For the first time in Croatia, the international scientific and expert conference "Proceed with Care - Living with Tourism" will take place, organised by the National Association for Interdisciplinary Activities in the Field of Heritage and Tourism. The conference will be held under the auspices of Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Croatian Commission for UNESCO, and the Ministry of Tourism, and in the partnership with the Town of Šibenik, the Croatian National Tourist Board and the Krka National Park. The Proceeding with Care - Living with Tourism conference is to become an annual gathering of international experts, relevant authors and researchers, and at the same time position Croatia as the initiator in the field of the preservation of material and non-material heritage.

The first edition of the conference will take place at the Croatian National Theatre in Šibenik from 2 to 5 May, and world-renowned experts will discuss the growing conflict between excess tourism and the protection of the cultural environment, historic cities, monuments and sites, especially those listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Top international experts in the field of cultural heritage conservation will share their knowledge and experience.

The conference aims to inform the representatives of all institutions that make executive decisions on the preservation of spatial and cultural resources, as well as on the development and implementation of sustainable development, from state to local administration levels, from local communities to entrepreneurs in culture and tourism. The main idea of the Proceed with Care conference is "Coexistence with Tourism", and some of the main topics of the conference will be:

Yonca Erkan – „Inclusiveness for Sustainability: Multiplicities for Cultural Tourism“
Mar Santamaria – „Measuring Tourist Impact in Cities: Empowering Local Communities with Bigdata“
Dejan Verčič – „A Supermodern Tourist Paradox: Turning Heritage Sites into Non-places“
Xavi Llobert – „Decentralization and Tourism _ Recovery of the Infant’s Channel“
Juan Manuel Corso Sarmiento – „Great Complexity Heritage Surveys“
Dimitri Ioannides – „Is Over-tourism the Final Straw? / A Long Tale of Lessons not Heeded“
Ludwig Thorsten – „Europe’s Future in our Hands“
Relja Ferušić/Carles Sala – „Productive Tourism: The Role of Architecture to Promote an Active and Productive Tourism“

The Proceed with Care conference aims to bring together researchers and experts from around the world to find solutions for sustainable tourism growth of the world's tourism capitals through shared awareness, knowledge and experience. The conference will present the latest academic and scientific research, field research, strategies, techniques and tools. In addition to keynote speaker presentations, all participants will be able to attend various panels and lectures by local and international authors of scientific papers dealing with the main topic of the Living with Tourism conference.

Find out more about the conference programme and how to register here.

More tourism news can be found in the Travel section.

ZAGREB, April 24, 2019 - During the Easter weekend, as many as 179,513 tourists arrived in Croatia, generating 566,687 overnight stays, according to the figures collected by the eVisitor online tourist registration service.

The Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) said on Wednesday that the arrivals and overnight stays from 19 April (Friday) to 22 April (Monday) jumped by 80% and 90% compared to last year's Easter weekend which was from 30 March to 2 April.

The most numerous guests were Germans (124,229) and they were followed by Italian passport holders (58,205) and guests from Austria ((48,975) and lovenia (33,136).

The most sought-after destinations were in the coastal areas, including Istria, a larger Rijeka area and Dalmatia.

Broken by city, Dubrovnik was the top performer with 53,978 overnight stays during this Easter weekend. One of the most prominent guests in the southern Croatian seaside resort this past weekend was Juventus striker Christiano Ronaldo, who was accompanied by his family during the holidays.

The Croatian Chamber of Commerce reported on Tuesday that the consumption during the Easter weekend totalled 1.4 billion kuna (190 million euro).

More tourism news can be found in the Travel section.

ZAGREB, April 22, 2019 - Eduard Marzić, a businessman from the island of Pag and the owner of the Šimuni camping site at that island off Zadar, has promoted his project of a future residential resort with 2,000-2,500 residential units and over 1,000 berths in the area between the town of Pag and Dinjiska Bay.

Marzić, who said that he was inspired by Port Grimaud designed by architect Francois Spoerry in the 1960s, says that the project called "the Golden Coast of Pag" will cost a billion euros.

"We are not in search of investors; we have investors from all the world interested in the project. We would like to have understanding of the government and the relevant institutions and we want them to show interest and be partners in this project so that it can kick off in the next two years," Marzić said, while insisting on efficient cooperation in provision of all necessary permits and licences for the implementation of the project.

The project can be implemented in five stages, he said and added that the planned residential resort for 10,000 inhabitants would be tourism-wise sustainable.

