Travel

January 12, 2021 - Through a project that will last five months, the Skradin port will be enhanced by four new piers to accommodate up to eight tourist boats.   HRTurizam reports that the ancient port of Scardona is today a modern marina for boats arriving across Lake Prokljan and enjoys a reputation as a safe haven. From this summer, it will be enhanced by a well-maintained pier and main water entrance to Skradinski Buk, the most famous and most visited waterfall on the Krka River. In order to protect and preserve the recognizable and authentic view of Skradin, the most…

ZAGREB, 12 January, 2021 - Montenegrin health authorities on Monday decided to allow entry into the country for foreign nationals without a negative test for COVID-19 thus partly relaxing current epidemiological measures even though around 1.5% of the country's population is infected with coronavirus.  Health Minister Jakov Milatović said the decision was due to the fact that restricting entry into the country during the summer had caused Montenegro to lose close to half a billion euros even though "a negligible number of tourists were responsible for the transmission of coronavirus within Montenegro." Health authorities have also lifted the ban on travel…

January 12, 2021 - A look at the Split-Dalmatia County tourism numbers in 2020 as revealed by County Tourist Board Director Josko Stella. Slobodna Dalmacija reports that in Split-Dalmatia County last year, 1.2 million tourists stayed in commercial accommodation and realized more than eight million overnight stays. Thus, in 2020, Split-Dalmatia County recorded 34 percent of arrivals and 45 percent of overnight stays compared to the record 2019. Split-Dalmatia County Tourist Board Director Joško Stella estimates that after a significant decline in tourist arrivals and overnight stays in the first half of the year, marked by the COVID-19 pandemic which interrupted…

January 12, 2021 - Continuing our look at Croatia as it once was in the distant past through 3D animations, daily life in the impressive Pula Forum during the Roman Era. As beautiful as the Croatian coast is today, can you imagine what it must have looked 500 - or even 1000 - years ago? An era long before mass tourism and the apartmanisation of the Adriatic, leaving the magnificent historic cities and stone buildings which comprise major tourist attractions today.   A coast which is dominated by historic Dubrovnik in the south, the walls of Ston, great island settlements such…

January 12, 2021 – The surprise Zagorje landslide has left people wondering if the groundwater has triggered the fall of ground or if the region's earthquakes may have played a part Flattening trees and completely covering a main thoroughfare through the village of Gornji Jesenje, a surprise Zagorje landslide that occurred last week has left locals wondering if the shift of wintertime groundwater was to blame or if seismic disturbances in Croatia may have also played their part. The Zagorje landslide occurred at the end of last week. So far, the road remains blocked. The landslide took place over four…

January 11, 2021 - As the Croatian National Tourist Board delights in its inclusion in yet another meaningless list, a look at the competition illustrates the point, as Croatia tops Mars and 'any airport in the world.' One of the things I have learned writing online is that the title is everything. A sad - and rather dispiriting - truth I have learned blogging for the last decade is that less and less people read these days. It is often the case that an article has more Facebook likes than actual views, more comments based on the title in the…

January 11, 2021 – Unlike the record 2019, when more than 11.4 million passengers passed through Croatian airports, in the crisis 2020, that number dropped by as much as 81 percent, counting less than 2.2 million passengers. At the beginning of each new year, the revenues from the last tourist year are added up, and tourists' numbers are concluded. However, it was inevitable that in 2020, during which world tourism experienced a massive decline due to the coronavirus pandemic, would also affect tourist numbers. As reported earlier, the Croatian tourism sector saw 50 percent fewer tourist overnight stays in 2020…

January 11, 2021 – After the French travel show "Echappées Belles" recently dedicated one episode entirely to Croatian beauties, the France-German TV channel ARTE continued with promoting Croatia by showing the rich Croatian river heritage in a TV show named "La Croatie au fil des eaux "(Croatia along waters). As reported by Danijela Mihalić Đurica, the Croatian National Tourist Board Director in France, the TV show "La Croatie au fil des eaux" (Croatia along waters) was broadcast on the famous and watched French-German TV channel ARTE, which specializes in cultural programs and documentaries about nature and travel. In a show…

January 11, 2021 - Pula Arena dominates the city's centre these days, but how impressive was the Roman amphitheatre in the past? A stunning 3D animation of the Roman era.   It is almost 8 years since my first visit to one of Croatia's most interesting and versatile building, the Pula Arena in Istria.  The year was 2013, and the Croatian National Tourist Board invited me to cover the opening night of Outlook Festival, which was being held in one of the world's largest remaining Roman amphitheatres for the first time.  The concert was just one of the innovative uses by…

January 10, 2021 – Despite pandemic and earthquakes, the number of well-to-do guests in Croatia in 2020 grew. They spent 98 euros a day, 32 more euros than six years ago, and they were looking for the highest quality and the most expensive tourist offer. As Radmila Kovačević / Večernji list writes, a thin but much better tourist season than it seemed in the spring brought Croatia 7.7 million guests and about 54 million overnight stays in eleven months. Every other overnight stay from the record 2019 was realized. The earthquakes did not have a particular impact on the number…