As HrTurizam.hr reports, an interesting offer of gifts that you can use to make yourself and your loved ones happy are now available through a new tourist webshop launched this week. All products, about 300 of them, promote Croatia in a positive context. They are intended primarily for tourists who may not be able to come to Croatia this year due to epidemiological measures. In this way, part of Croatia will come to their home address, wherever it is located!

Credit: HrTurizam.hr

Thus, within several categories, you can find unique handicrafts by creatives from the Gacka Valley, but also delicious cheeses from a local producer from Velebit. There are also modern clothing items for winter and summer with a large number of messages, funny jokes, and motifs.

This is followed by attractive posters of various sizes with beautiful motifs from all over Croatia, painted cups, and many other products. The products are divided into six categories, and the webshop will be updated with new ones on a weekly basis. Winter items are already at a discount and a new part of the range from Istria, Dalmatia, and Slavonia is being prepared through partnerships.

Credit: Plitvice Times webshop

"Our goal was to adapt to the new times because movement is limited and tourist shopping is becoming more complex. The webshop is an area that has seen a large increase in traffic in the last year precisely because of its simplicity and necessity, and for this reason, we decided to make this move and fill the webshop with as many products as possible. We organized the products, filled them in, and the first orders have already arrived. We are targeting the international market, and the first campaigns in Central Europe will start next week", says Ante Fumić, owner of Prilika Group.

According to the announcements, the range will be expanded in order to offer users the widest possible range of products in various categories. All manufacturers who think that their products would fit well into this webshop are also invited to contact their website in order to achieve cooperation.

Credit: Plitvice Times webshop

The webshop was launched by the young creative team of Prilika Grupa, a marketing company that already has several successful thematic creative projects behind it. The webshop is part of The Plitvice Times magazine, and if you go to check on a variety of articles you will see that you can find something that you'll certainly like!

For more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

March 24, 2021 - The Croatian government and National Headquarters are placing more responsibility on the county headquarters for 2021 Croatian tourist season preparations and believe they must coordinate with the tourism sector.

HRTurizam reports that the Chief of the National Civil Protection Headquarters, Davor Božinović, published a new instruction to the local Civil Protection Headquarters, specially made to prepare the tourist season. Božinović pointed out that all Civil Protection Headquarters are obliged to coordinate with the tourist boards operating in their area and, in cooperation with them, consider what measures and activities need to be taken to make their area epidemiologically safe for their citizens and tourists.

Božinović stressed that they want to ensure that everyone in the health and tourism system coordinates, considers the current situation, and either independently or through a proposal of measures to the national headquarters, tries to stop the spread of the virus from entering the new season. He believes it is not time to adopt horizontal measures, especially in those counties that have a favorable epidemiological situation.

"When we talk about the regional approach, I'm pretty sure it's justified. We have entered this phase of the epidemic with minimal numbers in some counties. We know how important tourism is to us. Countries will assess the situation in all our counties. Therefore they will make travel decisions in them. This is a job that the profession will do all summer, so we need the awareness of all institutions and citizens," said Božinović, adding that Croatia will implement some things regarding Covid passports before the EU. "Those who have either recovered or been vaccinated or have an EU-approved test will be able to enter Croatia," Božinović said at the news conference today.

"The headquarters are invited to propose measures because they know best where the focus is. It is also preparing for what will be an integral part of European policy related to the tourist season, and that is the regional approach," said Božinović, adding that last year they fought not to see Croatia as a whole.

Looking at the Re-open.eu platform, Croatia is still divided into two regions, not by counties, which does not give an accurate picture. The platform serves as the main reference point for anyone traveling to the EU because it provides centralized and up-to-date information.

On the other hand, there is an initiative to divide Croatia into four regions instead of counties, as was done on the HUT Corona Region Tracker (North Coast - Istria and Kvarner), South Coast (Dalmatia), Central Croatia (Zagreb and surroundings), and Eastern Croatia.

However, without entering into the discussion of which model is better - by counties or four regions, the most important thing is that someone from Croatia reacts to the Re-open.eu platform so that the country is not divided into only two regions. 

There are currently 28 test centers in the Republic of Croatia that perform RT-PCR tests for COVID-19. All processed samples are entered into the national platform at the Croatian Health Insurance Institute, available to all county public health institutes.

In some cities and counties in Croatia, an epidemiological measure of testing using rapid antigen tests is being implemented.

At the recently held 6th Split-Dalmatia County Family Accommodation Forum, it was pointed out that there will be eight testing points in the County.

Director of the Teaching Institute for Public Health of the Split-Dalmatia County Željka Karin appealed for respect and adherence to all epidemiological measures.

"Testing points will be on Brač, Hvar, Vis, Makarska, Imotski, Trogir, Sinj and Split. The Teaching Institute for Public Health's testing point is always open in Split; in a month, we will have to relocate the checkpoint that is now in the ferry port because of cruisers, and we are also talking about a testing point at Split Airport," said Karin. 

For the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia, CLICK HERE.

February 10, 2021 - Tourism Minister Nikolina Brnjac and Croatian tourism players discussed the 2021 tourist season expectations in Croatia on HRT's Otvoreno program Tuesday night. 

