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ZAGREB, January 11 (Hina) - The Community of Tourist Guide Associations of Croatia (ZDTVH) has stated that it is organising the project "Get to know your country ("Upoznaj svoju zemlju") on Sunday, on the occasion of 15 January when Croatia observes the day of its international recognition. The project includes free guided tours of Croatia which will be organised in 56 towns and towns by members of the tourist guide societies (ZDTVH).

The tours start at noon Sunday at each of those locations covered by the programme.

The association underscores a great attendance of people at those tours last year.

Croatia observes 15 January as a memorial day remembering January 15, 1992 when the member-states of the then European Community (EC) jointly recognised it as an independent state and when Germany, which played a key role in that process together with the Holy See, established diplomatic relations with Croatia.

On January 15, 1992, when Croatia became internationally recognised, the Homeland War was at the height of its intensity and nearly a third of the country was occupied by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and Serb insurgents. Croatia would fully regain control of its entire territory only six years later, after the completion of peaceful reintegration of Eastern Slavonia and the Danube region, that is on 15 January 1998.

More news on Croatia’s tourism can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 9, 2019 - During the Christmas and New Year holidays, namely between November 30 and January 6, Zagreb recorded excellent tourist results. It welcomed 140,633 tourists, or 11% more than in 2017, the Zagreb tourism board reported on Wednesday. Tourists in Zagreb generated 271,244 overnights.

Of the total number of tourists, 45,349 were from Croatia, up 10% on the year, and 95,314 were foreigners, up 12%.

Croatian tourists generated 82,402 overnights, or 14% more on the year, while foreigners accounted for 188,842 nights or 16% more than in 2017.

The majority of tourists came from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Germany.

Over 860,000 holiday makers visited the second largest Croatian city of Split in 2018, making more than 2.5 million overnight stays, which was respectively 18% and 16% more than in 2017, the local tourist board said in a press release on Wednesday.

The bed-night statistics show that the most numerous were visitors from the UK, the US, Germany, France and Poland.

Apart from the peak summer months, Split was also an attractive destination during the Advent season in December when 14,195 guests visited the city and made 33,416 overnight stays, up by 17% and 19% respectively in comparison to December 2017.

The statistics about the tourist trade in December show that Split has been recognised as an ideal tourist destination in the winter months. Split continues registering excellent results in the tourism sector owing to continued investments in year-round cultural and entertainment programmes, according to the press release.

Users of the Booking.com platform included Split among the best 20 cities to visit. Zadar and Dubrovnik also made the list, ranking 16th and 20th. The list was topped by Rome and Saint Petersburg.

Booking.com also revealed the Most Welcoming Places on Earth according to customer reviews. Croatia ranks 6th given that 34,027 properties in the country have been seen as places that deserve a Guest Review Award.

"For the seventh annual edition of the awards, 759,845 properties in total across 219 countries and territories are being given an award, with the top countries receiving the most awards being Italy (106,513), Spain (46,646), France (45,286), Germany (36,042), United States (35,626), Croatia (34,027), United Kingdom (31,206), Russian Federation (26,729), Poland (26,572), and Brazil (24,477)," Booking.com said.

The most welcoming countries are: Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, New Zealand, Taiwan, Romania, Hungary, Ireland, Serbia, and Greece, the plaform reports.

"The most welcoming destinations are Goreme (Turkey), Slunj (Croatia), Eluanbi (Taiwan), Niagara on the Lake (Canada), Lake Tekapo (New Zealand), Bendigo (Australia), Newport (United States), Nozawa Onsen (Japan), Fernando de Noronha (Brazil) and El Chalten (Argentina).

"This is especially relevant for the 73% of global travellers that say friendly and interesting locals are one of their top considerations when selecting a destination for their next trip."

More news on the Croatian tourist industry can be found in our Travel section.

ZAGREB, January 2, 2019 - Over 159,000 tourists visited Croatia during the Christmas and New Year holidays, generating 385,500 overnights, the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ) said on Wednesday.