For instance, only electric cars would be allowed for transport through the resort.

More Pag news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

In the first quarter of the year, Zagreb saw 405,300 overnight stays, more than any other destination in Croatia, and one per cent more than in the same period last year. The tourist growth has continued in April, and the positive trends are expected to continue until the end of the year, according to the Zagreb City Tourist Board (TZGZ), reports Večernji List on April 17, 2019.

“The year started well for Zagreb, and we are particularly pleased that it had the best results among all the destinations in the first three months. In March, we had an 8 per cent increase in the number of overnight stays. Importantly, the average number of days spent in Zagreb by individual tourists has grown to two. After the first 15 days of April, the total number of overnights increased to nearly 500,000 this year, or 2 per cent more,” said Martina Bienenfeld, the TZGZ director.

Confirming that more and more tourists are coming to Zagreb due to its improving reputation as a “city break” destination, the TZGZ announced that this year it would launch online and offline campaigns that will promote Zagreb as a city break destination, highlighting the most important events in the city and specific types of tourism.

“We are currently implementing a campaign for the InMusic festival in the Austrian market, because the organisers consider this market to be a market of interest, taking into account the attractiveness of the performers, the closeness of the festival and the prices. We are also working on a health tourism campaign, given superior service and affordable prices. We will focus this campaign mostly on the German market, as well as the Croatian diaspora,” said Bienenfeld.

The Zagreb Summer Tour campaign is also being prepared, which will promote capital as a city of culture, accessible and fun, which lives in the open during the summer. It will focus on Germany, Austria, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Spain and Scandinavia.

“We plan to cooperate with Dubrovnik, with the Dubrovnik in Zagreb programme which will include the autumn performances of the best Croatian and European artists from this year's 70th Dubrovnik Summer Festival. We will continue to cooperate with the Ministry of Interior through a successful project launched in 2018, which involves training policemen in using English and getting to know the local landmarks,” announced Bienenfeld, adding that later this year the Advent in Zagreb marketing campaign would be launched in the 15 targeted markets.

The TZGZ will take part in 34 tourism fairs this year, and the budget for all these activities is 80 million kuna, or 5 per cent more than last year. “In the last five years, Zagreb has seen great results, positive shifts are visible at every step, and we look forward to the opening of new hotels and ongoing infrastructure projects. We are also approaching the EU 2020 presidency, which will position Zagreb even better on the EU map," Bienenfeld said.

The results of the extensive Visitor Survey, conducted in 2017 and 2018, show the above-average positive opinion of the city's tourists. They gave the highest marks to the staff in the accommodation facilities, the feeling of security, the overall experience and the value for money received in the accommodation. They described Zagreb as a spotless and beautiful city with accessible information for tourists.

According to this survey, visitors mostly stay in four-star hotels, have between 26 and 45 years, and most often travel with their partners. Among tourists visiting Zagreb in December, 93 per cent visited Zagreb Advent and stated the festival had prompted them to visit the city again. Almost 90 per cent of tourists would recommend to friends and acquaintances to visit Zagreb.

Translated from Večernji List.

More Zagreb news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, April 15, 2019 - In 2019, as the Year of Culture and Tourism in Croatia and China, various joint activities will be undertaken to promote the two countries, increase cultural and transport ties, exchange experience in special forms of tourism, and encourage investment, Croatian Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli announced in an interview with Hina.

Some of the activities were agreed last week during a visit by a high-level Chinese delegation, such as the signing of a memorandum on cooperation in special forms of tourism, which was preceded by a meeting with Chinese Culture and Tourism Minister Luo Shugang.

"It was his second visit in a short time. Last September he visited a China+16 conference on tourism in Dubrovnik. This time too we reaffirmed the good cooperation, and Minister Shugang invited us to China in the autumn to be special guests at their international tourism fair which will involve 100 countries," Cappelli said.

Speaking of cooperation in special forms of tourism, the minister said that Chinese investors were interested in health tourism.

"The Chinese market is very important to us because Chinese tourists are not motivated by recreation, but by culture, cuisine and other special forms of tourism. Last year 234,100 Chinese tourists visited Croatia and generated 344,000 bed nights, which is an increase of 46 percent on 2017. Positive trends are expected to continue this year too," Cappelli said.

Among of the activities that were already carried out this year are the presentation of 20 Chinese artists in Varaždin in February, the conference "The Role of China in Southeastern Europe" in Zagreb in March, and the licensing of 33 Chinese nationals as tourist guides in Zagreb, which took place in January.

