March 9, 2021 - Krunoslav Capak explains that the look of COVID-19 vaccination certificates in Croatia and the EU has been defined, though they are currently only used for medical purposes and not for crossing the border. 

Jutarnji List reports that the appearance of EU COVID-19 vaccination certificates has been defined.

As Krunoslav Capak, head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health and a member of the National Civil Protection Headquarters, explained to Jutarnji list, the certificate must contain the name of the vaccinated person, the country they come from, the name of the vaccine used, the date of vaccination, the serial number of the vaccine and a bar at which the data can be read.

"The appearance of vaccination certificates has been defined, but for now, they are used only for medical purposes and not to cross the border. The use of certificates for crossing the border is now intensively discussed. The time will surely come when the EU will make a decision. However, there are still a lot of questions and controversies," said Capak, adding that no EU country has made a decision on crossing the border based on vaccination, but there are bilateral agreements.

"We also have some bilateral talks about recognizing vaccination certificates mutually," Capak added.

He further explained that there are still no visuals but an agreement at the EU level on the certificate's content.

"An agreement has been reached on the content of the certificate. It should contain the name and surname of the person, the vaccine that was used, the date of vaccination, and the serial number of the vaccine," Capak explained.

The state should also be listed. Given that it will be a smart solution, Capak says it will take up to three months for it to work. Namely, the EU is still discussing whether vaccinated citizens will receive smart cards or have a code that can be read on a mobile phone.

"It seems to me that the most probable variant is with a QR code, but as we are talking about a large number of people from all over the EU, it is clear that it is a big job for data collection, but also for experts who will find IT solutions," concludes Capak and adds that the rules will apply to Croatian citizens as well as to the rest of Europe.

Already now, all citizens who have been vaccinated, regardless of which vaccine - Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca - receive a vaccination certificate, i.e., a card with their name and surname, the vaccine they received, and the serial number. It is a cardboard card that additionally contains when the second dose is received. Different manufacturers have different cards, but the principle is the same. Each card also has a QR code, but it does not contain the data of the person who was vaccinated, but information about the vaccine they received.

As Capak also points out, such certificates can only be used for medical purposes for the time being. Still, the EU is discussing what kind of application they could have, especially in tourism. Although vaccination is voluntary, some airlines have already made it clear that only vaccinated passengers will fly. Some EU members have already announced that such certificates will substitute for a negative PCR test when entering their country. Israel, for example, announces that without such confirmation, citizens will not be allowed to enter mass gatherings, and unvaccinated employees will work in dislocated offices and will not be allowed to socialize with others.

Such an approach opens up many controversies, especially in human rights, given that vaccination is voluntary and that, at least for now, there are not enough vaccines on the market for everyone. Thus, the question arises whether vaccination can be required as a condition for entry, for example, on a plane.

Therefore, as Jutarnji finds out, in addition to IT requirements, the huge deficit of vaccines on the market is one reason why passports will not work for some time.

To read more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

March the 9th, 2021 - Croatian coronavirus state aid, introduced as part of an economic/job preservation package by the government, has helped many keep their heads about water during these unprecedent times. Many enterprises have now returned that money.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, Solin-based automotive component maker Ad Plastik is the first Croatian enterprise to publicly announce this year that it is returning its Croatian coronavirus state aid which was received last year, at a time when it was forced to suspend production due to the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown.

In an interview with Jutarnji list, the President of the Management Board, Marinko Dosen, announced that he intends to return the 12.3 million kuna in Croatian coronavirus state aid that was used to secure the payment of employee salaries last year, with an explanation that last year ended with a slightly better result than initially expected.

However, it should be noted that in a week´s time, Ad Plastik is holding a general meeting of its shareholders at which one of the points will be the payment of dividends, in which the reason for the return of Croatian coronavirus state aid should also be sought.

Namely, one of the conditions for using the aforementioned economic measure is the obligation that the company will not pay out from its operating profit.