Between December 21 and 31, 159,031 arrivals and 385,514 bed nights were recorded, which are respective increases of 13 percent and nine percent compared with the same time in 2017, HTZ said.

Foreign tourists accounted for 114,000 arrivals (+14%) and 289,000 bed nights (+12%). Most of the bed nights were generated by holidaymakers from Austria (56,000), followed by those from Slovenia (43,000), Italy (36,000), Germany (33,000) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (22,000).

The top 10 destinations during the Christmas and New Year holidays were Zagreb, Opatija, Dubrovnik, Poreč, Rovinj, Split, Mali Lošinj, Zadar, Umag and Crikvenica.

More news on Croatia’s tourism industry can be found in our Business section.

Excellent results achieved not just in Croatian but also in the global tourism industry have brought even higher expectations for the 2019 tourist season. The World Tourism Organization has announced data that by the end of September international travel rose 7.6% year-on-year, reports Poslovni.hr on January 2, 2019.

If such figures continued until the end of the year, the world recorded nearly 100 million trips more than the year before. The growth is generated primarily from the Asian markets – China and India. Although Croatia does not depend on these markets, in the next year it should feel the effects of these trends and see an increase in the number of tourists coming from China and India.

In 2019, Croatia will certainly fare well in the traditional European markets, although no significant growth is expected. Guests visit Croatia mostly in the main season, and there are no more opportunities for growth in that period – capacities in July and August were mostly full in the past two years anyway.

For the next season, hotels can expect more and more guests coming as part of a multi-country tour – especially from Asia. Although these guests’ stays are short, they are not price-sensitive. The best hotels in Split and Dubrovnik are already almost full for groups in May and September.

Critical months are June and October. The announcements by Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines that they will introduce direct flights from China to Croatia look ever more realistic (though we first heard this promise in 2015) and a lot is expected from the announced American Airlines flights from Philadelphia to Dubrovnik three times a week. Still, given the previous experience, we have to be careful when discussing the possible introduction of new flights.

For example, promised charters from Chicago to Zagreb a few years ago saw passengers disembark from the aircraft just a few minutes before scheduled take off and the project was never realised. However, American Airlines is a very serious company and has announced the first landing of its first plane in Dubrovnik on June 2. The North American continent has a high potential for direct flights to Croatia, not least because of the sizeable Croatian Diaspora in that part of the world.

Given the relatively high prices (the average daily rate for a better hotel room in Dubrovnik is around 250 to 300 euros), Asian tourists have decided to travel to Croatia earlier than ever, and the once unthinkable arrival of tourist group in February has now become a reality. Korean Air is still bravely flying to Zagreb throughout the year. Also, the Chinese market will see a significant increase in the number of arrivals to Croatia. The Libertas University in Zagreb has recognised this, training 15 Chinese-language tourist guides.

Zagreb hotels can expect a lot from the coming year. They will be filled with European officials who will start preparing for a temporary "resettlement" in 2020 when Croatia takes over the presidency of the European Union. This will undoubtedly improve the air links to other European capitals and give a new impetus to the development of tourism in the city, which needs more high quality and larger restaurants with original cuisine.

The conclusion is clear. Tourist figures will increase and the season will continue to be extended thanks to the "Asian boom". We can expect stagnation from the German market, the arrival of new air carriers to our airports, while cities will thrive thanks to cultural and business tourism, which will bring another good year to Croatia’s tourism industry.

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

Translated from Poslovni.hr (reported by Ivan Pukšar).

ZAGREB, January 1, 2019 - Croatia recorded 19.7 million tourist arrivals and over 106 million overnights throughout 2018, which was respectively by 6.5% and 4% more than in 2017. These statistics were presented by the director of the Croatian National Tourism Board (HTZ), Kristjan Staničić, in the resort of Opatija on the first day of 2019.

He said that activities promoting Croatia's tourist trade were being intensively conducted on the markets from which large numbers of tourists usually come to Croatia.

Staničić commented that investments in the tourism sector in 2018 amounted to a billion euro and that the same level of investments could be expected in 2019.

