May the 3rd, 2021 - Croatian bus companies are continuing to struggle as the pandemic goes on, with much needed help and the necessary contracts still having not been dealt with properly.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, although the Road Transport Act, which is known to the public for its current regulation of the taxi market, also regulated the market of Croatian bus companies operating along public intercity transport lines, but only a recent Government Decree has revived this regulation in real practice.

With its regulations, Croatia has taken on the European Union (EU) practice of determining communal regular transport, which Croatia has defined at the county level and referred to as a public service (PSO).

Croatian counties were thus given the right and obligation to prescribe their county network of Croatian bus companies, more specifically their lines, and the carriers operating along those lines would need to be paid.

Contracts for this sort of public service are typically signed for a very long period, from 7 to 10 years to more precise, and the estimated value of these contracts at the level of all counties stands at around one billion euros. However, the current text of the law has introduced nothing but confusion among county leaders, on two levels: how can those carriers be chosen and how can such a service be paid for at all?

This law, least in part, mentions that when concluding a public service contract they are obliged to respect the acquired rights of those Croatian bus companies and carriers who performed transport on the basis of permits or concessions on the day the law came into force. Despite that, the counties didn't know how to choose such carriers, nor did they realise that there are a number of carriers that have "acquired" rights in their territories - meaning that they may run the same or similar lines at certain intervals. They were also unsure of what way they might sign such valuable contracts without the need for a public tender process and potentially expose themselves to risks, lawsuits and even criminal charges.

There is also the issue of financing, ie co-financing by the state. These are the key reasons as to why this form of public service hasn't yet been contracted in any Croatian county.

The recent regulation on the procedure for concluding public service contracts, on the other hand, has allowed counties to enter into contracts either through direct negotiation or public tenders. There is a conflict between traditional Croatian bus companies and carriers that have maintained concrete lines for decades and new players who, perhaps with a lower price, would like to enter the market and take over.

Those traditional carriers complain that existing Croatian bus companies and their lines in county transport are unprofitable, that they have been knowingly accumulating losses for years, operating at the margin of profitability and actually "maintaining their infrastructure" in the public interest. Although the details of these concessions for PSO are yet to be seen, the price mentioned so far is 11.20 kuna/km without VAT and higher.

On the other hand, newer and smaller Croatian bus companies and their carriers who either have limited access to public service contracts or have never had the opportunity to run along those services in that domain are protesting and demanding for open and transparent access to public tenders for that service.

Carriers estimate that the total cost of this type of transport is around 690 million kuna, and as this regards mostly unprofitable lines that are more important for the regional development of the country than for actual earnings, subsidies of an estimated 427 million kuna per year are necessary.

The Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) emphasises that concluding the first contracts by direct settlement for all bus carriers according to this model is a transitional solution and necessary from the context of maintaining business continuity and providing the basic public service of public regular bus transport to citizens.

''The preparation of public tenders for these needs is a long process and by that time, the financing of unprofitable lines should be ensured in order to prevent the collapse of lines and carriers that have been maintaining these lines for years.

Croatian bus companies who run regular public transport lines have been investing in their tangible assets for years with the intention of making a reasonable profit in the future based on their rights to intangible assets, and these are our markets and our lines,'' HUP stated, adding that carriers on local lines have incurred large losses in previous years and care should be taken to have large assets engaged for public needs and to ensure their transition in the future.

They also emphasised that after the expiration of these "first" contracts, public tenders will be announced, with the exceptions defined by EU Regulation 1370/2007 where public bidding isn't mandatory for internal operators, or in the Croatian case for those owned by local government units.

"It should be understood that these contracts, according to the EU Regulation, aren't contracted on the principle of a fixed price, but instead they include the separate management of all costs and proof of each cost by the operator, increased by a reasonable profit. The public administration covers the difference between these amounts and the realised revenues from ticket sales. Consequently, these tenders are much more complex and must include a lot of elements that must be built into them. The implementation of these contracts allows existing carriers to adapt to the new way of doing business and the transparent control over the spending of public funds. 

All European Union countries and their respective private carriers, which won the first contracts without a public tender, did it this way. All these carriers can apply for the tender in Croatia, and it's necessary for Croatian carriers to have the same starting positions, ie that they have experience in performing public service contracts in order to be able to compete in the EU tomorrow,'' they concluded from HUP.

One of the transport companies that is potentially interested in the PSO service is the wildly popular FlixBus platform. Ante Grbesa, the director of FlixBus CEE South region, pointed out that the process of concluding public service contracts, which enables counties to conclude contracts through tenders, is certainly one of the positive steps in market transparency.

