ZAGREB, July 2, 2020 - Six million passengers entered Croatia in June, which is 40% less than for the same month last year, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic informed on Thursday.

In May, 2.13 million entries into Croatia were recorded and in June that number as 6.6 million, which is an increase of 210%, Bozinovic specified during the cabinet meeting adding that the trend was on the rise and that it can be attributed to the relaxation of lockdown measures.

Enter Croatia app - 90% of tourist announcements

Bozinovic underscored that in May entry into Croatia was made possible for citizens of 10 EU member states while citizens of third countries are still obliged to prove the purpose of their visit.

"In an effort to reduce waiting time at border crossings due to the collection of epidemiological information and to be in a position to connect every foreign citizen who enters Croatia, the Enter Croatia app-enabled completing the necessary information online prior to arrival and since May 28, almost 1.1 million foreign passengers used this app. About 90% of these applications are of a tourist nature," said Bozinovic. 

Passengers who complete the necessary form prior to arrival will use the special lane

The ministries of interior and tourism and the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) branch in the Czech Republic have agreed to submit passenger lists ahead of their arrival by bus in order to allow for better traffic flow. Similar agreements will be arranged with HTZ's branches in other EU member states, he said.

He added that special lanes were being opened at border crossings for people who complete the necessary forms ahead of their arrival.

Bozinovic informed that a ship arrived from China on June 26 carrying 194 tonnes of medical and protective equipment valued at $10.2 million.

''Equipment is currently being distributed to polling committees in cooperation with the State Electoral Commission but also to all care facilities following a request by the Ministry for Demography, Youth and Social Policy," said Bozinovic. 

ZAGREB, July 2, 2020 - In the last 24 hours, there have been 81 new patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and two more COVID-elated deaths in Croatia, the COVID-19 crisis response team stated on Thursday afternoon.

Currently, the number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 647, and of them, 84 are being treated in hospitals, including three patients placed on ventilators.

Since February 25, when the first case was recorded in Croatia, there have been 2,912 cases of infection. 

To date, 110 people diagnosed with COVID have died and 2,155 have recovered.

A total of 81,437 people have been tested, including 981 in the last 24 hours.

The data presented in the team's press release were collected until 1245 hours Thursday.

ZAGREB, July 2, 2020 - The Electoral Commission (DIP) said on Thursday that the restriction on voting for people infected with the coronavirus was imposed under the law and served the legitimate purpose of protecting public health from an infectious disease. 

"The restriction is appropriate to achieving this goal, and the Electoral Commission's opinion is that it is also necessary," DIP said in a response to GONG, a non-governmental election monitoring organisation that questioned its decision that voters infected with the novel COVID-19 coronavirus would not be allowed to vote in the July 5 parliamentary election.

"Any other, more lenient measure to achieve this goal would put the citizens' health at risk. In this case, we do not think that one can speak of a lower or higher level of damage to the citizens," the Electoral Commission said.

GONG had asked DIP to explain how its decision complied with fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the Convention on Human Rights.

"Fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the Convention may be restricted, but under strict conditions, as follows: a restriction must be explicit and clearly defined by law; it must serve a legitimate purpose; it must be appropriate and necessary for achieving such purpose; and there must not be any other more lenient measures in place, with a lower level of damage to the citizens, to achieve this purpose," GONG said.

Citing the law on protecting public health from infectious diseases, DIP said that voters diagnosed with COVID-19 would not be able to vote because they were ordered to self-isolate, which means that they are not allowed to come into contact with other persons, including members of polling committees.  It said that face masks and protective gloves could not provide sufficient protection for members of polling committees. 

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bruno Lipej writes on the 1st of July, 2020, after two weeks, the director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Krunoslav Capak, has come out of self-isolation.