More news on the Croatian tourism industry can be found in our Travel section.

Years pass, but some things never change in Croatian politics. The year which is about to end has again been full of drama and scandals, and just occasional good news. Remarkably, many of the same issues which you will read about here have featured prominently in our reviews for 2016 and 2017 as well, which just shows that most problems in Croatia are just swept under the rug and never solved. What follows is Croatian Politics 2018, a review of events which will be remembered from the past year, as reported by TCN.

The year began with tensions in the Bay of Piran, part of the Adriatic Sea which Croatia and Slovenia both claim. In late 2017, Slovenia decided to implement the decision by arbitration tribunal which awarded Slovenia most of the bay. However, Croatia has refused to accept the decision, saying that the arbitration process was compromised by Slovenian government representatives who were in collusion with a supposedly independent arbitrator. The tensions raged for a few weeks, with MEPs proposing military solutions and war veterans talking about organising a rather provocative regatta. Eventually, reason prevailed, and the tensions died down. However, the issue is still unresolved, despite assurances to the opposite, with Croatia calling for negotiations and Slovenia insisting on the implementation of the arbitration decision. You are sure to read about this dispute in our 2019 review as well, particularly given Slovenia’s decision to file a lawsuit against Croatia.

Relations with Serbia are always in the focus of interest, and this year was no exception. In January, the government was surprised to hear that President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović had invited Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to visit Croatia officially. After a short argument over who is really leading Croatia’s foreign policy, Vučić arrived in Zagreb. While the visit mostly went well, the relations between the two countries deteriorated steadily throughout the year and the debate about whether Vučić should have been invited at all continued. Another turn for the worse took place in April when a Croatian parliamentary delegation’s visit to Belgrade was cut short after an incident in the Serbian parliament caused by a notorious Serbian MP and war criminal Vojislav Šešelj. Tension rose again in August when the anniversary of Operation Storm is traditionally celebrated, marking Croatia’s liberation of previously occupied territories in 1995. Serbian President Vučić gave a series of provocative statements, including comparing Croatia to Hitler.

As for the economy, January brought the first worrying signs about the future of Croatian shipyards, a low number of new orders, and about the government’s apparent unwillingness to continue to cover shipyards’ losses. Later in the year, the crisis in the Uljanik shipyard in Pula and its 3. Maj branch in Rijeka would feature prominently in our reporting. Workers spent months striking due to unpaid wages. As the year ends, the situation is still dire and “strategic partners” which the government hopes to find are nowhere to be seen.

“Reforms” is one of the most popular words of Croatian politicians. Every year in January we can hear officials saying that the year ahead is “the year of reforms” which will make Croatia much more prosperous. Needless to say, these promises are never fulfilled, and 2018 did not disappoint. The issue served the president well since she was able to attack the government for lack of reform efforts whenever it suited her.

Ideological debates and historical revisionism attempts continued in 2018 as well. In February, the government-appointed historical commission published its recommendations on issues related to the authoritarian regimes from Croatia’s past, but the conclusions did not satisfy anyone, except for the prime minister, who likes to pretend that the recommendations have solved the problem.

The year which is about to end has again brought us the problem of censorship, questions about media freedoms, warnings about the rise of the far right, separate commemorations held in Jasenovac, the parliament refusing to sponsor anti-fascism events, people destroying flower beds because they reminded them of communism, historical revisionism on the public television, assaults on journalists, satirists receiving death threats, “suspect” politicians being assaulted, photos of Tito slipping from under Croatia’s coat of arms, former prime ministers being sentenced for corruption, and media regulators receiving death threats.

The Catholic Church is undoubtedly part of the political life in Croatia, so it is no wonder that rumours about changes coming to its leadership draw considerable attention. While nothing has been confirmed, it is expected that the Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanić, could be replaced in the new year. In the meantime, the church has continued to receive vast amounts of money from the state budget, meddle in politics, as well as advise the government on the new abortion law, 

The demographic crisis continued, with high emigration and low birth rates bringing down the number of inhabitants. The president and the government argued about who and what was to blame. The president even presented her measures to solve the problem, which were soon forgotten, and demanded a special session of the government, which never took place. Proposals were presented on how to convince people not to move, as many sectors faced a lack of workers, while many schools started closing down. The extent of the crisis was such that even Serbian President Vučić became "worried." The only “good news” came at the end of the year when reports claimed that the emigration wave was calming down because everybody who wanted and could have left already did.

