August the 10th, 2021 - The brand new Croatian Motorways app will more than likely become a drivers' best friend when travelling up and down the country. A tender is soon set to be announced.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, warnings when exceeding the speed limit, traffic announcements and displays of detours are just some of the possibilities that will be provided to all drivers by the new Croatian Motorways app, for which a public tender will soon be announced, reports Vecernji list.

This new Croatian Motorways app will provide drivers with access to information on the current state of traffic and meteorological conditions on sections under the jurisdiction of all motorway concessionaires in the Republic of Croatia, meaning along Croatian Motorways (HAC) roads, and it also includes the Istrian Y and the Zagreb-Macelj motorway.

As stated in the terms of reference which are part of the tender documentation, the Croatian Motorways app interface should be easy to use and provide the app's user with information on the state of traffic on their planned motorway route, which includes notifications of extraordinary events, works on the road and connected state roads, the situation at border crossings, there's also access to traffic cameras, as well as a report on travel times.

Users of the Croatian Motorways app, which will be free to download, will also receive notifications about the current speed limit on the section they're using, current weather conditions, rest areas and their available facilities, where there are toll fees to be paid, there will be contacts for police, firefighters and ambulances. Users will also be able to use the app to report incidents themselves.

The Croatian Motorways app will help drivers out during their journey by showing them detours in case a particular motorway section is closed to all or certain groups of vehicles due to an extraordinary or previously announced event, and they will be able to see the current location of their vehicle on the map in the app.

The app will also gradually introduce the receipt of information on the traffic situation from the surrounding countries - Slovenia, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Hungary - and in case of emergencies in these countries, it will activate traffic management plans (TMP - Traffic Management Plans), in order for the users of the application who plan to travel to those countries to have real-time information about the events on the motorways of those countries.

In addition to the Croatian Motorways app, this project will upgrade HAC's public website with a new interactive map, which includes map view, map layer selection, a text overview of active emergency notifications and works, a text view of the current weather conditions and passability, routing, traffic forecasting, filtering, and data sorting.

According to the app's documentation, in accordance with HAC's interest in improving the information they provide as a public company that manages most of the Croatian motorway network, upgrading and developing the proposed app will represent a significant step forward in improving public information.

For more, follow our lifestyle section.

August the 10th, 2021 - When you think of Istria, you probably think of Motovun, Vrsar, Porec, Novigrad, Pula, Rovinj... I could go on. There are very many hidden little places all over Istria which most people don't even know about, much less visit. The Istrian Kastelir-Labinci, with its 1500 residents, is just one of them. This little place, however, is climbing the ladder when it comes to tourism.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes, right in the very heart of Istria lies this little municipality which boasts an impressively rich of offer of local products despite having only 1500 inhabitants.

The Istrian Kastelir-Labinci Municipality proudly points out that half of its 1500 inhabitants are engaged in domestic production and as many as 150 family farms are registered there. One of them is owned by the Kocijancic family, who recently enriched the area's growing local offer Robinson accommodation with a capacity for 50 people.

According to the owners, Antonija and Valter Kocijancic, Natura Camp Karli is an oasis in a natural environment with a combination of forest and olive groves in decorated wooden houses and tents.

The 10,000-square-foot green area is located on the edge of the village surrounded by vineyards, orchards and cultivated areas, and offers five high-quality accommodation units in Robinson-style accommodation - a camping resort, wooden tree houses, glamping tents in tree canopies, covered tents and free places on the grass for tents.

"Our household has a long family tradition when it comes to winemaking and olive growing, and recently we've even started producing honey. All of the family members are employed on the family farm. This year is specific in that our household, after five years, managed to open a camp with Robinson accommodation,'' explained Antonia Kocijancic.

Foreign guests are noticing the Istrian Kastelir-Labinci more and more...

Their camp offers accommodation in wooden houses, covered tents and glamping tents. ''These facilities provide the special pleasures of peace and relaxation because they have no electricity, only flashlights. Motorhome parking with eight plots is specially arranged with all water and electricity connections, and the accompanying facilities such as toilets and kitchen are fully furnished and used by all guests in the camp.