''I did my fifteen days of self-isolation. My contact that made us all need self-isolation amounted to fifteen days. Yesterday was my last day of self-isolation. I tested myself as soon as I found out I was in contact with a positive person and I was negative. I was tested again yesterday and I'm still negative. I had no symptoms and I worked all the time. None of that group of about twenty of us, including people working for the media, fell ill. We, the health professionals, have been tested and no one is positive,'' Capak said in conversation with Dnevnik Nova TV.

When asked if Croatia opened the borders with Bosnia and Herzegovina because of the elections which are due to take place this Sunday, he answered that he is in charge only of the epidemiological aspects.

"What I can say epidemiologically is that the increase in the number of cases in the last ten days have been imported from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo. The case in Djakovo is related to Kosovo. When we saw that this was the situation, we proposed epidemiologically that somewhat stricter measures be introduced at the borders, and one of the measures is self-isolation, which was introduced,'' explained Krunoslav Capak.

"It happened that this decision, which was changed today, was made in March, and then it was stated that it was valid until June the 30th. These measures were left when we changed them a few days ago, it was left valid until June the 30th, so we'll see. This coincided with the decisions of the European Commission, which is opening its borders to countries that are ''third countries''. So, not towards the countries of the European Union, but towards third countries,'' he added.

He believes that the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is calming down, even though they have a lot of patients, but that it takes time.

"We think we've targeted who we need to test well, and that is if we suspect them, if they have respiratory symptoms or a fever or have had risky contact with a lot of other contacts, and then we resolve the epidemiological situation that way,'' he said in regard to Croatia's protocols for coronavirus testing.

What awaits us in the autumn?

"If the virus doesn't change or disappear in the meantime, in the autumn, when it gets cold and we all spend more time indoors, where the concentration of the virus is higher, it will certainly be easier to transmit the coronavirus infection. In addition, it will coincide with the season of other respiratory infections, including the flu. Then, we'll have a much more difficult situation on our hands than we have now. There will be a much higher number of infected people and it will be much harder because they'll interpolate with other respiratory infections, too,'' Krunoslav Capak warned.

"As far as vaccinations are concerned, we're taking measures to try to get the vaccine earlier this year than we were before, but we're a small country and a small client, so it's difficult to break in among the first places when delivering flu vaccines, but we're working intensively on it and hope that we will succeed,'' he added.

For more on coronavirus in Croatia, follow our dedicated section.

Update (July 11, 2020): While all of these were true when this article was written, a major change took place on July 10, when the new rules for entering Croatia were introduced. Please follow the article about those changes to get the latest information, as it becomes available. 

July 2, 2020 - Can Americans visit Croatia after the latest EU borders update on July 1? Feedback from the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community provides some answers from actual travellers yesterday. 

After weeks of uncertainty in this most uncertain of times, some clarity is emerging on the most common question in the Total Croatia Travel Viber community (you need to download the app) - can Americans visit Croatia with the new border rules?

It seems that they can. 

First, the soundbite sentence to put things in a nutshell. I have asked the Croatian border police to confirm everything stated in this article, which they have done, making the advice stated here official:

Croatia is open for tourism with paid accommodation outside the EU. Croatia is not in the Schengen zone, and so you can transit through a Schengen airport and come to Croatia, no problem, as long as you have the right documentation.

The main advice is the more documentation, the better. This should include at least:

1. Proof of paid accommodation.

2. The confirmation email after you fill in the entercroatia.mup.hr form. 

3. Some of the testimonies you will see below to help you argue your case.

4. The latest IATA guidelines for travel to Croatia. 

Now let's hear the feedback from tourists who posted in the Viber community on July 1.

Hey everyone—more positive signs! A few days ago, I tried filling out the IATA "passport, visa, & health" section, where it asks for all the info regarding your exact air travel plans, carrier, transit countries/dates/times, passport info, etc. Then, the result I received was NO. But just now I tried it again. The result? YES! Specifically, "Yes, the documentation you hold is sufficient based on your details and the itinerary provided." FYI I selected "tourism/vacation" as my reason, and I am a US citizen residing in the US, planning to arrive in Croatia on July 15. I recommend that in the interest of providing as much documentation as humanly possible, everyone also fill that out—take a screenshot or save as PDF each screen as you go through the process, and do the same with the result. Then, if you have any trouble while checking in, just hand it to the airline agent so that they can copy your exact details into the online form and get the same result! Fill it in here.