One of the issues we write regularly in these annual reviews is the construction of Pelješac Bridge, which will connect the Dubrovnik area with the rest of Croatia without the need for travellers to pass through a short stretch of Bosnian territory. After many years of delays, the project has finally moved into the implementation phase. Early in the year, a decision was made to award the tender for the construction to a Chinese consortium, despite protests made by Bosnia and Herzegovina that the bridge could not be constructed before the border between the two countries in the area is defined. The decision to award the contract to a Chinese bidder also brought about a marked change in relations between Croatia and China, which were later further improved by high-level meetings and visits.

Another perennial issue is the future of INA, Croatia’s national oil company, which is owned jointly by the Croatian government and MOL, Hungarian national oil company. In 2016, the prime minister announced that Croatia would buy back MOL’s share of INA. Two years later, nothing has changed. Earlier this year, the government selected financial advisors for the buyback, but the contract with them was never signed. One of the main issues is the future of the INA refinery in Sisak. While in January the relevant minister said he was optimistic about the refinery’s future, by the end of the year he apparently changed his opinion. Another issue is Croatia’s arrest warrant for MOL’s CEO, which Hungary does not want to implement.

Another year has passed, and the supposedly “strategic” project of an LNG terminal on the island of Krk has again gone nowhere. Multi-year delays have continued. The government announced two tenders trying to find out who would be interested in using the terminal once it is built (if that ever happens), but the results were dismal. Just two government-owned companies applied, presumably after receiving a nudge from officials to send their applications and help the government avoid a total disaster. While the project receives verbal support from foreign governments, no one seems to be interested in sending binding offers to use its capacity.

One piece of good business news was the apparently successful conclusion to the worst part of the crisis in Agrokor, one of Croatia’s largest and most important companies. The agreement between creditors was concluded, thanks mostly to Russian banks, although not without an accompanying scandal about high fees paid to consultants, some of whom actually took part in the secretive process of writing the special law which the government adopted to save the company from collapse. The scandal took out Deputy Prime Minister Martina Dalić and government-appointed commissioner Ante Ramljak, who had to resign under pressure. E-mails were published which showed that the prime minister knew more about the dealings than he initially admitted, but he managed to escape more or less unharmed. Agrokor’s former owner Ivica Todorić, who fled earlier to London to avoid arrest, was extradited to Croatia late in the year, after multiple delays and court proceedings. Even Tony Blair’s wife could not help him. He has since been released on bail and is currently awaiting possible indictment. The legal proceedings are expected to last for many years.

Good economic news brought us the first upgrade in Croatia’s credit rating since 2004. Unemployment numbers were also down, although more due to mass emigration than to economic revival. Good tourism results, especially in the pre-season and post-season, helped Croatia achieve planned economic growth for 2018 (still among the lowest in the EU). Slightly more moderate growth is expected in 2019, with the lack of reforms being the main culprit. The budget recorded another good year, with spending and revenues being more or less balanced, while the public debt has continued to decline. The year ended with another round of tax cuts and pension reform. Croatia has also announced plans that it will adopt the euro as its currency. The process is expected to last many years.

The ratification of the convention on preventing violence against women, the so-called Istanbul Convention, somewhat unexpectedly turned into a crisis for the government in April when a large group of HDZ MPs decided to vote against the proposal, despite prime minister’s insistence that it should be ratified. While the convention was easily adopted thanks to opposition support, it turned into another attempt by HDZ’s right wing to weaken or possibly topple Plenković as party leader and prime minister. Just like several other similar attempts, it did not succeed.