This condition was mentioned a few months after the virus first arrived in Croatia and was a reason as to why many companies quickly changed their minds and decided to return Croatian coronavirus state aid back to the government. Although, as it now seems, the main trigger for the return of the aid was nevertheless the fact that the list of all aid recipients would be made public.

According to the data we received from the Croatian Employment Service (CES), so far, 20,850 Croatian enterprises/employers have returned their Croatian coronavirus state aid, and the total amount that sat on that account after its return now stands at almost 206 million kuna. Since the beginning of the implementation of this measure, a total of 9.395 billion kuna has been paid out to companies to help them preserve jobs, of which 432 million kuna was for contributions to those in the second pension pillar.

Croatian coronavirus state aid was paid out to over 111 thousand employers and almost 684 thousand of their employees. The most common reasons for the refund of these benefits, as they have stated from the CES, was the withdrawal of support from their employer, and improperly paid support for sick workers at the expense of the HZZO in the month for which support was received, failure to meet income criteria or other criteria, the non-payment of wages to workers, wrong payments due to multiple requests and so on.

"Consequently, we would not list the payment of profits as the predominant reason for the decision to return the support by the employer," they pointed out from the CES.

The institution in charge of implementing Croatian coronavirus state aid for job preservation also says that they note that "voluntary returns mainly took place in the period from June to August 2020, while significant voluntary returns have not been noticed recently."

Among the first to return the aid in Croatia, but also on a wider, international level, was the popular Swedish furniture chain Ikea.

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March the 9th, 2021 - Slavonia tourism isn´t something that is booming, living in the shadow of its coastal cousin of Dalmatia and indeed other parts of continental Croatia such as Zagreb, but an increase has been seen...

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, proving to be the only choice for coronavirus travel for Croatian guests, destinations in continental Croatia during the pandemic were given a unique opportunity to be promoted live on the local market. They were also provided with the chance to finally impose themselves as an equal player in national tourism policy and promotion.

This year, and especially in 2022, which could be much more upbeat for tourism, they plan to capitalise on Slavonia tourism, which has been promoted for years as a joint cluster on the foreign market, and since last year they have been together here on the domestic market. Their goal is guests who are looking for much more than sun and sea when on holiday.

This was revealed by Rujana Busic Srpak, director of the Vukovar-Srijem County Tourist Board and the coordinator of the Slavonia tourist cluster, into which five counties in eastern Croatia joined last year through an informal association.

"Our goal is to more strongly recognise ¨green Croatia¨ on both domestic and foreign markets, areas that do not have the sea to boast of but have so much else to offer, providing real value for money to travellers who are looking for such an offer, and their number has increased due to these new circumstances.

This year we´re still addressing the domestic market, made up of people who were more or less unable to travel abroad, and it what we have to offer and what it is worth returning to has finally been given the spotlight. As soon as the pandemic subsides, we will invest more in the promotion of Slavonia tourism across foreign markets that have great potential, but we will need more help from the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ) and travel organisers, because our advertising budgets are very limited,¨ explained Busic Srpak.

She also pointed out that 2020 brought completely new trends in travel to Slavonia, with the biggest growth in the otherwise dead season - in the first few months of the year, and in the summer when only her county achieved 68 percent of the traffic they saw back in pre-pandemic, record 2019. Papuk Nature Park recently announced that the winter saw 300 percent more guests arrive than came last winter, which prompted them to invest in a new toboggan run.

"When it comes to domestic guests, in addition to showing them what we offer, a good part of our task is to break the prejudice that everything east of Zagreb or far away has tied to it, or the social case, which is that the area is underdeveloped. Foreign markets are looking for a different promotion than the just the Croatian Adriatic, partly because a good part of our guests come by the Danube. As such, river cruisers are on an upward trend, and we traditionally attract guests from Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, but also the USA and even Australia.

In the French market, Slavonia tourism promotions were realised in cooperation with the Croatian National Tourist Board representation there, and a more intensive presentation for the British market was planned in 2020. However, it seems that things will hang on a bit and wait for the overall launch of foreign promotional activities,¨ said Busic Srpak.

