June 5, 2018 — Croatia's search for profitable tourism alongside local peace continues, this time in Zadar.
Hvar has infamous signs demanding tourists behave.
Novalja has fines for showing too much skin.
Zadar has its own pet peeve: noise, as hangouts and bars blasting music into the wee hours.
The town's restaurants and clubs started the 2018 tourism season this weekend with a surprise visit from local police officers. The cops walked the Old Town, reminding owners and staff of local noise ordinances and business hours regulations. Staff and guests were miffed, claiming the tactic seemed strong-handed.
"I don't know whose order it was to be so strict, but there was no reason for it," one bartender told Zadarski.hr. "Guests were completely surprised, as well as scared, to see uniformed officers come in."
Zadar police spokesman Elis Žodan said the gentle reminder was meant to remind owners of public order and peace laws already on the books and preempt a potential ruckus. No specific complaint prompted the police's patrol.
"There's nothing controversial about police officers warning staff members to comply with municipal orders," he said.
The tempo of nightlife and Zadar's legally-mandated quiet hours conflict. Bar and restaurant owners say their guests stay at the beach until 9 p.m., taking advantage of the season's longer days. The laws currently on the books give them just enough time for a meal and perhaps a nightcap before last call chases them home. Žodan said police can't change the laws on the books, only enforce them. Officials deal with noise complaints regularly, even during Zadar's desultory winter months, he added. The problem only grows during the summer months.
"We're taking care of [the noise complaints] in a preventative way," he said. "There aren't just [bars and restaurants] on the peninsula; people live there, and the police have to take care of everyone. Everything else leads to anarchy."
Stipe Knežević, president of the Zadar Chamber of Small Business Owners, agreed with the tactic, claiming some hotspots flood the street with music to draw customers.
"There has to be some order in a public space in the town's center," he said. "You can't do whatever you want."
The curfew laws do not apply to nightclubs, which have a special designation allowing them to work until 6 a.m. Clubs can (mostly) be found on the outskirts of Zadar's Old Town — at least not right underneath a residential building.
Still, other service industry businesses feel they might suffer if Zadar continues its preemptive policing.
"If we're going to develop our tourism this way, we have no chance," the bartender said.