The toilets have a bathroom for the disabled, as well as for children, men, women and even pets. There's also a gathering place by the fire in the camp. The kitchen has a fireplace and a bread oven, a refrigerator, an oven and a freezer, and guests can use vegetables, olive oil, coffee, ice cream, homemade jams and honey,'' Kocijancic pointed out.

In order to make the specialty of this little Istrian destination even more accessible to visitors, the municipal government, the local tourist board and the Vitis Association have all come together and designed a special offer. Every Friday, during the months of July and August, tourists can visit local family farms and restaurants and taste products and order items at promotional prices.

For now, the response from foreign tourists is more than fantastic, of which there are over two thousand a day in the Istrian Kastelir-Labinici area.

"Our most frequent guests are foreign guests, but we were among the first to have a nice group of young people from Zagreb with their pets. Among the more numerous visitors from Europe, the most frequent guests are those from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Slovenia and Italy, but there are also guests from Switzerland, France and Poland,'' the Kocijancic family pointed out.

A praiseworthy EU project

In addition to Robinson tourism, which they started engaging in only this year, this family also offers wine, olive oil and honey, all from their own production. This family farm cultivates as many as four hectares of vineyards and 3,000 olive groves, and they also have 40 bee hives. As they say, they don't have any subcontractors, and everything they process and offer to guests is from their very own production. The products can only be bought from them, and the most sought after is, in true Istrian style, olive oil.

This is a project funded by the European Union with a grant of 50,000 euros from the rural development measure 6.2.1. While that figure is already high, the owners point out that the value of the investment is many times higher than that, as their camp opened in July and they aren't lacking when it comes to making plans and coming up with new ideas.

“Our most significant investment was this camp that opened four weeks ago. For now, we're still getting used to it and seeing what the reactions of the first guests are like, so we will eventually think about some further plans at the end of this season,'' concluded the Kocijancic family who are placing the Istrian Kastelir-Labinci area on the tourism map.

For more, follow Made in Croatia and our travel section.

August the 10th, 2021 - Croatian MP Miro Bulj has referred to the behaviour of the Croatian National Civil Protection Directorate as ''shameful'', and indicating that they are abusing their power.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatian MP Miro Bilj told reporters that the behaviour exhibited by the Civil Protection Directorate has been disgraceful and that they're a political body making political decisions.

According to him, despite the decision of the National Civil Protection Directorate on the limited gathering of people in Sinj during the Alka festivities which were traditionally held recently, the square in Sinj was full of people all night like never before.

"If I need to be prosecuted, then I'm more than ready for that if it means protecting my fellow citizens," Croatian MP Miro Bulj said, explaining his attitude during the recent festivities.

He also commented on the gathering during the Peljesac bridge ceremony, saying: ''Coronavirus must have died on Peljesac bridge and come back to life in Sinj. When Thompson plays in Sinj then coronavirus becomes interested in it and with other events, it isn't as curious. Maybe I'm the one who is really bothering them and not coronavirus," Bulj added.

According to MP Nina Raspudic (MOST), the rules regarding the epidemiological measures are not the same for all, and he says that "it hurts people".

"The last decision on epidemiological measures isn't being made by epidemiologists but by politics, that is, it's being made by another profession,'' said Raspudic.

"Don't get me wrong, it would never occur to me to start meddling and commenting on a profession such as epidemiology, but I have the right to make a political comment on a political decision," he added.

The Croatian Institute of Public Health: If the National Civil Protection Directorate set a precedent, it would be discriminatory towards other catering and hospitality enterprises located down on the coast, as well as those operating inland.

On Saturday, Marija Bubas, assistant director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), confirmed that the request of the City of Sinj to allow local hospitality enterprises to work for longer during the festivities and after midnight was ultimately rejected.

''If the Civil Protection Directorate allowed such a precedent, then it would be discriminatory towards others working on the coast and inland who are currently allowed to work only until midnight,'' Bubas told HINA. In such a case, as she said, working after midnight should be allowed to others, in which case one important epidemiological measure related to the control of gatherings would actually need to be abolished.