A good part of the year is already behind us, and things are still being decided on a weekly basis, there is a lot of uncertainty and that is why the view of the Slavonia cluster is focused more on 2022. Thematic packages are currently being designed for agencies that will sell it.

The informal association of five county tourist boards from Slavonia was accompanied by a strategic plan until 2025, on the basis of which projects and joint packages are nominated - Slavonia wants to use the strength of the Croatian brand, but also its own strengths. Slavonia tourism has infrastructure, about 2100 tourist beds that need to be filled first, then we can think about building new ones, this sort of thing is partly funded by the EU.

"The support system in Croatian tourism should be focused on underdeveloped areas that need support in order to strengthen their market position(s) and thus strengthen the destination itself. The development of underdeveloped areas should be our goal, but according to the criteria of quality and importance for the overall development of the destination,¨ concluded Busic Srpak.

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March 9, 2021 - The first Croatia corona map hit the Internet one year ago today - how different the world looked back then.

One day, sometime in the future, when the pace of life slows down and there is time to reflect, we may begin to piece together the phenomenon that was 2020, and its milestones of constant change. Facebook Memories is going to be a very interesting tool in the years to come, as memories of various stages of 2020 flash back into our lives. 

And today is the one-year anniversary of a little piece of Croatian COVID-19 history - the publishing of the first Croatia corona map on the Internet. 

As with most of the best ideas at TCN, it had nothing to with me. Gustavo was working wonders generating revenue from Adsense as a time all sources of income were cancelling.  He did an amazing job and would feed me hot topics as suggestions. 

Apparently, corona maps were becoming a search thing globally. Why not do an article with 'Croatia corona map' as the keyword?

My design skills are on a par with my cooking skills, so after Gustavo's brilliant idea, Mrs TCN took over and came up with the first Croatia corona map. It was a huge hit, with more than 60,000 visits in the first few days from memory.  A couple of weeks later, Index introduced theirs, then the official Koronavirus website went live, and so our job was done. 

Amazing to look back, isn't it. Just 12 cases total, no deaths and no deaths with the neighbours either. 

Italy, however, was a different story, and there was some discussion internally at TCN whether or not to included in the map. In the end, I decided against (something I would have done differently with the benefit of hindsight). 

The aim of the map was to inform people how close or distant they were from live cases. All that was reported in the international media was that Croatia had 12 cases. It was hard (back then) to see where. By adding the airports to the map, people could see how close or far they would be from live cases. 

A small moment in Croatian COVID history. How will the 2022 Croatia corona map look a year from now? Hopefully it will not even exist. 

For the latest news about coronavirus in Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section. 

March the 9th, 2021 - The Croatian Sobocan company has received yet another international award for its innovative product, Movo, which has proven popular throughout the pandemic in which working from home has become the norm for very many.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes, Movo, the innovative mobile office designed and made by the Croatian Sobocan company, has been awarded another prestigious international award, the BigSEE Wood Award 2021. They received the award for the best design in the category of wooden furniture, and they were also nominated for the Grand Prix.

With that, this product made by the Croatian Sobocan company has won as many as three prestigious international awards in less than one year. The idea for this product was initially "born" in the spring of 2020, and it was developed by the company´s design team, more precisely Anamaria Burazin as a product designer, as well as architects Mirna Jovic and Jakov Fatovic. It took only four months for the company to move from the original idea to the realisation and the finished product, and in December this first big international award arrived.

Modern office solutions that save space are increasingly in demand today as the coronavirus pandemic rages on, which forces the level of visibility of the Croatian Sobocan company´s product to be even higher.

The company has started with promotional activities on targeted markets and believe that interest and demand for Movo will only continue to grow in the near future. "We have the greatest interest in the German market, which was expected considering that we defined it as our primary target market and we first started with promotions there," they explained from the company.

It is worth noting that this family business is run by Franjo Sobocan and his sons Nikola and Dejan, and behind them, they say, are more than 8000 realised projects, 200 are of an architectural-design nature, six are production halls, there are 1.5 million square metres of equipped business premises and realised projects in more than 20 countries worldwide.