From Dubai via Amsterdam:

Hi guys! I just checked into my first leg (Dubai-Amsterdam). Gate agent was super nice, asked: do you have documentation to enter Amsterdam? I said yes, Do you have documentation to enter Croatia? Answered yes. He asked to see it. He was basically reading whatever the screen asked him to, he told me....”it says here I have to see it” and he barely looked at my printed MUP form and gave me the tickets for both legs. I am hoping  Amsterdam-Zagreb will be as easy! ( I hold and American passport and have not been to the US in 3 years).

The border police in Copenhagen:

We fly SAS... Chicago - CPH - SPU

Leave on July 9.  Border police in Copenhagen said no issue with transit with an onward ticket to Croatia if we stay in the international transit terminal.

From Newark to Zagreb via Amsterdam:

A buddy of mine traveled Monday from Newark, Amsterdam, Zagreb and arrived perfectly fine in Croatia. He has NO Croatian paperwork, citizenship, documents, etc - however, his father who was born in Croatia had all of his docs, including Croatian passport. The two of them traveled together. To prove identity and relation as father/son, my friend was only asked and required to show his birth certificate to officials in Newark.

Some advice transiting through Paris:

I just called KLM and my flight for Friday is confirmed through CDG which means people should be able to transit! Here is the link to the document you will need! Scroll down to where it says “certificate of derogatory travel” and open up the English PDF. You have to print this out and sign it and show it before takeoff in both your departure city and Paris. I’m going to print a French version out as well but will only sign the English one.  The woman said there is a similar process for those transiting through Amsterdam but I don’t have the info on that. Be sure to use google chrome so you can translate the website as it is in French. Here is the link.

San Francisco via Munich:

I am currently in Munich airport.  Came from San Francisco.  Because we booked it all together we got both boarding passes in SF and bags are checked through to Zagreb.  We have not had to talk to the German border control at all.

New York via Paris:

Okay, I was the one that asked about traveling with US passport and domovnica.... so far was allowed on the plane to France and am now seated on the plane to Zagreb.... last check will be if they allow me and kids in Zagreb. We flew Air France from New York.

Some other useful bits of information from our Viber community:

THIS IS THE MOST COMMON ANSWER TODAY SENT OUT BY CROATIAN BORDER POLICE - THEY PROVIDED IT TO US SO SHARE

Dear sirs/madam,

By the decision of the Civil Protection Headquarters from 30. 06. 2020. citizens of the Member States of the European Union or the Member States of the Schengen area as well as members of their families and third-country nationals who are long-term residents under Council Directive 2003/109/EC of 25 November 2003 on the status of nationals third countries with long-term residence and persons entitled to reside under other EU directives or national law do not have to prove the reason for their entry (business, economic, tourist, etc.). Those persons can enter under the same conditions as before the disease COVID-19, but still with epidemiological control, and with the obligation to comply with general and special recommendations of the Croatian Institute of Public Health.

In order to shorten the waiting time at the border crossing point, it is recommended that foreign nationals who will come to Croatia, send additional data in advance via web address https://entercroatia.mup.hr/.General and special recommendations and instructions are available at the following web address: https://www.koronavirus.hr/recommendations-and-instructions-of-the-croatian-institute-of-public-health-for-croatian-and-foreign-nationals-who-are-crossing-the-state-border-and-entering-the-republic-of-croatia/633

The dedicated information page from the US Embassy in Zagreb.