A national security issue which has drawn a lot of media attention throughout the year is the acquisition of military fighter jets. The decision was first delayed for years, then it was supposed to be made in 2017, but again delayed first to early 2018, and then beyond. After much lobbying, the government finally decided to buy 12 F-16s from Israel. The questions about the deal persisted, with many asking why Croatia was “rejuvenating” its air force with ancient aircraft. By the end of the year, the contract for the deal has not yet been signed, amid disputes between the United States and Israel about what equipment Israel can legally sell to Croatia. Grand plans about “strategic cooperation” with Israel also appear to be on hold. Defence Minister Damir Krstičević has invested a great deal of personal effort in the deal, but the acquisition is still in question, and its final fate is yet to be determined.

As expected, the political circus took a break in June due to the World Cup in Russia. While the break was initially expected to last just a couple of weeks, until the Croatian national team is eliminated in the first phase of the competition as usual, its spectacular success extended the political break to a full month and more. Of course, leading politicians did not miss this opportunity to travel to Russia and have their picture taken with footballers and fans. Needless to say, even this occasion, which was supposed to unite the country, brought divisions, primarily due to an appearance by a controversial singer at the homecoming ceremony, which was attended by hundreds of thousands of people.

The Istanbul Convention ratification prompted one of this year’s two referendum initiatives to be launched. The other effort involved proposed changes to the election laws, which would substantially reduce the rights of national minorities to elect their MPs. The government was against the referendums, while the president seemed to be of a different opinion. While both initiatives claimed they had gathered enough signatures for the referendums to be held, the government checked the signatures and conveniently found enough irregularities to lower the number of accepted signatures below the required threshold. This was just one of several attempts to pressure the government from the right.

One of the rare reforms which have begun, at least nominally, is the reform of Croatia’s education system, the so-called “curricular reform.” The issue has caused conflicts between coalition partners, with HNS repeatedly threatening to leave the government if their proposals are not accepted. Their threats were not taken seriously by anyone since it is clear that early parliamentary elections would probably bring about an end for the party.

A scandal broke in September whose consequences are still unclear at this time. A ministerial driver was arrested under suspicion that he had informed a suspect about a police investigation against him. Interestingly, the driver is a close friend of Milijan Brkić, HDZ deputy president and Prime Minister Plenković’s chief intraparty nemesis. While Brkić has denied having any role in the scandal or leaking the information about the investigation, he has been conspicuously absent from public affairs in recent months. Other scandals involving Brkić have also resurfaced, prompting allegations that his opponents were trying to eliminate him politically. On the other hand, some potentially embarrassing documents about him suddenly disappeared. The scandal has even reached the president’s office, with the national security advisor resigning in December under still unclear circumstances.

Relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the connected issue of the status of Croats in the neighbouring country, were at the forefront of Croatia’s foreign policy efforts in 2018. With October elections looming, the year began with Bosnian Croats warning that the election law was unfair and that it could lead to a Croat representative in the Bosnian presidency being elected by more numerous Bosniaks. That is precisely what happened, with candidate Željko Komšić winning the post, although he apparently did not have the support of the majority of Bosnian Croats. This prompted Croatia’s government to launch a campaign within the EU to pressure Bosnia into changing its election law, which then brought accusations about meddling in internal affairs of the neighbouring country.

One of the potentially most explosive events of this year was a war veterans’ protest held in Vukovar in October. The veterans complained about the lack of prosecution of persons suspected of committing war crimes against Croats in the Vukovar area in 1991, which was a problem which they discussed earlier in the year as well. However, many believed that the protest was actually just a guise for a right-wing attempt to bring down the government led by moderate Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and replace him as HDZ president with a more extremist candidate. Plenković and his team appeared at first worried that the attempt might succeed, but with time they managed to limit its consequences. Once held, the protest passed without incident and has been more or less forgotten, except when occasional arrests in the area do happen, which then draw condemnation from local Serbs who say the police is arresting then just to satisfy the Croat war veterans. In the meantime, tensions in the town continue.