“Here, first of all, the basic task of all counties is to communicate their needs for a network of lines for which carriers can then offer their service. Transparency and clarity of the use of public money of Croatia's taxpayers that will be achieved in this way, this is important not only in terms of consumption, but also in terms of choosing the highest quality and the safest organised local transport,'' stated Grbesa.

For more, follow our business section.

 May 3, 2021 - The new Total Croatia tourism portal will be launched at 10:30 this morning (you can watch it live here). TC CEO Paul Bradbury was interviewed by Index.hr ahead of the launch. A translation. 

How and why did you decide to launch a new website about Croatian tourism?

It was an idea I had a couple of years ago, to produce a slicker, tourism information site, that was more accessible than Total Croatia News. TCN has more than 50,000 articles now, so we definitely have growing pains. But the pressures of running TCN meant that I put the new Total Croatia info site on hold until recently. 

The recent lawsuits from HTZ were an initial shock, but after that a reality check. Rather than try and work with the system and bring change from within, I realised that there was really no point. My wife suggested I finish the Total Croatia site, which was a genius idea, for which I will always be grateful. We refreshed the original 86 articles with 2021 information. The results were astonishing. Within a week we were on the first page of Google for 31 target keywords for - Bosnia to Croatia (1), Montenegro to Croatia (2), Currency in Croatia (2), Split to Dubrovnik (4) etc. More interestingly, we had one French article, a guide how to get from Split to Dubrovnik. It was still number 7 on Google France. We refreshed it, and now it is number 2. 

I then realised that without too much effort, I could create a fully commercial, excellent information website for Croatian tourism in multiple languages. One that would rank much high than HTZ (not hard). And if I had strategic partnerships with quality private tourism businesses, we could simply bypass the system and bring quality tourism back to Croatia. We launch on Monday at a press conference at Lazareti in Dubrovnik at 10:30. You are more than welcome to join. There will be beers after.

What will your new website offer to its readers?

It will offer the best and most current tourism and lifestyle information about Croatia, answering the questions tourists want to know, in their language #CroatiaInYourLanguage. How to cross the Slovenian border, can use euros in Croatia, can you take pets on the catamaran to Hvar, airport guides and a visit to all the national parks. 

There are comprehensive pages on topics such as Croatian wine, food, desserts, olive oil, rakija (actually my favourite article on the page - here is the Croatian version), buying property, flights, renting a car, lifestyle, as well as the most popular article on the site after the daily travel update - an expat's honest view of living in Croatia after 18 years, the good, the bad and the ugly. 

By far the most popular article is our daily travel update, which has migrated from TCN. This was one of the cornerstones of the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community, which recently won the 2021 International Grand PRix for Crisis Management. The Viber community project brought an estimated 10 million euro of tourism spend to Croatia, with just 2000 kuna investment and a LOT of hard work from the teams of Mediacor, Manjgura, TCN and outstanding support from MUP.The TC portal will be great for tourists, but also for hotels and private accommodation owners, who can share these links with their guests (or put them on their accommodation websites), so that they can give great information to their German and Hungarian guests in their own languages. 

Do you see HTZ as your competition?

Not at all. To be competition, you have to be competitive. As I said on various television interviews, I see them as entirely irrelevant. Croatia has an INCREDIBLE private tourism sector, with absolutely no need of HTZ in its current format. I am hugely encouraged that some big names in the private sector have already committed to working with TC. These include exclusive destination partners such as Hilton in Zagreb, Suncani Hvar for Hvar Town, Falkensteiner Punta Skala for Zadar, Savills for Dubrovnik Real Estate, Algebra for Education, and Adriatic Weddings Croatia for weddings. If you are interested in work with us and you are not an uhljeb, contact us on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

You’ve said that you’re open for cooperation with certain people who work in tourism. What can they expect from your new website?

The very best exposure to tourists both before they arrive and while they are here. In multiple languages. We will also do lots of promotion via TCN, our Google News site, which CNN sometimes links to for travel info as HTZ does such a poor job, and which brought ABC News to Dubrovnik last summer. This resulted in 6 feature stories about Croatia on ABC News, including Good Morning America, which was watched by 12.5 million people. 

But we also want to help the little guy offering quality, authentic tourism. Let me tell you a story of how I signed up the first TC partner 3 weeks ago.