A printout of the latest regulations from the Timatic system (this is used by airlines for the latest entry data for each national)

National USA (US)               /Embarkation USA (US)Destination Croatia (HR)Croatia (HR)

Passport required.- Passports and other documents accepted for entry must be valid for a minimum of 3 months beyond the period of intended stay.

Passport Exemptions:- Nationals of USA with an emergency passport.

Admission and Transit Restrictions:

- Passengers are not allowed to enter.

- This does not apply to family members of nationals of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland (Rep.), Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

- This does not apply to family members of British nationals.

- This does not apply to passengers entering Croatia to transit by land to a third country. They must prove that they can enter the destination country.

- This does not apply to passengers traveling as tourists.

- This does not apply to passengers traveling on business.

- This does not apply to passengers traveling as students.

Visa required, except for Nationals of USA for a maximum stay of 90 days. (SEE NOTE 53527)NOTE 53527: The maximum stay is granted within 180 days.

Additional Information:

- Visitors are required to hold proof of sufficient funds to cover their stay as follows:

- at least EUR 70.- per day of stay; or- at least EUR 30.- per day of stay if holding a confirmed invitation or a tourist voucher.

Warning:

- Passports and passport replacing documents issued more than10 years prior to date of travel are not accepted.

- Visitors not holding return/onward tickets could be refused entry.

- Brexit: The United Kingdom stopped being member of the European Union (EU) and of the European Economic Area (EEA).

Regulations related to the EU and the EEA apply to the United Kingdom until 31 December 2020.Croatia (HR)

Vaccinations not required.

This article will be updated as more experiences are shared.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

The Netherlands - as of July 21, Croatia is placed on the "Orange" list by the Dutch government, which means that both the Croatian nationals and the Dutch nationals returning to the Netherlands from Croatia are strongly advised to self-quarantine for 14 days.

July 1, 2020 - There are currently 644 hotels and 344 camps open in Croatia, other tourist facilities are opening daily along the coast, and the number of tourists is increasing by about 30,000 a day, says the Croatian Tourism Association (HUT).

Slobodnna Dalmacija reports that introducing the news with the headline "Security Before Everything", this and other information and news for tourists, tourism and other sectors were published by HUT in the fifth issue of the bulletin "Croatia Tourism & Travel Weekly" (in Croatian and English). HUT emphasized that by July 1 (the issue date of the bulletin), none of the total 1.6 million tourists who were in Croatia this year by the end of June "were infected with the coronavirus during their stay in all types of commercial accommodation in Croatia".

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

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They also say that due to the implementation and observance of protective measures and better comfort of tourists, a large number of hotels and camps and other accommodation facilities are currently operating with smaller capacities, including the largest tourist company in Croatia, Valamar Riviera, at 20 percent less.

"Although there are no restrictions in Croatia (wearing masks is mandatory only in public transport, and certain additional safety measures have been adopted in some regions, while face masks are recommended indoors across the country), safety standards in all tourist facilities are high, and Croatian epidemiologists have made very detailed guidelines for all types of facilities and tourist services that have been implemented throughout the country," HUT points out.

HUT's analyzes show that the demand for Croatia as a summer holiday destination is growing day by day and that the number of tourists is constantly increasing, about 30 thousand a day.

Currently, most foreign tourists in Croatia are from Germany, followed by Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria. Through the official application Entercroatia, and according to the data of the Ministry of the Interior, more than a million tourists have applied to enter Croatia so far, the HUT bulletin states.

They also state that Croatia has elaborated guidelines in case of infection in tourist destinations, which provide for adequate isolation and treatment, as well as that all major destinations have specialized tourist clinics that are ready to act quickly and safely and that all tourism workers know the precise procedure and manner to respond if needed.

In the bulletin from July 1, HUT states, among other things, that "Croatia, in coordination with other members of the European Union, has opened its borders as of today and enabled free entry into the country for all EU citizens, citizens of countries that are in the Schengen area, nationals of countries associated with the Schengen area and nationals of third countries residing in those countries."