Throughout the year, rumours about impending ruling coalition reshuffle and/or early parliamentary elections continued. However, unlike in 2017, which brought about a change in the ruling coalition composition, with MOST being replaced by HNS, this year the government was more or less stable. One potential candidate for another reshuffle was Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić, whose parliamentary group somehow manages to “convince” previously opposition MPs to switch parties and cross to his side. Numerous legal proceedings against him have not made him any less desirable patron. The substantial Zagreb city budget which he controls probably has something to do with it. In two years, he has managed to increase the number of his MPs from 1 to 12, with additional expansion of his parliamentary group expected early in the new year. The fact that people did not vote for his party did not discourage him at all. There are rumours that Bandić will use the increase in the number of his MPs, who are crucial for the parliamentary majority, to demand several ministerial posts in the new year.

As for the opposition, turmoil in SDP continued, with several attempts being made to topple the party president and “the leader of the opposition” Davor Bernardić. Fortunately for SDP opponents, these attempts have been unsuccessful, so Bernardić remains in his seat while his party’s popularity continues to plummet, with the latest polls showing it dropping to the third position, behind HDZ and Živi Zid. An increasing number of SDP MPs are leaving the party, with some of them joining the government ranks.

The migrant crisis continued, particularly on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the police employing ever harsher measures to control the borders and NGOs publishing increasingly critical reports about the alleged police violence and irregularities. The police have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, despite video evidence to the contrary.

The migration issue also brought us another controversy, this time with the signing of the Global Compact for Migration in December. President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, who this year marked three years in office, initially supported the agreement, but then suddenly changed her mind, announcing she would not travel to Marrakesh where the UN conference was held. The government immediately said that Croatia would support the declaration nevertheless, which caused protests from right-wing circles. In the end, the non-binding resolution was supported by Croatia, but no-one really expects it will be implemented.

The final few days of the year brought us another major scandal, whose consequences will become clear in the following months. The president decided to dismiss her domestic policy adviser Mate Radeljić, who many believed had influenced the president to take a more critical position towards the government. After he was dismissed, Radeljić said he was threatened by a Security-Intelligence Agency (SOA) official not to try to damage the president politically after being dismissed. He was allegedly told that the agency was ready to run into him with a car if necessary. The president’s office and the SOA issued statements saying they had acted legally, but interestingly they did not outright deny all of Radeljić’s claims. It is expected that Radeljić’s dismissal will result in better relations between the president on the one side and the government and HDZ leadership on the other, just in time for the presidential elections next year.

Another exciting political year is ahead of us. It will include at least two elections (for European Parliament in May, and for president probably in December), and there is always a possibility the early parliamentary elections might take place. Stay with TCN for all the latest political and business news.

This year, the Plava Laguna tourism company has realised the most significant capital budget in its history with half a billion kuna. In 2019, it will continue to invest heavily, with about 300 million kuna to be spent in destinations such as Poreč, Umag and Rijeka, announced the company on Monday, reports Poslovni.hr on December 17, 2018.

The company emphasised this year's investments in the Park Resort in Poreč worth 245 million kuna. It is a family resort consisting of 309 accommodation units, including 154 hotel rooms and suites, 91 garden suites, 43 apartments and 21 villas.

In Umag, the company invested in the complete reconstruction of the Stella Maris camp, which was a project worth 84 million kuna, and in Garden Suites & Rooms Sol Umag in the amount of 35 million kuna.

“Key investments for the next year include the construction of a new office building in Poreč and a thorough reconstruction of a campsite in Savudrija, which includes new, additional facilities. The estimated value of the investment in the camp is 46 million kuna. That will be the largest investment of Plava Luga in Umag in 2019,” announced the company. It added that Camping Savudrija would become a camp for families and couples with an "active vacation" offering. Mobile homes and glamping tents will be introduced.

The most significant part of the investment is the construction of a new pool complex that will improve the level of service and quality and significantly extend the tourist season. Also, with this investment, the camp will get an entirely new profile and provide guests with a remarkable destination experience as well as with conditions for a great vacation.

Next year, Plava Laguna will also invest in the Park Umag campsite, in the total amount of 6.2 million kuna.