I was on Hvar and got a call asking me to be in Zagreb the next day at 13:00 to interview Mark Viduka. The 06:35 catamaran and bus would get me into the office at 14:30, so too late.

I posted on Facebook to see if anyone was driving and could take me. Within 2 minutes, a message! I am not going to Zagreb, but I will drive you there, as it means I will have 4 hours of your time. I am in tourism in Split and Stari Grad for 10 years, and I followed Total Hvar from the start.

And what a journey it was. I fell in love with Nikola from Nostress Boats. I was impressed by his passion, local knowledge and approach to customer service. He was a skipper with his own boat and mooring in Stari Grad, and had started out on his own after working with a 5-star boutique hotel on Hvar. He was looking to promote his business and thought TCN/TC would be a good place. By the team we reached Zagreb, we had agreed a deal where he will be the only boat transfer option for Stari Grad in a Page. In 10 languages. 

We are still setting everything up, but if anyone is interested in being a destination partner or in advertising, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  PLEASE write in the Subject - Index/Destination/Sector - eg Index/StariGrad/BoatTransfer. We will offer a discount on our rates for Index.hr readers. This offer is valid until May 5, 2021. Please don't expect an immediate answer but we will get back to you. 

One VERY cool feature of what we can offer is the fruits of an exciting partnership with augmented reality specialists, Equinox XR. The Equinox team has created a virtual tour guide in the shape of Dubrovnik's beloved patron saint, St Blaise, who will be able to devise all sorts of virtual fun, tours and quests, if Dubrovnik tourism wants such a thing. 

What kind of summer season do expect this year in Croatia?
Personally I think it would be a very good one, certainly better than people are expecting. The pandemic is the great unknown of course. As is the Kingdom of Accidental Tourism's vaccination strategy and message.  The Brits and Americans are vaccinated. Meanwhile in Croatia... Ah, Hrvatska. 

I would just like to finish by publicly thanking everyone who has been SO supportive of this assault on free speech. I can't remember the last time an issue got 95% support on an Index poll. 

The site is not quite finished, but we have been feeding the Google god daily, so you can check it out here. 

Details of how to watch the live launch this morning at 10:30.

May 3, 2021 - The Split4Cats team won at the recently held two-day Hack4Split competition, thanks to their application focused on locating and caring for city cats. 

The main protagonists of this story, Nikola Tandara, Dalia Jurišić, and Ante Đonlić, explained to Slobodna Dalmacija exactly what the app is about. Together with Tomislav Mamić and Mahina Hathaway, they developed a way to help deal with the uncontrolled growth of the street cat population in Split. This team at Hack4Split was randomly paired, and, as they say, they got along perfectly.

"Our default topic was neglected animals, and together we decided to focus on cats and try to propose to solve this problem.

We had 24 hours to develop our idea, which we ultimately presented. The main goal was to "sell the idea," which should not have been made to the end, but it was important that it was good and feasible," explains 29-year-old Nikola Tandara, who finished computer science at FESB.

The application is just at the beginning of its development, and the 30-year-old designer Dalia Jurišić, who graduated from the Art Academy in Split, is leading its design. The topic of her dissertation was the neglected cats in Split. 

"The topic of my diploma was neglected Split cats, problems, and opportunities of the City of Split. I dissected and analyzed the overall situation in the city, and as the biggest problem, I would point out their invisibility.

People no longer notice them and do not care, and their number is growing from year to year precisely because they are not castrated. From time to time, a good initiative appears, like the houses behind the HNK. Still, all this is small concerning their number because it all comes down to volunteers and associations that operate, which are few," says Dalia. She also works as an illustrator and creates logos. She points out that by choosing the topic, she wanted to encourage citizens to think and act.

The application is designed to connect donors and citizens with street cat associations.

"For example, you walk along Marmontova and come across a neglected cat. You take a picture of it and put it in the application, which would have some register of cats from associations that career for them. If the system does not recognize the cat as already registered, a list of pictures of all cats opens, and you find the one that suits you.

When you find her, if she’s already in the system, you'll get an “ID” with all her information, like whether she was vaccinated, castrated, or fed. If she is not castrated by some chance, you can invite everyone else to help with donations to make it happen, or if, for example, you feed her, mark in the app that she is fed. In this way, we would gradually get a register of cats for which we would know exactly what condition they are in, and in that way, we would prevent their uncontrolled reproduction," explains the working principle of Ante (28), a third-year computer science student at FESB.

The trio points out that no one knows the exact number of street cats in the Split area.

