August 8, 2020 - We are in the midst of another peak summer weekend in Croatia, with big crowds forming at the Split Ferry Port and in Supetar on Brac.

Index.hr reports that summer congestion has been reported at the Split Ferry Port on Saturday, and even bigger crowds were created on Brac.

Namely, cars can be seen waiting in a long column to board the ferry to Brac, but also in Supetar on Brac for the ferry to Split, where a kilometer-long column has been formed. Due to the large crowds, extra lines were also introduced.

"Traffic has increased since yesterday. As for this weekend, we expect 70 thousand passengers and 16 thousand vehicles. Yesterday we had two extra lines to Supetar, as for today we had one at 11:30 and we will have another one at 13:30. For now, two extra lines. We are at 70 percent of the traffic compared to the same period last year," said Jelena Ivulic of Jadrolinija.

There are also traffic jams on the roads to the sea and vice versa.

Traffic has increased on important roads: A1 Zagreb-Split-Ploce and A6 Rijeka-Zagreb motorways, A2 Zagreb-Macelj and A3 Bregana-Lipovac, A7 GP Rupa-Diracje junction, Rijeka and Zagreb bypass, Adriatic highway (DC8) at tourist entrances centers along the coast, especially in the area of ​​Zadar, Sibenik, Trogir, Split, Stobrec, Podstrana, Omis, Makarska, the Istrian Y, the Krk Bridge and at border crossings.

There are also occasional traffic jams, driving on certain sections of motorways - near rest areas and at the entrances or exits of motorways, on the approaches to tourist centers along the coast, border crossings and on sections of roads on which due to works driving with temporary regulation.

Due to the wind, on the Adriatic Highway (DC8) between Senj and Sv. Marija Magdalena, traffic is prohibited for double-decker buses, vehicles with caravans and motorcycles (Group I vehicles).

Strong wind also slows down traffic on the part of the A1 motorway from the Sveti Rok tunnel to the Bozici viaduct (driving at a speed limit of 60 km/h) and in places on the A6 Rijeka-Zagreb motorway between Kikovica and the Tuhobic tunnel.

Today, HAK expects the same number of vehicles in both directions, towards the sea and inland, and will drive as on previous Saturdays with frequent traffic jams and delays. The longest columns in both directions are expected at the Lucko toll on the A1 / A6 motorway, at the entrance in the direction of the sea from 4 am to 3 pm, and at the exit towards Zagreb from 9 am to 6 pm.

Significant crowds during the weekend, and especially on Saturday, are expected at the border crossings with Slovenia (Macelj, Bregana, Kastel, Plovanija and Rupa) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Stara Gradiska, Slavonski Samac, Slavonski Brod, Maljevac and Jasenovac).

At the Trakoscan toll station on the A2 Zagreb-Macelj motorway, on Saturday afternoon, columns are expected at the exit towards the Macelj border crossing, which could last until night hours, which is why vehicles may turn off at the Krapina junction.

On Sunday, August 9, and Monday, August 10, there will be increased traffic all day on all road routes, mainly in the inland direction. Crowds are expected again at Lucko (exit from the A1 / A6 motorway), Istrian Y, Krk bridge, as well as on the A2 Zagreb-Macelj motorway (Trakoscan toll) and A4 Zagreb-Gorican, and on the A3 Bregana-Lipovac (Zagreb-east toll) ).

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August 8, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Dubrovnik.

Croatian Aviation reports that low-budget German airline Eurowings plans to connect Dubrovnik with four destinations in Germany in September this year.

Eurowings has launched its lines to all destinations in Croatia except Dubrovnik, but the company plans to change that from the end of this month. Namely, Eurowings will launch four international flights to Dubrovnik Airport this summer season, but with a minimum number of weekly flights on the following routes:

Dusseldorf - Dubrovnik, from August 30, once a week (Sunday),

Cologne - Dubrovnik, from September 6, once a week (Sunday),

Berlin - Dubrovnik, from September 6, once a week (Sunday),

Hamburg - Dubrovnik, from September 6, once a week (Sunday).

A319 and A320 aircraft are planned on all routes, the backbone of the airline's network on flights within Europe.

Eurowings was significantly present in Dubrovnik last summer, but in this year's summer flight schedule, it did not run routes to this airport. However, in September, the company will, although only once a week, connect the four German cities with Dubrovnik Airport.

Furthermore, Hainan Airlines, one of the largest Chinese airlines, landed at Dubrovnik Airport on Friday!

The A330-200 aircraft took off from the Chinese city of Chongqing at 3:22 pm local time, transporting approximately 150 Chinese workers who will be engaged in the construction of the Peljesac Bridge. The plane was scheduled to land at Dubrovnik Airport at around 7:30 pm, after more than 10 hours on a direct flight from China. The plane will take off from Dubrovnik to China Saturday morning.

The aircraft with registration number B-5963 is only 6 years old and can carry a total of 214 passengers (36 in business and 178 passengers in economy class). This is the first direct flight from China organized exclusively for workers from the Peljesac Bridge.