"The work of catering and hospitality facilities is gathering of many people in a smaller space and without masks due to the consumption of drinks. The abolition of such an epidemiological measure would lead to a significant deterioration of the epidemiological situation and a potential abrupt interruption of the tourist season,'' warned Bubas.

Despite the explanations, Croatian MP Miro Bulj continues to feel less than convinced about the intent behind the actions and decisions passed by those in power.

For more, follow our politics section.

August 10, 2021 - With the Pharos Bayhill Hotel on Hvar full at the moment, TCN looks back at how the hotel started out back in 2016 and the newest adaptation in 2021. 

The tourist season is going well for Croatia in 2021, and if the crowded streets of coastal Croatia are not enough proof, the guest count of Pharos Bayhill Hotel in Hvar Town, one of Croatia's top island destinations, says it all. Every room is filled as a fantastic season continues for one of the swankiest accommodations on the island.

Dating back to the 60s, Hvar's Pharos Hotel, a member of the Sunčani Hvar hotel chain, received a makeover in 2016. As TCN reported on the opening party five years ago, not only did the event see Hvar's VIP and locals attending the main event, but the hotel was already filled with guests who had started arriving two weeks before the official opening. And from the very start, it targeted young people.

After a decade of no investments, Pharos was the first hotel to stand out for Sunčani Hvar. From the start, its concept was adjusted to the younger crowd, those we'd now call millennials (both those who fit the group age-wise and for anyone who feels like one).

These adjustments to the younger market were casual, informal, and evident in every single detail – from the room design (with pop art comic strip decorations) to the uniforms and the attitudes of the employees.

The hotel's target markets were the UK and US, and the effort was rewarded with success back in 2018 when the Times magazine praised Pharos for being affordable and it made it to the list of top 30 best holidays to be had in Croatia that year.

Still, one could say the price is a relative term.

Affordable for an average UK citizen, it may not really be the case for the same target groups from Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, and Germany. Pharos provides quality accommodation, but for people who don't look for four or five stars hotels, but want a quality three-star accommodation. Of course you have to be ready to pay for it.

Inviting pool at Pharos © Pharos Hvar Bayhill Hotel

With a quality reputation building for Pharos, the dramatic plot twist in 2020 tourism required them to adapt the hotel to achieve the success it currently enjoys.

With a brief look around the terrace and lobby, one can see staff wearing masks and watching over the guests who, in return, can feel relaxed and safe and truly take a break from the virus. These adaptations aren't evident only in Pharos which managed to keep its relaxed and casual atmosphere, but in the other members of the Sunčani Hvar hotel group as well, as modelled by the best standards from the world's top hotel companies and chains.

New procedures and standards were defined in regards to COVID-19 itself. Every employee who enters the Sunčani Hvar system is either vaccinated or tested before entering, and special room cleaning procedures were introduced. Each room has a clean seal that guarantees that the room hygiene was checked and everything is good.

In addition, the unprecedented situation which dominated 2020 saw the hotel adapt in terms of pricing too and become more accessible to Croatian tourists. In 2021, the hotel also opened its doors a little further to being more family oriented, too.

As the summer season continues, every room is filled, and while that will depend on measures and other things, current announcements are good and could push Pharos as far as September. 

Croatian epidemiological measures also suspend events and gatherings, and regular DJ nights that used to entertain the guests at Pharos are for the moment a nostalgic memory.

However, with the aforementioned changes, the terrace is still alive, with more ambient music and the intimate socialisation of guests at the other tables.

With DJ nights not being appropriate to the current situation, Pharos experience is now switched to the Mediterranian ambient, to the Mediterranian garden. 

The offer of Pharos, which always attracted younger people, people hungry for adventure and recreation, also offers activities such as kayaking and surfing.