On the other hand, the Croatian National Tourist Board organised two workshops and two webinars for about 200 Chinese travel agents and tour operators in Beijing and Shanghai in February and March, and the Zagreb Tourist Board promoted the Croatian capital in Beijing in March.

Until the end of the year, the Croatian Tourism Ministry plans study trips for Chinese media and tour operators, workshops, cultural events, and presentations at travel shows.

More news about relations between Croatia and China can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, April 11, 2019 - This year, six police officers from South Korea will take part in the "Safe Tourist Season" projects, according to the Croatian Police Directorate where on Thursday a cooperation agreement was signed by South Korean National Police Chief Min Gab Ryong and Croatian Chief of Police Nikola Milina.

Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Split each will have two Korean police officers during the peak season so that their fellow citizens visiting Croatia could feel even safer.

Min Gab Ryong expressed satisfaction with the participation of the Korean police in the project, given that more than 400,000 Korean tourists have visited Croatia since the introduction of the direct flight connecting the two countries.

Since September 2018, Croatia's capital has been connected to South Korea's capital by Korean Air. Starting from September 1, 2018, Korean Air operates a direct service three times a week (Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday), flying between Seoul and Zagreb.

The project “Safe Tourist Season” is one of the many activities undertaken by the police, which has been implemented since 2006 in cooperation with police from 18 countries. Under that project, foreign police officers in the uniforms of their respective countries work together with their Croatian colleagues.

South Korea is the 19th country to be included in the project and the second Asian country after last year, six Chinese policemen were deployed in Dubrovnik.

More news about relations between Croatia and South Korea can be found in the Politics section.

The Tourist Council of the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ) decided to award grants to top tourism events this year and has selected the British PR agency "Hills Balfour" for co-operation in 13 markets. Darija Reić was appointed as a new director of HTZ's office in London, reports Poslovni.hr on April 10, 2019.

Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said that the newly-appointed head of the HTZ office in London would have “a challenging job of further positioning Croatia on the British market, which has recorded a 35 per cent increase in the number of tourists in the last two years.” HTZ Director Kristjan Staničić said that he believes that Reić would justify the confidence of the UK market, which is becoming more important for the overall results of Croatian tourism.

Darija Reić lives and works in London, and she has gained her professional experience by working for the Hong Kong Tourist Board and TUI. Her three-year term in London will start on 1 May, when she will take over from the current head Ivona Grgan.

The Tourism Council has also decided to engage the British PR and marketing agency "Hills Balfour", with the explanation that "its proposals and guidelines separated it from other candidates." This agency will be responsible for the development and implementation of the PR strategy until the end of this year. It will also conduct international PR activities in the area of media relations, social media and online communication, as well as organise events and public relations projects for HTZ on the 13 markets.

The HTZ Tourism Council has also adopted a proposal to increase available funds for grants for the development of the tourism sector. It will co-finance events and programmes of destination management companies with the amount of 6.4 million kuna. The budget for the so-called top events has been increased by 1.9 million kuna. As a result, 32 projects will be co-financed with 4.4 million kuna in total, including Špancirfest, Sinj Alka, Pula Film Festival, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Picokijada, InMusic Festival and others.

Sports events such as "DOBRO World Cup Osijek 2019", ATP tournament "Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag", "Pannonian Challenge", "Tour of Croatia" and others will be co-financed this year as part of "Sports Croatia" initiative.

Cappelli believes that such a project will contribute to strengthening of the national brand and positioning the country as a year-long destination, while Staničić announced that through this initiative the HTZ would support 10 top Croatian athletes and sports teams that have been proven to be one of the best promoters of Croatia in the world, as well as 15 major international sports events that are a reason for the arrival of many tourists to various Croatian destinations.

Translated from Poslovni.hr.

More tourism news can be found in the Travel section.

ZAGREB, April 10, 2019 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić on Wednesday said that his party would forward a bill of amendments to VAT to the parliament proposing the lowering of VAT for tourism and hospitality in order to improve the competitiveness of that sector that the government is constantly exposing to new and increased levies.

Bernardić told a press conference that SDP wanted the VAT rate to be lowered to 13% in hospitality and 10% for accommodation services just as in the countries in Europe where tourism is developed.

He does not expect the government to accept the proposal, and criticised the Andrej Plenković cabinet for having rejected all their proposals which he described as good ones.

However, the party leader promises that when SDP wins the next election and takes responsibility for Croatia, it will reduce VAT for hospitality and accommodation services.