In addition, the HUT bulletin from July 1 provides a list of facilities (hotels and others) that open in early July, as well as upcoming airlines in July at Croatian airports and other information and attractions.

July 1, 2020 - The Croatian National Tourist Board announced the latest tourist numbers for the first six months of 2020, which show that Croatia has achieved 30% of last year's tourist traffic.

In June this year, 892,000 tourists who came to Croatia realized 4.8 million overnight stays, which is 32 percent of the overnight stays realized in June 2019. This shows that in June and across the first six months this year, overnight stays have dropped about 70 percent, announces the Croatian National Tourist Board.

"Given the circumstances around the world and in Croatia, we can be satisfied with the realized tourist traffic, which is in line with our estimates. It is important that out of 1.6 million tourists who have stayed in Croatia since the beginning of this year, we have not had any cases of infection in tourists," says Croatian National Tourist Board Director Kristijan Stanicic.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

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In the first six months of this year, domestic tourists achieved the most overnight stays, which once again confirms how they've been rejected, especially this year. Of course, about 2 million domestic guests cannot replace the 20 million arrivals of foreign tourists, but they certainly can and should be a great base for the pre- and post-season.

On the contrary, domestic tourists are the bearers of tourism in the interior of Istria, and thus saved the season for various facilities in commercial accommodation, holiday homes, restaurants and wineries in inland Istria.

Thus, domestic tourists in the first half of this year accounted for 31 percent of total overnight stays, which is the highest among all markets and a rarity in the last more than ten years.

Foreign tourists accounted for 69 percent of total overnight stays, with most achieved by Slovenes (26 percent), followed by Germans (25 percent), and Austrians (9 percent), and tourists from BiH and the Czech Republic (7 percent each).

By type of accommodation, most overnight stays or 73 percent was realized in commercial accommodation, of which 30 percent in household facilities, 20 percent in hotels and 16 percent in camps. Twenty-four percent of the total six-month overnight stays were realized in non-commercial accommodation, and 3 percent in the nautical charter.

In the continental part of the country, 12 percent of total overnight stays were realized, most of them in Zagreb, which is the leader among all destinations in Croatia, ahead of Rovinj, Vir, Medulin and Porec.

Adriatic counties are still leading with a total of 88 percent of overnight stays in the first six months, and among them, most overnight stays or 25 percent were realized in Istria, followed by Primorje-Gorski Kotar with a share of 21 percent and Zadar and Split-Dalmatia County making up 15 and 13 percent in total overnight stays.

Announcing that tourist demand and traffic are expected to increase in July and August, especially from Central Europe, Stanicic adds that these are the markets of Germany, Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, and that stronger demand for hotels is expected.

"Although the epidemiological situation at the global level is constantly changing, tourist flows have started and people have started to travel following new circumstances and are adhering to epidemiological measures. Croatia is partly favored over the competition, because it is accessible by car from major European markets, offers a diverse structure of accommodation, and still has a favorable epidemiological situation," said Stanicic.

All things considered, Stanicic estimates that at least a third of last year's record result can be achieved in Croatian tourism this year, but he also expects further recovery of tourist flows and gradual strengthening of traffic within Europe, while accustoming citizens to changed circumstances in which they travel and spend their holidays, as well as the adaptation of the tourism industry to the circumstances of the pandemic and the establishment of better air connectivity of major markets and destinations.

"We hope for good results in the off-season, in September and October, when we could achieve results better than a third of the turnover of the same period last year, and if circumstances allow, the first wave of tourist travel from distant markets could begin at the end of the year," said Stanicic.

He also expects that in July and August, when numerous airlines operate, positive tourist trends will show throughout Croatia, with an emphasis on destinations in central and southern Dalmatia, because most flights are announced by airlines for the summer to Split and Dubrovnik airports, and to Zadar, Pula, Zagreb and Rijeka.