With sports and boat renting on offer, other activities Sunčani Hvar hotels offers include options known as ''Sun & Sea'' (where you can visit and cruise the islands, explore caves, and more) and ''Dine & Wine'' (which takes you on an impeccable journey of wine tasting accompanied by traditional Dalmatian Peka feasts), proving Hvar and its surroundings will never let you down when you want a holiday to remember.

Learn more about Hvar on our TC page.

For more about Suncani Hvar, follow TCN's dedicated page.

August 9, 2021 - The 11th Sinj Village Fair was successfully organized by the Sinj Tourist Board, with the support of the City of Sinj and Split-Dalmatia County.

The 11th Sinj Village Fair was held on Dr. Franjo Tuđman Square on August 6th and 7th. More than 35 exhibitors attended, including renowned producers of prosciutto, cheese, honey, soparnik, liqueurs, and brandy, and autochthonous old crafts were presented, such as the making of folk costumes, opanak, peka, copper, garden tools, and other handicrafts from wood made traditionally.

The fair was opened by Miro Bulj, Mayor of Sinj. In the entertainment part of the program, the Sinj majorettes performed with their unique choreography, magnifying every event they participate in. Visitors to the fair had the opportunity to follow the performances of faithful guardians of Sinj traditions and customs through tunes and dances of Inland Dalmatia, on the list of the intangible cultural heritage of the Republic of Croatia. The Association for the Preservation of the Heritage of the Cetina Region, KUD Vrilo - Obrovac Sinjski, KUD Glavice, and KUD Dicmo, performed with a traditional rera. Members of the klapa Cetinjanke from Hrvace and the vocal group Rusulica performed several klapa compositions.

To preserve traditional crafts, special workshops were held this year as well. On the first evening of the Fair, visitors could see how pottery is created under the skillful hands of master Ivan Knezović, a representative of traditional handmade pottery from Potravlje, which has had the status of intangible cultural property since 2013 and was nominated for UNESCO protection by the Croatian Ministry of Culture. An attractive presentation of the almost forgotten skill of making opanaks and weaving was led by Ljiljana Vojković, while the Dragodid Association presented the art of making drywall. Blacksmithing was presented by Josip Evačić from Koprivnica. Finally, members of KUD Cetina introduced the visitors to the processing of wool and customs.

All visitors to the fair could taste čobanac prepared by the hunting association Srnjak from Vrbanja free of charge. Valuable members of the association donated 1000 portions of this Slavonian delicacy to the 11th Sinj Village Fair visitors, while Sinj specialties - uštipak, prepared free of charge on both evenings of the fair, were made by members of the Old Crafts Association.

In the final musical part of the program on the first evening, top bands performed: Kopito, an attraction from the island of Vis, with Sinj's Ljuta kuća, and on the second night of the fair, the popular Giuliano and Diktatori.

Also, at this year's Sinj Village Fair, numerous KUDs were guests who presented the customs and traditions of their region through the Evening of Knighthood and Folklore: KUD Dusina from Vrgorac, KUD Pleter from Dugopolje, Goran Mikas - Poljica, and the hosts of the Cetina Region Heritage Preservation Association. and KUD Cetina.

The host of this two-day fair was Branimir Romac. The fair was held following the recommendations of the Civil Protection Headquarters and the applicable measures of the CNIPH.

The Sinj Tourist Board thanks everyone who helped in the realization of the event, especially the City of Sinj and Split-Dalmatia County, the Alkar Knights Society, employees of Čistoća Cetinska krajina and KUS-Sinj, members of the hunting association Srnjak from Vrbanja and the Beauty of Tradition association, Branka Marinović, and Maja Kovačević.

For more on Inland Dalmatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 9 Aug 2021 - In the past 24 hours, 44 new coronavirus cases and one COVID-19- related death have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said Monday.

There are 190 hospitalized patients, including 22 on ventilators.

The death toll currently stands at 8,273.

There are 1,102 active cases while 4,487 persons are self-isolating.

To date, 2,356,266 persons have been tested for the virus, including 3,909 in the past 24 hours.

Also, 41% of the population has been vaccinated, including 49.3% of adults, 45.03% of whom have completed vaccination.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.