He recalled that a lower VAT rate of 13%, which was applied in 2017, no longer applies to hospitality, underscoring that other EU countries have a lower VAT rate overall. Seventeen EU member states have recognised the importance of hospitality and apply a lower VAT in that sector and unlike Croatia, they promote the development of tourism.

The incumbent government has hit the tourism sector five times, Bernardić underscored. It abolished the lower VAT rate in hospitality and now we have the highest VAT in the sector of all Mediterranean countries, Bernardić said.

Croatia's standard VAT rate is 25%. In late 2018, Tourism Minister Gari Capelli announced that the government would reduce the VAT rate on hospitality services in 2020.

This government has relieved the economy based on fiscal possibilities. In 2020, it will reduce VAT on tourism and hospitality services, Cappelli said then in response to questions from SDP lawmakers during a parliamentary debate on three bills in the tourism sector.

More news on the taxes in Croatia can be found in the Business section.

Due to the uncertainty surrounding the departure from the European Union, British tourists have postponed their decision where they will go for their annual vacation, which has prompted some destinations to lower their prices in order to attract guests. Prices have fallen in some of the most popular destinations for British tourists, such as Spain, Cyprus and Bulgaria. But not in Croatia, specifically in Zadar, which has also been popular among Brits for the last several years. In fact, the prices here have risen, so Zadar is now the most expensive among the six destinations whose prices have been compared by The Sun, the UK's top-selling newspaper, reports Index.hr on April 8, 2019.

The most significant drop in prices occurred in Mallorca, where the cost of a week-long vacation for a four-member family dropped by 21.6 per cent, to around 2,700 British pounds. This includes accommodation, lunches, dinners, drinks and the like.

A slight decrease, with lower prices, has been recorded at Costa Del Sol, also in Spain, where costs for a week fell by 17.7 per cent, to 2,041 pounds.

Cyprus is also trying to lower its price and attract the Brits. In Paphos, the prices for this season are 10.5 per cent lower than in 2018, so a week of vacation at the destination would cost a four-member family around 2,378 pounds.

Among the selected destinations, the cheapest is Sunny Beach in Bulgaria where a week costs just 1,912 euros. Bulgarians have also lowered their prices compared to last year, by 9.7 per cent.

Turkey, which has started to return to the tourist market after political turmoil, has increased its prices. British tourists can spend a week in Marmaris for 2,286 euro, which is an increase of 4.6 per cent over the previous year.

The most expensive destination and the one with the highest growth prices is Croatia, or more precisely Zadar, where a four-family family, according to The Sun’s calculations, would need 3,188 euro for a one-week stay, an increase of 12.7 per cent compared to the last year.

Obviously, there is no fear of a possible decline in the number of British tourists coming to Croatia, or perhaps it is expected guests from other countries will replace them. In previous years, Croatia saw steady growth in the number of guests from the UK. In the period from 2011 to 2016, their numbers increased by 260,000, to 640,000.

Translated from Index.hr.

More news about Croatian tourism can be found in the Travel section.

ZAGREB, April 6, 2019 - Of all the tourists arriving in Croatia, 12.5% do so solely for the culture, and Croatia is full of excellent combinations of culture and tourism, Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said on Friday at a panel on cultural heritage and the development of tourism.

The panel was held in Miljana Castle in Krapina-Zagorje County and was attended, among others by Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić, and Slovenian Economic Development and Technology Minister Zdravko Počivalšek.

Obuljen Koržinek said the development of culture was a driver of tourism, notably in small communities. She highlighted the Vukovar-Vučedol-Ilok project in the eastern Slavonia region "as the most complex post-war reconstruction project" as well as the Zagorje Museums and the Krapina Neanderthals Museum.

Minister Cappelli said about 40% of tourists planned something to do with culture on their travels. Speaking of how culture contributes to Croatia's tourism, he highlighted Klis Fortress and the Apoxyomenos Museum. He underlined the importance of combining culture, tourism and gastronomy, notably in continental Croatia, to make tourists stay for more than two days on average.

Minister Marić said tourism was a strong and propulsive industry with high potential and that it "can and should support" agriculture, the food industry and construction. Culture "is another very propulsive, promising and potent industry" and that "we must not forget creative industries either," he added.

Minister Počivalšek said culture was one of the more important products in Slovenia 2017-21 sustainable tourism development strategy, and that the country was being promoted as a five-star healthy and cultural destination. Twenty percent of tourism revenues come from culture and the goal is to raise it to 30%, he added.

More news about culture in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.