on a border crossing point when entering the Republic of Croatia if they do not have permanent or temporary residence in the Republic of Croatia?

Croatian nationals and their family members who do not have Croatian citizenship do not have to provide proof that they meet the conditions for entering the Republic of Croatia. It is sufficient that they hold a passport or an identity card.
 
I am a foreign national and I own real estate or a vessel. Which documents am I required to show on a border crossing point to be allowed entry into the Republic of Croatia?

When entering the Republic of Croatia, you have to show a title deed, a purchase contract or other documents which prove that you are the owner of real estate or a vessel, upon which you and the members of your close family will be granted entry.
 
I am a foreign national, I own real estate in the Republic of Croatia and I would like to visit my house for the purposes of upkeep and maintenance after a longer period of time. Can my wife and my children accompany me and do I have to self-isolate after entering the country?

Your wife and children, as family members, can accompany you to the Republic of Croatia. Self-isolation is not necessary.

Rather, you must comply with the recommendations and instructions issued by the Croatian Institute of Public Health during your stay in the Republic of Croatia (keeping a minimum of 1.5m distance, avoiding handshaking, close contact and similar).
 
I am an EU/EEA national and I am visiting the Republic of Croatia for an official meeting. I have a girlfriend who is an EU national. We have been together for four months. She would like to accompany me. What do I require to enter the Republic of Croatia and can my girlfriend come with me?

You will be allowed entry into the Republic of Croatia. You need to have an invitation letter for a business meeting from a company in the Republic of Croatia.

Your girlfriend does not currently meet the requirements for entering the Republic of Croatia, unless the invitation also refers to her.
 
I am a national of a non-EU/non-EEA country, my husband is a Croatian national. Due to the COVID-19 situation, we have been living separately for the past two months. Am I allowed to enter the Republic of Croatia and visit my husband?

You will be allowed entry into the Republic of Croatia for the purpose of family reunification.

When crossing the border, you will have to show the documents proving that you are married to a Croatian national, e.g. a marriage certificate.
 
I am a national of a non-EU/non-EEA country. I have regulated stay and a work permit in the Republic of Croatia. Am I allowed to enter the country to continue working given the fact that the company I work for has been closed for two months due to COVID-19? Am I required to have a pass to reach the location of my work?

You meet the requirements to enter the Republic of Croatia. As regards the pass, it is no longer required.
 
I am a national of a non-EU/non-EEA country. My mother passed away in the Republic of Croatia yesterday. Am I allowed to attend her funeral?

You will be allowed to attend the funeral.

When crossing the border, you have to provide evidence of her death and you have to reach the location of the funeral without stopping and return to Bosnia and Herzegovina immediately after the funeral.

You must comply with the recommendations and instructions issued by the Croatian Institute of Public Health during your stay in the Republic of Croatia (keeping a minimum of 1.5m distance, avoiding handshaking, close contact, using a mask indoors and similar).
 
I am a national of a non-EU/non-EEA country. I suffer from a serious disease and I have an appointment at University Hospital Centre Zagreb (KBC Zagreb, Rebro). I have all the necessary documents and a hospital invitation for the appointment. Am I allowed to enter the Republic of Croatia for the appointment?

You will be allowed entry into the Republic of Croatia for serious and pressing health reasons if you provide the appropriate documents when crossing the border.
 
I am a citizen of a Member State of the EU/EEA and I have booked tourist accommodation in the Republic of Croatia. What documents do I need to have to enter the Republic of Croatia?

It is necessary to present the confirmation of accommodation booking in an accommodation establishment.

The confirmation of accommodation booking in an accommodation establishment includes:

• Confirmation of accommodation booking of all accommodation service providers / all types of accommodation
• Camp lease contract
• Permanent berth contract in a nautical tourism port
• Confirmation of berth reservation in a nautical tourism port
• Travel agency voucher etc.

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