"We want to castrate and sterilize them all so that there are as few of them as possible every year. It is better that there are fewer of them and that they are well taken care of than that there are thousands of them and that they are neglected," Nikola said, adding that in this way, everyone could help. It is envisioned that the person who acts will get discounts and coupons so everyone would benefit.

Their goal, they note, is to create the first version of the application.

"After that, we plan to publish the application on the Internet in open-source form so that other people can help in its development or gradual upgrade. With the prize we won at Hack4Split, we will do the part we succeed in, but since nothing in life is free, some fundraising will certainly be needed because we are scattered everywhere. It is feasible, and for the application to shine properly, a lot of work is needed, but it is also necessary to rely on the community and donations," Ante points out.

If you want to know more about pets in Croatia, be sure to check Total Croatia's guide HERE.

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

May 3, 2021 - The 32nd round of the Croatian First League was held from April 30 to May 2, 2021. In this round, Hajduk defeats Rijeka 3:2, keeping their hope alive for a Europa League spot next season, while Osijek fails to catch Dinamo after drawing to Varazdin. 

Lokomotiva v. Sibenik (1:0)

Lokomotiva and Sibenik opened the 32nd round in Zagreb on Friday, April 30, 2021. 

While the first half went without goals, Juric's goal for Sibenik was called offside in the 49th minute to keep the game 0:0, though not for long, as Leskovic scored the winning goal for Lokomotiva in the 85th minute. 

Lokomotiva is currently in 9th place with 26 points, while Sibenik is in 6th with 32. 

Slaven Belupo v Dinamo (0:2)

Belupo and Dinamo met in Koprivnica on Saturday, May 1, 2021. 

While the first half went without goals, Tolic scored in the 64th for 0:1 Dinamo, and Orsic sealed Dinamo's victory with a goal in the 86th for 0:2. 

Belupo is currently in 7th place with 31 points, while Dinamo is in first with 74. 

Hajduk v. Rijeka (3:2)

Hajduk and Rijeka met on Saturday, May 1, 2021, at Poljud stadium in the crucial fight for a Europa League spot. 

The young Biuk scored an early goal for Hajduk in the 14th minute for 1:0, though Drmic equalized in the 31st for 1:1 at the half. 

Stanko Juric (Stefulj own goal) put Hajduk back in the lead for 2:1 in the 45th, and Kacaniklic made it 3:1 two minutes later. Adrijasevic scored for 3:2 in the 65th. 

Hajduk is currently in 5th place with 47 points, while Rijeka is in 4th with 52. 

Istra 1961 v. Gorica (0:2)

Istra and Gorica met in Pula on Sunday, May 2, 2021. 

Spikic scored for Gorica in the 42nd minute to make it 0:1 at the half. Hujber was booked for his second yellow in the 79th minute, forcing Istra to play with a man down for the final 10 minutes. Mitrovic increased Gorica's lead in the 4th minute of added time (94'). 

Istra is currently in the last place with 25 points, while Gorica is in 3rd with 56. 

Osijek v. Varadin (1:1)

Osijek and Varazdin closed out the 32nd round on Sunday, May 2, 2021, at City Garden Stadium. 

While the first half went without goals, Obregon put Varazdin in the lead in the 69th minute for 0:1. Mierez equalized for Osijek five minutes later for 1:1, which was the final score.

Slobodan Kadic

Mierez missed a penalty in the 9th minute of added time. 

Osijek is currently in 2nd place with 68 points, while Varazdin is in 8th with 27. 

You can see the full HNL table HERE. 

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

To learn more about sport in Croatia, CLICK HERE. 

ZAGREB, 2 May 2021 - The Festival of Tolerance will take place at Zagreb's Lake Bundek from 1 to 10 July, featuring a selection of successful and intriguing films, interesting and thought-provoking exhibitions and socially important lectures and educational programmes.

The organizers have announced that the festival's 15th edition will also feature an attractive music programme, and the mission is the same as before -- to promote a tolerant, progressive and supportive society.

This year's edition is especially important to us because we feel a huge need to make the voice of all the disenfranchised heard, said Nataša Popović, the director of the Festival of Tolerance.

About 50 films will be screened at the festival, including a Swiss drama with elements of a thriller, "The Saint of the Impossible", a Dutch music documentary, "Here We Move Here We Groove", and a Czech youth film, "The Pack", which deals with peer violence in sports.