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August 8, 2020 - The second-largest nature park in Croatia, Lonjsko Polje Nature Park, continues to develop its tourist offer guided by the slogan "Discover the Undiscovered".

HRTurizam reports that as of this weekend, two solar-powered boats will sail along the Strug River from the port in the village of Plesmo. These are almost silent vessels that will enable tourists to discover the beauty of the hitherto self-contained tributary of the Sava River.

"Discover the undiscovered - is the slogan with which we encourage guests to come to Lonjsko Polje Nature Park, but also which directs us in the development of visitor infrastructure and content. Namely, we who work in Lonjsko Polje, as well as those who live here, know how important perspective is for experiencing the beauty of the local nature. That is why we want to provide visitors with a unique view of Lonjsko Polje - both the one from the lookout point and the one from the river," said Ivor Stanivukovic, director of the Public Institution Lonjsko Polje Nature Park.

Tomislav Kor

In addition to solar-powered boats, canoes await visitors at the Plesmo pier. Important information for travel agencies is that boats will be able to be used on weekends and holidays with prior reservation, and during the week by appointment. Also, from the Krapje Visitor Center to the pier in Plesmo, visitors will be driven by an oldtimer tractor with a trailer.

"Solar-powered boat rides on the Struga allow tourists to sail silently into beautiful nature. They will pass by beaver habitats, see cattle grazing, experience the flight of birds for which Lonjsko polje is known among ornithologists around the world," concluded Stanivukovic.

Lonjsko polje Nature Park is the second-largest nature park in Croatia. In order for visitors to leave it with as many fond memories as possible, great attention is paid to the development of the visitor infrastructure and content.

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August 7, 2020 - This week, the Croatian Tourism Association. (HUT) launched a newsletter specifically for the Dutch market titled, 'Croatia: Safe and Desirable Destination', which communicates the epidemiological situation to key institutions and epidemiologists in the Netherlands daily and provides an overview of the tourist situation in the country.

For our previous article on the tracker, please follow this link. 

HRTurizam reports that the website www.croatiacovid19.info, which was launched to give daily updated and accurate information on the number of COVID-19 cases in Croatia and its regions, was visited by over 110,000 unique users in the 12 days since its launch. Most foreign visitors come from Germany (42.5%), Hungary (14.7%), Austria (8.5%) and the Netherlands (6.3%).

"In almost six months since the first case of COVID-19 infection was recorded in Croatia, there is still no official information that none of the citizens of other countries became infected in commercial accommodation in Croatia. Croatia continues to be the safest, closest and most acceptable holiday destination in the Mediterranean for all guests from the EU," said Veljko Ostojic, director of HUT.

Also, the site was supplemented in such a way that, in addition to the epidemiological situation by region, it now monitors the situation in the counties on a daily basis, and two new indicators were added - the ratio of active cases per 100,000 inhabitants (A100I *) and the ratio of active cases per 100,000 people, i.e., the total number of inhabitants and tourists staying in the area at a given time (A100P *).

In the last week since the previous issue of the Croatia Tourism & Travel newsletter (July 28-August 5), Croatia has recorded an average of 1,165 new cases per 100,000 people in the country, which is 27.5 percent fewer new cases than the daily average from a week earlier. The number of active cases has decreased by 16.7 percent since the previous edition of the newsletter.

"The site www.croatiacovid19.info clearly shows that the epidemiological situation in Croatia is 'in the green' and is the best in the Mediterranean, with the least active cases," concludes Ostojic.

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August 7, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Split and Dubrovnik.

Croatian Aviation reports that Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) announced its flight schedule for August in which it will significantly reduce the number of weekly flights to Split Airport.

This well-known Scandinavian airline launched traffic at the end of June to Split Airport from three destinations: Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo. Lines from Stockholm and Copenhagen to Split operated daily (mainly A320 aircraft), while the Oslo - Split route operated 5 to 6 times a week.

But that will change from mid-August. Namely, from August 15, the Copenhagen - Split line will operate only once a week, every Saturday, and the same will be the case with the Stockholm - Split line, which will also operate once a week (Saturday).

The Oslo - Split line will operate three times a week (Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays) from 9 August, and from August 15, this line will also run once a week (Saturdays).

The second destination in Croatia for SAS this summer was Pula Airport, where the company operated regularly once a week on the line from Copenhagen (Saturdays). Tickets are on sale for flights until August 15, after which, it is likely, the line will end with traffic for this summer season.

Brussels Airlines has announced its flight schedule for August, in which lines from Brussels to Split and Dubrovnik will continue to operate this month.

As announced earlier, Brussels Airlines launched traffic on the route to Dubrovnik on June 27 this year and operates twice a week, every Tuesday and Saturday with A319 and A320 aircraft.

The line will continue to operate through August, but from August 22, only once a week. Namely, the flight is canceled on Tuesdays and only the flight on Saturdays, A320 aircraft, remain in traffic. Brussels Airlines is holding flights to Dubrovnik until October 10, but we will monitor the situation and announce any changes.

The second Brussels line in Croatia, to Split, operates once a week (also on Saturdays), which will continue until mid-September (September 19). After the mentioned date, the company no longer offers direct flights on the Brussels - Split route.