August 9, 2021 - The largest Croatian art fair, Art Zagreb, will be held in Hall V of the Nikola Tesla Technical from 15 to 18 September and it will include several exhibitions, lectures, panels, films, and concerts.

Večernji List reports that the largest Croatian art fair, Art Zagreb, is being prepared for the fourth time in a row. This year's edition, with exhibitions, lectures, panels, films, and concerts, will be held in Hall V of the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum, from 15 to 18 September.

This year, for the first time, the organizers of Art Zagreb have established cooperation with the Society of Croatian Art Historians, which will prepare exhibitions of Croatian contemporary art, as well as round tables on events on the art scene.

''The idea of ​​our cooperation is to encourage communication between art historians and artists, communication that used to be very intense, but unfortunately has been lost over time. We hope that with this cooperation we will be able to encourage and revive it'', the organizer and director of Art Zagreb Daniel Tomičić told us.

Therefore, four concepts of young art historians who will participate in Art Zagreb have been selected. They are Hana Katanić with a panel on cryptocurrency, Katarina Podobnik with the exhibition "Beginning: (de) construction", Katerina Jovanović and Ana Žarković organize the exhibition "Homo faber", and Ana Bedenko, Jozefina Ćurković, and Tea Kantoci the exhibition "Survival Kit".

Visitors will be able to view (and buy) student works, from students of all Croatian Academies of Fine Arts, but also academies from abroad. The exhibition "18+" by the artist Marko Šošić, assistant professor at the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, has also been announced. This will be Šošić's first solo exhibition in Zagreb, and he will present fifteen paintings created since the beginning of the pandemic and quarantine. And the art organization Yelo is organizing a project of pop-up exhibitions "Art Bubble / Art & Money" at Art Zagreb, about which we will find out in the coming days.

''Behind the organization of an art fair in Croatia, where the market is still lagging behind the West, is the idea of ​​educating the audience and the critical mass'', says Tomičić.

''The main obstacle to investing in works of art is the lack of tax relief for companies that invest in works of art, which, we believe and hope, will soon change with the harmonization of regulations with Western countries. Contemporary art has no place in the media, people do not have the habit of going to exhibitions... In the world, investing in art is treated the same as investing in stocks or real estate and in every age of crisis, and so in this corona crisis, it turns out that art loses the least in value. We started this festival to talk and write about it and to raise awareness about the art market'', concludes Tomičić.

For more, follow our lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 9 Aug 2021 - In July 2021, producer prices of industrial products increased by 7.9% compared to July 2020, which is their highest increase since April 2011, show data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics.

Compared to June 2021, producer prices of industrial products were 1.3% up.

The jump in producer prices was to a large extent due to energy prices as, without their contribution, the increase in producer prices was 0.4% compared to June, and 2.3% compared to July 2020.

On the domestic market, producer prices increased by 1.5% compared to June, the highest monthly increase since December 2016, while producer prices on the foreign market were 1.1% up month-on-month and 6.9% year-on-year.

Month-on-month, producer prices of energy on the domestic market increased by 3.4%, prices of non-durable consumer goods by 0.7%, prices of intermediate goods by 0.5%, and prices of durable consumer goods by 0.3% while prices of capital goods remained stable.

As compared to June, producer prices increased the most in Mining and quarrying, 8.9%, followed by Manufacturing, 1.2%, Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply, 1%, and in Water supply; sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities, 0.1%.

Year on year, producer prices of industrial goods have been on the rise since February 2021 and growing constantly, with the rate exceeding 7% since May.

According to the main industrial groupings, year-on-year producer prices of energy on the domestic market grew the most, by 25.8%.

The current trends regarding producer prices and the strong contribution of energy have been reported in the EU as well as the USA, analysts of Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) have said, pointing to market factors such as a sudden recovery of demand and disruptions on the supply side as well as growing costs of commodity transport.

According to the national classification of activities, year-on-year producer prices grew the most in Mining and quarrying, by 129%.

For more, follow our business section.