In short, this is a Croatian company that in its twenty years of business has grown into a serious "player" on the competitive European market when it comes to designing and manufacturing equipment for sales and business premises, and has about 200 employees.

˝We generate more than 50 percent of our annual revenues in export markets as an authorised partner of world-renowned brands. At the same time, the most important export markets are those of the German-speaking area; Austria, Germany and Switzerland and other countries of the Western European market. This year, we have expanded our list of business partners with a large number of clients, including Harvey Norman, Crocs Europa, Drogerie Markt, Sana Labor Slovenia, Wespa Spaces, Lukoil and many others. We have also continued our long-term cooperation with Valamar, Maistra, Mol Group, Intersport and TAF,¨ they stated from the Croatian Sobocan company.

For more on Croatian innovation, follow Made in Croatia.

March the 9th, 2021 - About 40,000 Croatian citizens made a living from working on online platforms back in 2019, and such work should finally be regulated, Vecernji list writes on Monday. Could this result in better Croatian working conditions for thousands of people?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the European Commission (EC) launched the first phase of consultations with European social partners back during the middle of last week on how to improve the working conditions of people working through digital work platforms.

The start of that consultation coincided with a historic ruling in Milan in which Italian courts ordered four large food delivery companies to employ more than 60,000 delivery workers and pay more than 700 million euros in fines for failing to provide them with adequate working conditions.

Similar lawsuits have been filed in other European countries, including Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and there are more and more judgments being handed out in which courts side with the workers, who to date have mostly been drivers and delivery people. France was the first in the EU to legally oblige companies that built their business empires through digital platforms to pay their workers who work through these platforms insurance in the event of an accident at work, but even in France their employment status is not fully defined.

Political action was launched from the very top of the EU to establish clearer rules for this proverbial game. The public consultation on the topic will last at least six weeks, during which employers' associations and trade unions will present their views "on the need and direction of possible EU action to improve working conditions through [online] platforms".

Many of these platforms are also available in Croatia and thousands of suppliers are engaged through them, and the EU-level move could lead to far better and more secure Croatian working conditions for those making a living in this way.

The Croatian Ministry of Labour also announced that the forthcoming amendment to the Labour Law will also apply to those who conduct their work through online platforms, and pointed out that Croatia will also look for a way to provide certain protection to people who work in this way, reports Vecernji list.

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March 9, 2021 - Will there be flights from Dubrovnik to New York, Beijing, and more international destinations this summer? One new British startup is looking to serve the United States, China, Japan, and more from bases in Dubrovnik and Prague. Meet Pragusa. 

Croatian Aviation reports that Pragusa, a startup founded in Great Britain, has interesting plans for Dubrovnik in the upcoming summer season.

Namely, Pragusa (a combination of the names of Prague and Dubrovnik - Ragusa) plans to launch an interesting program in the upcoming summer flight schedule, and base two wide-body aircraft in both cities to launch lines to world-famous destinations!

According to Simple Flying, the company has already received an incentive support program from both airports and plans to base two aircraft in both cities. 

Pragusa plans to offer direct flights from Dubrovnik to New York, Los Angeles, Kuala Lumpur, Chengdu, Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore, and Johannesburg from June this year, hoping to fill a market gap for premium travel to CE Europe. 

Recall, American Airlines will not run the daily Philadelphia-Dubrovnik service this summer, while Qatar Airways canceled the Doha-Dubrovnik route.

"Before the pandemic, American Airlines used to operate flights between Philadelphia and Dubrovnik. Booking data via OAG Traffic Analyser shows that approximately two-thirds of all passengers that American Airlines flew on this route were transfer passengers.

The majority of them came from Chicago (ORD), Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), Boston (BOS), and Charlotte (CLT). A total of over 10,000 passengers reached Dubrovnik by transferring on this American Airlines service to Philadelphia alone," Simple Flying writes. 

The Pragusa fleet should consist of two aircraft types A350-900 and two types A330-300, with custom capacity. Namely, the aircraft will have only one class in the passenger cabin, or premium economy, with a maximum capacity of 250 passengers.