Hrvoje Pukšec, who is responsible for the festival's film programmes, said that they had prepared "an excellent film programme which, we are sure, will delight an audience eager for intelligent, important but also cheerful, optimistic films".

There will also be a great accompanying programme, such as two exhibitions and performances by renowned musicians, he added.

Traditionally, the programme is free of charge, co-financed by the City of Zagreb, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC), UNHCR Croatia, and other partners.

For more about culture and arts in Croatia, be sure to check our lifestyle dedicated section.

ZAGREB, 2 May 2021 - A traveling music and film show for visitors in cars, called "Drive-in Culture", will take place in Zagreb on 14-16 May, and this year its second edition will also take place in Pula and Osijek.

The programme was designed during last year's lockdown by Sabrina Herak Smoković and Marin Leo Janković, the founders of the Submarine production company.

Faced with the question of whether to give up or find a solution to keep culture alive amid the coronavirus pandemic, they revived the idea of a drive-in cinema, the organizers said in the announcement.

The first event of this year's Drive-in Culture will take place in a car park behind the city's Technical Museum. Each film night will begin with a selection of local short films.

Feature films will also be screened, and the programme also includes music.

For more about culture and arts in Croatia, be sure to check our lifestyle dedicated section.

ZAGREB,  2 May 2021 - Glovo, an on-demand courier service that purchases, picks up, and delivers products ordered through its mobile app, has delivered more than 9 million products in the first two years of its operation in Croatia, the Glovo Croatia company reported recently.

In 2019, the first Croatian city where it started doing business was Zagreb, and currently Glovo operates in 11 more cities in the country: Split, Osijek, Zadar, Rijeka, Slavonski Brod, Sisak, Pula, Karlovac, Varaždin and Velika Gorica.

One in five Croatians has downloaded Glovo app

According to the company's data, one in five Croatians have downloaded the Glovo application, and more than a thousand local "glovers" have delivered nearly nine million products and covered 12 million kilometres providing those services in the last two years.

Glovo is the app that connects users, businesses and couriers to make that possible. The project was launched with the aim of transforming the way users acquire what they need, making cities more accessible.

The company underscores that since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, its deliveries in Croatia increased by 500% compared to the pre-pandemic period.

It notes that, for example, food is the most frequently transported product by glovers, and the most frequently ordered fruits via Glovo app are bananas (20 tonnes). Glovers have to date delivered more than 70,000 litres of milk. When it comes to fast food, the most frequently delivered products are burgers and pizza.

For more about business in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 2 May 2021 - One of the biggest ecological challenges today are invasive alien species which will be possible to track by a mobile application called "Invasive species in Croatia", which was launched earlier this week in Krapje, a community in Sisak-Moslavina County.

The application, developed by the Economy and Sustainable Development Ministry, was presented to rangers and other staff working in protected areas located by the River Sava.

"The information system for invasive alien species provides existing information on alien species in Croatia in a single, publicly available place. It will be updated, which is why the application has been developed, to enable citizens to report their observations," said Ana Ješovnik of the Office for Alien Species of the Institute for Environment and Nature Protection at the Economy and Sustainable Development Ministry. 

"This system will help monitor not only the number and appearance of invasive alien species but also trends in their expansion, and it will also improve management planning to prevent their harmful effect on biodiversity," she said.

Sandra Slivar of the Office for Alien Species underlined the importance of rangers who are among the first to spot the appearance and spreading of an invasive alien species. Their input, she said, helps plan the protection of protected species and habitats.

The European Union has compiled a list of invasive species, and on that list of 66 animal and plant species, 24 have been reported in Croatia.

Burdock, desert false indigo among invasive species in Lonjsko Polje

Among the dozen invasive species that have been identified in the Lonjsko Polje Nature Park, the most important ones are burdock, goldenrods, wild cucumber, and desert false indigo, which in the past 30 years or so has spread over most of the marshes in the park, or around 5,000 hectares of land, and the park management has so far revitalized around 600 hectares of land through donations.

"The Lonjsko Polje Nature Park has been battling invasive alien species for years. Participation in the Sava TIES project in the past three years has helped do a lot in the field of research, improvement of the legislative framework as well as in raising the level of interdepartmental and cross-border cooperation," the park's director, Marija Kušmiš, said.

Invasive alien species have a negative effect on biodiversity and eco-systems and some of them jeopardize the economy as well as human health, she said.

The spreading of invasive alien species reduces the area of marsh habitats of many strictly protected animal and plant species, it was said.

For more news about everything made in Croatia, be sure to visit our dedicated section.