May 17, 2020 - Croatian Tragedies. As it seems that health and tourism are the priorities, has the focus of Croatian authorities moved elsewhere until Election Day?
We are all intelligent people, so I want to keep this short.
Croatian Tragedies 2020.
The timeline.
Corona arrives on February 25, 2020. How to deal with it?
RESPONSE: A reassuring display from new Health Minister Vili Beros. Communications like no other Croatian minister in living memory. A reassuring start. A website, an app, a Viber channel with daily updates to half a million people, a social media channel follow. Croatia is praised as one of the top response countries in the world.
It is the economy, stupid.
RESPONSE: Croatia's private sector finally get frustrated enough to create the association Glas Poduzetnika (Voice of Entrepreneurs).Very quickly they get organised and bring about positive change.
Tourism is only 20% of Croatia's GDP, so not much of a big deal. This pandemic might slow things down, however.
RESPONSE: Officially, Tourism is King, let's portray that message. Unofficially - see below.
Yes but what about the elections? If we don't get reelected, who cares about corona, tourism or the economy?
RESPONSE: Jebiga
My trip to the Slovenian border to see the situation today was highly illuminating.
I am a Dalmatinski Zet (a Dalmatian son-in-law) and one of the phrases I have learned here is 'daj mi nesto konkretno' - give me something concrete.
Can I travel to Croatia right now?
What happens at the border?
What are the rules and regulations?
What are the social distancing rules?
And 67 more questions of a similar ilk.
Are there answers to these questions? In English? Officially? Online, accessible and advertised?
I learned something at the border today. I learned that there are strict rules for entry to Croatia, and I felt safer.
The problem, though, is that that message was not really going out to the people who need to hear it the most - the people who contribute to 20pc of our GDP.
The trip to the border was really interesting. I was allowed to walk in the beauty of the Bregana No Man's Land, between the two countries.
The land between the Croatia Slovenia border is one of the greatest Balkan meeting points, a meeting point between the West and the Balkans.
I looked at the trucks inching slowly and I cursed my early start. How is it possible in the Information Age that we cannot find out concrete info about crossing the border in the Corona Age?
It got me thinking, and I will leave you with some questions.
1. Where do tourists go for the latest info about Croatia?
2. Do we still need 319 tourist boards, and what should be their role if yes?
3. Election season has started. Who will win, and what impact will that have on Croatia's approach to health, economy and tourism in the corona era?
4. It the Minister of Health can produce a website updated daily (and in English), a Viber account update, which sends the latest info to half a million people, why can't the Ministry of Tourism do exactly the same thing? What exactly is the minister doing all day apart from spouting legendary corona-era metaphors such as Croatia Breathes Tourism. Yes, he really did come up and publicly trumpet that pearl
Who will win the real election - Health, Economy, Tourism, or Politics?
Here's what I think is happening. It is just a personal opinion, but the border visit made me more certain.
The elections are in a few weeks (late June or early July). The economic downtown has not yet really started, so the sooner the election, and the more we can make people think things are going to be no so bad, the better chances of reelection. Staying in power is obviously more important than doing the best for Croatia and its citizens.
The approach to tourism is tricky for health, economic and political reasons. The economy needs tourism to start, the epidemiologists would prefer it didn't, and the politicians can't afford to take a decisive side on health v economy, as to do so would alienate some voters in the forthcoming elections.
There are other issues with tourism. If we open the borders to some EU countries, my understanding is that we have to open them to all, regardless of their rate of infection. The joys of being in a large family.
From the health persepctive, having a million tourists descend on Croatia would be a disaster, and the authorities would not be able to control things. So if we have to let the whole of Europe in and cannot control those numbers, we need to find a way to limit that. But at the same time, we have to show how busy we are to the domestic voters. We are breathing tourism in the corona era, after all.
How to convince local voters things are going swimmingly, while preventing millions of tourists from overwhelming the system?
The answer is simple - give different messages to tourists and the domestic audience. Make the local people think we are working hard to bring in those desperately needed guests, while keeping tourists largely in the dark about the current situation so that they don't come en masse and overwhelm the system.
It is a really different balance to get right, but if you take the politics out fo the equation, it is actually quite easy to manage. Transparently. With clear information for all.
The big thing I learned at the border is that those who were allowed in will have their holiday tracked. The authorities will know where you are staying, have your contact details, and be immediately able to find you in the event of an infection in your contact group. This is somewhat reassuring. As I saw with my own eyes, people simply coming to Croatia and thinking they can choose their accommodation and destination once they arrive are not allowed in.
So the obvious conclusion is that Croatia welcomes tourism, but it can only handle a certain number at one time and track their whereabouts. Due to EU rules, if they open for one country, they have to open for all. Is it possible to come up with a system that could deliver tourism for all, while limiting it to the maximum number that Croatia can handle and monitor in these unusual times?
Yes, but only if you take out the politics.
I have no idea what the maximum number is, but the police will. Let's call it 100,000 for this discussion.
Let's divide that into 50,000 for tourists, 50,000 for those coming on business and with holiday homes in Croatia.
For the tourists, technology is your friend. On a first-come, first-served basis, contact the first 50,000 people who made reservations to come to Croatia this summer, tell them that they can come but need to confirm within 48 hours. For the businesses and holiday homes, first come, first served. Get them to register all the info you require (length of stay, address of accommodation) on a website you manage to cut bureaucratic times at the border. The first 50,000 will come at different times, so effectively, you need to create a giant Airbnb booking calendar with 50,000 spaces. It may sound a massive job, but I bet there is someone in Croatia's amazing IT sector who could come up with a solution quickly. If you were really clever, you could then allow more tourists to Istria, for example, if the system capacity was stronger there.
Communicate that information transparently in Croatian to the voters, in English to the world. It will show that Croatia is serious about its guests, not just trying to grab every kuna at the expense of health, it will reassure tourists, and it will add to one brand that Croatia rarely uses but will be increasingly important - safety.
And if anyone has the mobile number of the Minister of Health, perhaps you can fax it across to the Minister of Tourism so that he can find out how to do the Viber or even WhatsApp daily travel update for tourists (which could include some sexy offers and info about Croatia and be a great marketing tool).
Just as Croatia apparently breathes tourism, dear Minister, so the people who provide 20% of your country's GDP breathe information.
This is what I learned about the current rules crossing the border with Slovenia.
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