Simply Flying adds that Pragusa passengers will have a choice:

- 7-day trip with organized tours in the destination, e.g. New York - Dubrovnik - New York,

- 14-day trip to Europe with arrival in Dubrovnik and return from Prague (or vice versa),

- the possibility of buying a one-way ticket, e.g. Dubrovnik - Tokyo,

- classic return tickets on the listed lines.

Croatian Aviation believes that the plan is, to say the least, optimistic, especially in this crisis year. The realization of a project of this scale might not be so risky in the record 2019, but given the reduced passenger demand and the current restrictions on travel between countries, it is really brave to launch such a project today?

What do you think about the potential of Pragusa launching flights from Dubrovnik to New York and more this summer?

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March 9, 2021 - Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Franović announced on Monday that Croatia should welcome vaccinated UK tourists without restrictions and all Britons who overcame COVID-19 or have a negative PCR test from May 1, 2021. 

HRTurizam writes that the UK is currently the focus of all tourist destinations.

It is also among the top three countries globally in terms of vaccinating citizens, with only Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) vaccinating more citizens. By Sunday, at least 21 million Britons were given their first dose. About 400,000 citizens are vaccinated every week, which is why all tourist countries are turning directly to the British market, from Greece, the Canary Islands, Turkey, Cyprus, Spain, and many other countries, because it is in British tourists that should travel en masse first due to high vaccination coverage.

The mayor of Dubrovnik, Mato Franković, is keeping this in mind. After a recent initiative to enable tourists at Croatian airports to be tested for COVID, he launched a new initiative aimed precisely at tourists from Great Britain.

Namely, Franković sent a proposal to the competent ministries to agree with the United Kingdom for British guests.

All Britons who received two doses of vaccine overcame COVID-19 or have a negative PCR test would be allowed to come to Croatia on vacation without restrictions. May 1.

"The UK market is the most important tourist market in the city of Dubrovnik, and since the UK left the European Union, its guests are considered guests from third countries, and the quarantine obligation is in force upon arrival at the destination. Given that such a measure could seriously jeopardize the season, this proposal was made, following the examples of Cyprus and Portugal that have concluded such agreements," said Franković, adding that leading British media report almost daily on which European Union countries the British are allowed to enter without having to quarantine upon arrival.

The consequences of Dubrovnik's inclusion on the UK red list are most clearly shown by the numbers of arrivals, according to which Dubrovnik ended 2020 with 20% of the total number of overnight stays compared to the number of overnight stays in 2019, concluded Franković.

Both initiatives are focused on air guests because the city of Dubrovnik is extremely dependent on air traffic. Still, they also show the mayor's proactivity and determination to define some things much faster. There is not much time until summer, and everyone is currently targeting the UK market with marketing messages. 

The European Union will present a "digital green pass" on March 17, i.e., to present the framework of the Member States' decision regarding Covid passports and all other open issues regarding opening to tourism. It is also important to point out that according to Minister Brnjac, Croatia is considering a model that would allow tourists to be tested by rapid antigen tests, as well as PCR testing at several points, which will be decided in cooperation with regional tourist boards and the Croatian Institute of Public Health.

On the topic of introducing digital green passports that would enable easier travel, and at the same time provide air destinations with a faster tourist recovery, Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Franković held a meeting with the Director-General of the European Region of Airports Council International Olivier Jankovec and the president of the Air Transport Association at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, Tonči Peović.

Olivier Jankovec informed Mayor Franković that 100 European airports had introduced COVID testing so far. Still, he believes that the full implementation of the system requires urgent harmonization of recognizing rapid antigen tests between the EU member states, allowing easier travel.

On the other hand, Mayor Franković presented the initiatives and protocols proposed by the City of Dubrovnik, which relate to travel from all countries, regardless of whether they are part of the EU or not. The proposal introduces the rules according to the zones 'green', 'orange' and 'red,' and following them; guests would have certain conditions for coming to Croatia. Thus, the goal is not to stop travel but to make it possible for everyone under certain conditions.

Do you believe that Croatia should welcome vaccinated UK tourists without restrictions from May 1 this year?

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