Travel

After the introduction of the new parking system "ParkWallet", which enabled parking payments from a smartphone with a credit card at the beginning of June, the City of Umag has also provided free parking to all its citizens in four additional parking lots, totalling to 5 free parking spaces in the city center area, reports HRTurizam on July 27, 2019. Namely, since June 1, 2016, the City of Umag allowed all citizens with residence in the Umag area and a driver's license issued by the Umag Police Station to freely access unrestricted parking on the coast, 365 days a year.…

The City of Dubrovnik has launched a new service on the city administration's official website, where you can buy vouchers online for stopping in special traffic zones.  This is yet another in the series of Smart City measures to better coordinate and manage traffic in the contact area of the old city core, which is most heavily burdened by crowds, reports HRTurizam on July 26, 2019. Namely, with this service, travel agencies and vehicle owners will be able to buy online vouchers according to available periods, which will significantly accelerate the process on-site in special traffic zones. For vouchers purchased…

Zagreb Airport should see another stellar year as a 5% increase in passengers is expected in 2019. "Since the start of the concession, at the end of 2013, until today, Zagreb Airport has recorded a 45% increase in passenger numbers. Growth is continuing this year as well in line with our plans and expectations,” the airport said. Recall, the airport welcomed 1,534,105 in the first half of 2019, which is an increase of 4.2% or 62,477 more passengers compared to 2018, reports Ex Yu Aviation on July 25, 2019. While July should be a bit slower than last year since…

July 26, 2019 - Named the top destination in former Yugoslavia in 1983, many locals are complaining of the worst peak season in Jelsa for quite some time. So what is the situation on the ground and - more importantly - can tourism be improved? A TCN case study concludes that it can, quite easily. It is almost 17 years since I took the ferry from Drvenik to Sucuraj on August 15, 2002 to visit the island of Hvar for the first time in search of a house. Having driven through the empty villages of eastern Hvar, arriving in Jelsa…

July 26, 2019 - Continuing our look at the Adriatic coast as It Once Was almost 50 years ago, a visit to Orebic on Peljesac.  Tourism has changed the Croatian coast considerably in the last 50 years. Some destinations have changed beyond recognition, such as Dubrovnik, where the mass tourism of cruise ships and buses and buses of day trips are filling the old town as never before - a far cry from 50 years ago.  Other destinations, such as Korcula, seem hardly to have changed at all.  The paths that Korcula and Dubrovnik have chosen for their tourism are…

July 26, 2019 - As the Ministry of Tourism restricts access to the transparent and award-winning eVisitor statistics system and last available statistics pointing to another record season, many destinations are reporting the exact opposite. So is anyone having a record season in Croatia?  The debate on the 2019 Croatian tourism season continues while we wait for the Ministry of Tourism to restore access to its real-time tourism statistics programme, eVisitor, I decided to feature some businesses who are having a record season while so many are complaining. What were they doing differently, and what are their thoughts on the…

July 25, 2019 - The finishing touches are being applied to Palace Elisabeth, hvar heritage hotel. Meet the man who is applying them, interior designer Oto Blaha.   Palace Elisabeth, hvar heritage hotel has already been listed in Architectural Digest as one of the best hotels in the Mediterranean for design lovers, among top hotel brands like Four Seasons and Rocco Forte.  The project is assigned to one of the leading architecture firms in Croatia Agro Inženjering, led by architects Zoran and Neda Balog, while the hotel’s interior is designed by renowned interior designer Oto Blaha. Below are a couple of words from Oto Blaha regarding his most…

July 25, 2019 - It is 8 years since Anthony Bourdain told the world about Croatia's 'world-class food, world-class cheese, world-class wine.' A case study of Hvar on how to deliver the gourmet experience to food and wine tourists.  Tourism is about content, experiences and stories. Croatia has all three in abundance, and yet few tourists are aware of them. I have been very critical of the Kings of Accidental Tourism over the years, never more so than now with my interview in Index a few days ago read by 100,000 people (English version here).  I have also been very critical…

Ivan Brezak Brkan, an online strategist, journalist and editor-in-chief writes for Netokracija.com about the manner in which tourism data is made public in Croatia. When he presented the results of the visits based on the national eVisitor system for the recording of tourists in Croatia, Minister Gari Cappelli explained why the Ministry has decided to make the results public three times in a year instead of once a month: "I want to approach tourism in an as overall manner as possible. The way we appreciate tourist results and tourism globally chages, and it's difficult to follow the results from one…

July 23, 2019 - Boris Johnson, the former champion of cycling tourism on Brac, is the new British Prime Minister. What does it mean for Brac-UK cycling relations? So there we go.  Love him or hate him the British Brexit Mad Cow Disease has delivered its verdict. Boris Johnson is the new British Prime Minister, effective tomorrow.  There are lots of people reflecting on Boris' colourful and varied career, and we thought we would add our own tribute.  Being London Mayor or Foreign Secretary is all very well, but how about being a cycling ambassador for the island of Brac?…