Also, Plava Laguna will invest in an office building in Poreč, which will be located at the Facinka business zone at the very entrance to the town. This investment will amount to 86 million kuna. The company will also invest in six additional villas in the Bellevue facility at Plava Resort.

In Poreč, Plava Laguna will also invest in the camping segment (Puntica, Zelena Laguna, Bijela Uvala and Ulika), and there will be an intensified investment in extending and modernising the existing capacities for the accommodation of workers in Poreč and Umag.

"Looking at 2018 and 2019, Plava Laguna's investments will amount to more than 750 million kuna, which is the highest figure in the company's recent history,” concluded Plava Laguna.

More news on Croatia’s tourism can be found in our Travel section.

Translated from Poslovni.hr.

 ZAGREB, December 16, 2018 - The European Parliament has proposed a separate, 300 million euro EU budget line for tourism, and the inclusion of tourism in the Council of the EU programme is a confirmation that Croatian lobbying and emphasising the importance of tourism for the economy, both of Croatia and the EU as a whole, was justified, the Tourism Ministry said in a press release on Sunday.

The initiative to better position the tourism industry in the EU institutions was initiated early this year by Croatian Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli. "I am pleased that our initiative has been recognised in the EU, and we also have strong support for it from Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the Croatian government," Cappelli said in the press release.

"In the EU economy, tourism provides 24 million jobs, in other words, one in eleven workers is employed in jobs directly related to tourism. Considering the fact that tourism is one of the fastest growing economic activities in the EU, with a major impact on growth, society, development and employment, and that tourism and travel account for about 10 percent of the EU's GDP, it is acknowledged that tourism deserves a better position in the EU institutions. This will eventually be of vital importance for tourism in all EU member states, including Croatia," he noted.

The future Council of the European Union presidency trio, comprising Romania, Finland and Croatia, have prepared, in cooperation with the Council's Secretariat General and the European External Action Service, the 18-month programme of the Council for the period from 1 January 2019 and 30 June 2020, which was endorsed in Brussels this month.

The programme for the first time explicitly mentions tourism, in a section entitled "A Union for Jobs, Growth and Competitiveness", noting the need for better positioning of tourism on the EU agenda in order to encourage growth and employment.

In addition, the European Parliament has called on the European Commission to prepare a legislative framework to establish a programme for sustainable tourism, which would be part of the Single Market Programme.

To date, 14 of the 28 member states have supported the Croatian initiative, the Tourism Ministry said.

More news on the activities of Croatia’s Ministry of Tourism can be found in our Travel section.

ZAGREB, December 11, 2018 - Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Tuesday it was too early to speak about a lower VAT rate in tourism sector, which was announced by Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli on Monday, given that the latest round of tax changes had only been adopted.

Addressing reporters ahead of a lecture he was expected to give to students at the Rijeka Faculty of Economics, Marić recalled that the parliament had passed nine laws that would go into force on the first day of 2019, and noted that that was the third round of tax breaks. "All the future steps will be analysed and discussed. I would not make any announcements for the time being," said Marić.

In a parliamentary debate on three tourism-related bills, Minister Cappelli said that the government would cut VAT on restaurant services in 2020. He said that when asked by Social Democrat Saša Đujić if there was room to lower the current 25% VAT rate on restaurant services to the previous, 13% rate considering that VAT revenues were growing and the economic situation was generally better.

Marić said that VAT as the most abundant budget revenue that puts Croatia at the very top of EU countries in terms of the share of VAT in GDP, definitely created room "for something more to be done in that regard."

Responding to a reporter's remark that Cappelli mentioned a lower VAT rate and if his statement meant that the tourism minister did not have the Finance Ministry's support, Marić said that the government would discuss the matter and that there was plenty of time for that. "I would not want to make any announcements for the time being, it's too early, we have just adopted the tax laws and they are about to go into force," said the finance minister.

Asked if he feared that individual VAT cuts could bring into question a cut in the standard VAT rate, Marić said that he did not and that the government would eventually take a unanimous position on the matter.

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