July 1, 2020 - The Croatian Government's official Koronavirus.hr website issued some official travel updates yesterday. Please find it below in full. 

As of midnight, all EU/EEA nationals and persons with permanent residence in EU/EEA country can enter Croatia freely, without restrictions. All travellers are, however, advised to fill out the form on the ENTERCROATIA web-page. 

The EU Council today adopted a recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU. Travel restrictions should be lifted for countries listed in the recommendation, with this list being reviewed and, as the case may be, updated every two weeks.

As of midnight, all EU/EEA nationals and persons with permanent residence in EU/EEA country can enter Croatia freely, without restrictions. All travellers are, however, advised to fill out the form on the ENTERCROATIA web-page. Third country nationals still have some restrictions in place: they can enter on business or tourism related reasons only.

Based on the criteria and conditions set out in the recommendation, as from 1 July member states should start lifting the travel restrictions at the external borders for residents of the following third countries:

• Algeria
• Australia
• Canada
• Georgia
• Japan
• Montenegro
• Morocco
• New Zealand
• Rwanda
• Serbia
• South Korea
• Thailand
• Tunisia
• Uruguay
• China, subject to confirmation of reciprocity

Residents of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican should be considered as EU residents for the purpose of this recommendation.

The criteria to determine the third countries for which the current travel restriction should be lifted cover in particular the epidemiological situation and containment measures, including physical distancing, as well as economic and social considerations. They are applied cumulatively.

Regarding the epidemiological situation, third countries listed should meet the following criteria, in particular:

• number of new COVID-19 cases over the last 14 days and per 100 000 inhabitants close to or below the EU average (as it stood on 15 June 2020)
• stable or decreasing trend of new cases over this period in comparison to the previous 14 days
• overall response to COVID-19 taking into account available information, including on aspects such as testing, surveillance, contact tracing, containment, treatment and reporting, as well as the reliability of the information and, if needed, the total average score for International Health Regulations (IHR). Information provided by EU delegations on these aspects should also be taken into account.

Reciprocity should also be taken into account regularly and on a case-by-case basis.

For countries where travel restrictions continue to apply, the following categories of people should be exempted from the restrictions:

• EU citizens and their family members
• long-term EU residents and their family members
• travellers with an essential function or need, as listed in the Recommendation.

Schengen associated countries (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Switzerland) also take part in this recommendation.

Next steps

The Council recommendation is not a legally binding instrument. The authorities of the member states remain responsible for implementing the content of the recommendation. They may, in full transparency, lift only progressively travel restrictions towards countries listed.

A Member State should not decide to lift the travel restrictions for non-listed third countries before this has been decided in a coordinated manner.

This list of third countries should be reviewed every two weeks and may be updated by the Council, as the case may be, after close consultations with the Commission and the relevant EU agencies and services following an overall assessment based on the criteria above.

Travel restrictions may be totally or partially lifted or reintroduced for a specific third country already listed according to changes in some of the conditions and, as a consequence, in the assessment of the epidemiological situation. If the situation in a listed third country worsens quickly, rapid decision-making should be applied.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

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The Netherlands - as of July 21, Croatia is placed on the "Orange" list by the Dutch government, which means that both the Croatian nationals and the Dutch nationals returning to the Netherlands from Croatia are strongly advised to self-quarantine for 14 days.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has thrown the spanner of all spanners in the works for global tourism and Croatia, for which tourism is the strongest economic branch, has been anything but immune to these pandemic-induced, extremely negative trends. Istria, however, is recovering at a remarkably enviable rate.

As Novac writes on the 30th of June, 2020, Istria has recorded some truly encouraging and excellent tourist results for last weekend. Namely, from June the 26th to the 28th, only 6 percent fewer tourists were recorded in Istria than during the same days last year, long before coronavirus was ever an issue one could have imagined.