T.portal reports that Minister of Tourism and Sports Nikolina Brnjac, as a guest on the HTV show Otvoreno hosted by Zrinka Grancaric, said domestic and foreign experts had far lower expectations last year than was the result of the tourist season, at 50 percent of the record 2019.

"We closed everything on time, and we started to open on time. In compliance with all epidemiological measures and standards, we had a tourist season. The tourism sector has proven to be much tougher than others had thought. Croatia has had good results compared to other Mediterranean countries. Of course, we will strive for that this tourist season as well. We hold regular meetings with the directors of our market offices, we have included our embassies, and the feedback is that tourists inquire about the epidemiological situation. The second issue is the security situation. The third question is the vaccination rate," she said.

She added that occupations for travel exist, bookings exist. Camps, holiday homes, nautical tourism, active holidays are mostly booked. Today's tourist is looking for that through security, she added. She pointed out that the certificate for health purposes was discussed at the last meeting of state and government heads.

"COVID passports, which are used as a travel document, were not discussed, but a document that would serve as a vaccination certificate. The vaccine is optional. It is not yet available to the general population, and therefore to set something like that is to restrict freedom of movement," she stressed.

Veljko Ostojic, director of the Croatian Tourism Association, said there was significant interest in hoteliers' vaccinations.

"Today, it is only clear that if the county is in a green area, there are 25 or fewer new cases in the last 14 days. There is no possibility of travel restrictions. Everything else is still not clear. And that was one of the basic problems of the past year. There was no agreement at the EU level. It is now important that we try to vaccinate as soon as possible. We need clearly defined rules at the European Union level and to ensure that tourism professionals are well prepared," he said.

He added that the same result should be made in terms of epidemiological measures. Croatia was a safe destination last year before the vaccine was found, and there is no reason why it should not be this year.

Damir Krešić, director of the Institute for Tourism, said that the upcoming tourist season's key messages are quite clear and related to safety.

"We must send the message that we are a safe destination and that we keep the epidemiological situation under control. No matter what you do, the success of the 2021 season will depend on the epidemiological situation. If the epidemiological situation is good, we have reason to expect a very good tourist season," he pointed out. He added that it is good that Croatia has traditionally been perceived as a safe destination.

"We are entering this tourist season under less favorable circumstances than it was last year. Then we normally prepared for the tourist season, in April we counted the infected on one hand, and now if we have a figure less than 200-300, we can say it is a good day," he said.

Brnjac believes that it is essential for tourism workers to be vaccinated because they are in direct contact with the guest. That sector cannot be pushed because the Government has adopted a vaccination plan, the first and second phases, and it is known what the priorities are. After that, when the third stage of vaccination occurs, tourism workers would be added.

Martina Nimac Kalcina, president of the Family Tourism Association of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, said that it was difficult and that a critical period was coming when those who managed to earn money last season had used up their supplies.

"Now the question is how to survive until May, June when the arrival of the first guests is announced. We have many tourism workers interested in vaccinations, and I am sure that the number of renters and other tourism workers would increase over time. We will certainly not all be able to get vaccinated by the end of this season. It is not only possible to distinguish between guests and tourism workers who have been vaccinated and who have not, but work should be done to enable testing. Other states will set the condition that one cannot enter their country, their citizens cannot return if they do not have a negative test in the last 72 hours. It costs about 100 euros for a foreigner to take a test in Croatia. What if you have a family of four who has to spend another 400 euros to return to their country? On the other hand, there are not enough checkpoints, and that testing is not organized enough," she said.

Minister Brnjac replied that meetings had been held with the Croatian Institute of Public Health to provide tourists with arrival and departure testing. They had begun discussing processing facilities and providing a sufficient number of testing sites. She also added - standard rules need to be regulated at the EU level. Damir Krešić agreed with this, believing that it must at least be easier to do if testing could not be cheaper.

Selimir Ognjenović, owner of the company I.D. Riva tours appeared on the show from Germany. He says the interest in vacationing in Germany is high. All of these ‘lockdowns’ have resulted in a great desire to travel.

He considers the experience from last year to be the biggest Croatian argument for entering the 2021 season.

"Our guests were protected, and we proved to be an excellent host," he emphasized. "Thirty camps were open all winter. Do you need more proof of trust than that?" he asked.

ORF journalist Christian Wehrschutz said that the question of what conditions the Austrian government will set regarding travel is crucial. If it is a two-week quarantine and an additional test - that's not good. Austrian hoteliers have asked the government for a clear strategy for testing on departure and arrival, the issue of nightclubs, and the vaccination of tourist workers. He believes that Austria will invite its citizens to spend their summers in their country, especially after the catastrophic winter season.

Damir Krešić agreed with that. He believes that small domestic tourist demand is a big problem in Croatia. In other countries, about 40 to 50 percent of guests are locals, while in Croatia, the number is about 10 percent. Therefore, he believes - Croatia should focus on Central Europe's markets and the regional markets of BiH and Serbia, depending on the epidemiological situation in those countries.

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