Last year, on June the 26th, 27th and 28th, 54,000 arrivals and 522,000 overnight stays were realised in Istria, while this year, 51,000 arrivals (index 94) and 300,000 overnight stays (index 57) were realised, which is incredibly impressive. This means that over these three days, Istria has only experienced 6 percent fewer tourists, and overnight stays reached 57 percent, which is much more than the expectations suggested, which went up to a maximum of around 40 percent of last year's, pre-pandemic traffic.

Looking at the whole of the month of June, the numbers are indeed devastating, regardless of this brilliant result for beautiful Istria. Last year, that month held the record with an index of 116 when compared to June 2018, and this year, June is at the level of only 29 percent when compared to last year, local portal Glas Istre writes.

"Overall, June will end at 30 percent of tourist realisation when compared to last year, but the trend that is rising week by week and the announced bookings that continue to arrive give us the hope that July and August could be good. This is all with the clear indication that the situation can change extremely quickly, both in a positive and in a negative sense,'' said the director of the Tourist Board of Istria, Denis Ivosevic.

For more on travel in the coronavirus era, follow our dedicated section.

Krunoslav Capak has stated that all countries began to relax their respective anti-epidemic measures, after which, the number of newly infected people unfortunately increased.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 30th of June, 2020, Capak sat down to discuss the situation with coronavirus in Croatia and some of the latest developments in that regard.

"Our epidemiological picture has worsened in the last ten days or so. From mid-May to mid-June, we had an extraordinary epidemiological situation and we were the best country in Europe in terms of the number of new cases,'' said Krunoslav Capak, the director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, who spoke about the issue on Skype recently.

He commented on the current situation in the country and said that they had already started planning the opening of certain activities such as schools and colleges.

In mid-June, he added, the situation began to deteriorate when Croatian citizens became infected in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, and at the same time measures were relaxed and people began to behave more freely. After that, there was a case in Đakovo when several people from Kosovo returned to a monastery. He said the two cases resulted in two major new coronavirus hotspots.

Krunoslav Capak believes that the situation is now under control, HZZO is in daily contact with people in the field. He added that these situations cannot simply be resolved overnight, but it is coming more and more under control day by day and they believe that Croatia will have a better epidemiological situation once again in the next ten or so days.

Tourism and borders

Tomislav Fain, the president of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies, commented on what would happen if Slovenia gave recommendations to its citizens not to come to Croatia, which seems unlikely given the most recent news from Croatia's neighbour to the north, unless something changes for the worse rapidly.

"Guests are more afraid of returning and the conditions they'll have to go through when they get home," said Sean Lisjak, president of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce's Marina Association, who appeared on the show from HRT's Pula studio.

He added that Croatia's marinas were full, and that the country's charter traffic has come back to life, but it's still all a very far cry from what we're all used to along the coast at this time of year.

Zoran Niceno, Chief of the Border Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior spoke about the opening of the borders and what will change from the 1st of July onward.

"The European Council has sent a written recommendation on the phasing out of travel restrictions, primarily to those imposed on each other by EU member states, and only then to third countries. The list of third countries hasn't been agreed yet,'' he said.

The decision of the Council will be known on Tuesday, he said.

Krunoslav Capak: We have to learn to live with the coronavirus among us because it isn't going anywhere anytime soon...

"There's indecision and fear on both sides," said Marko Jurcic, an adviser to the president of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK). He believes that the borders should be opened, but with precautionary measures firmly in place. He added that we cannot open the borders without expecting any new cases of infection.

“It requires a light balance,” he said.

Krunoslav Capak said all countries began to relax measures after which the number of newly infected people increased.

''We have to learn to live with the coronavirus among us because it won’t disappear so quickly, there are more variants of what will happen in the future, but at this point we have to learn to live with this virus and stick to our epidemiological measures,'' he added.

He stressed that the coronavirus will not disappear even if there are no tourists, it is here among us in the population and as such it will continue to circulate.

For more, follow our dedicated section on coronavirus in Croatia.