We remind you that before the corona pandemic, this airline planned flights to Zadar and Zagreb, but those routes were completely canceled. Croatia Airlines operates on a direct route between Zagreb and Brussels.

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August 6, 2020 - Just a few days ago, headlines revealed that Dubrovnik is among the most affected tourist destinations in Croatia. Still, despite poor numbers, the Adriatic Pearl has reason to be optimistic.

HRTurizam reports that in August, we can finally see crowds of tourists on Stradun, which is best illustrated by the data that in Dubrovnik in the last two days, the number of visitors has risen to 6,000.

"It started…. The number on the counter reached 6,000 visitors. There were lines to enter the walls. We are recovering step by step," wrote Mayor Mate Frankovic on his Facebook profile.

Thus, 10,316 overnight stays were recorded yesterday, with a little more than 6,000 guests currently staying in the historic city.

While Dubrovnik is finally looking forward to receiving guests, the current numbers are still far from ideal. Currently, in August, the city is at 37% of overnight stays compared to last year. From January 1 to July 31, 113,912 arrivals were recorded in Dubrovnik, or only 14% of last year's tourist traffic and 347,848 overnight stays, also 14% of last year's tourist traffic in the same period, which best shows the difficult situation until early August.

As constructive criticism is often written about the tourist development of Dubrovnik, positive examples should be praised, as is the case now. Namely, Mayor Mate Frankovic is very active in promoting Dubrovnik as a safe destination that is open to tourists.

Recently, Frankovic wrote to the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson after announcing the potential of a two-week quarantine for Croatia, in which he stressed that Dubrovnik is one of the safest European travel destinations with detailed protocols in all situations, including the number of infected, which was reported by many British media outlets, such as The Telegraph.

It is certainly worth mentioning the proposal and lobbying of Mayor Frankovic that daily data on the pages of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control be divided by counties.

Also, many international media were in Dubrovnik for two weeks, from Bloomberg, Reuters, and the Associated Press to ABC News, which had three live reports from Dubrovnik.

In any case, this year, Dubrovnik is fighting for every guest. 

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August 6, 2020 - The Istria County Tourist Board brought in several foreign journalists, influencers and bloggers to help promote the region during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Glas Istre writes that the tourism sector has found itself in big trouble and a rather tricky situation given the extraordinary circumstances due to COVID-19. Nevertheless, in the first half of 2020, the Istria County Tourist Board managed to animate several prominent foreign journalists, influencers and bloggers who visited Istria as part of individual and group trips and agent trips from various countries in cooperation with the Croatian Tourist Board and various partners, points out Denis Ivosevic, director of the Istria County Tourist Board.

"From the very beginning, the situation was very uncertain, and now, as the circumstances improve over time, the PR activities of the Istria County Tourist Board are intensifying. In cooperation with the PR partner for the German and Austrian market ART RedaktionsTeam, we organized the reception of journalist teams from several important German and Austrian media, including Fallstaff, "a la carte", Kronen Zeitung, Freizeit & Kulinarik and many others. Through the Croatian National Tourist Board Representation in the United States, Istria was visited at the end of July by American agents, owners of boutique agencies specializing in luxury eno-gastronomic experiences," says Ivosevic.

The Istria County Tourist Board, together with the tourist boards of Rovinj and Pula and the CNTB Representation in Paris, is preparing a large project for promotion on the French market in the coming period.

Namely, the region will be featured on the leading travel show in France "Echappées Belles" which provides excellent visibility. There are plans to record a new show about Croatia from August 10 to 23. The ninety-minute show will be aired in May 2021 on the national TV channel France 5 in a prime time slot. The show is watched by an average of more than a million viewers on French national television.

"In cooperation with the PR partner for the German and Austrian markets, a group of 12 very important Austrian and German journalists will come to Istria in September and the first half of October, accompanied by the owner of the ART RedaktionsTeam agency. We hope that the situation will continue to improve everywhere in the world and that the coming period will bring us at least a little relief and some new optimism. The investments we are investing in this year, which are investments in PR agencies, promotional campaigns, and in air transport, will have a direct effect on the next tourist year. This will be most visible in the partnership projects and the increase of airlines to Pula," Ivosevic concluded.

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August 5, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik.

Croatian Airlines reports that Aegean Airlines, a Star Alliance member, previously announced the start of traffic to three Croatian airports (Dubrovnik, Split and Zagreb) from September this year. All flights to the mentioned destinations have been canceled for this year.

Before the pandemic, Aegean Airlines planned to operate to three destinations in Croatia from Athens (Eleftherios Venizelos Airport). The start of traffic was first postponed to September, and now all flights to Croatia have been canceled for this year.

Lines to Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik were supposed to operate with a smaller number of weekly flights compared to last summer season, but due to weak demand, the company completely canceled flights on these routes and does not intend to launch them this year.

This left the airports in Split and Zagreb without a direct connection with the Greek capital. Croatia Airlines operates on the route Zagreb - Athens with a stop in Dubrovnik, so the flight between the two capitals is not direct. The Zagreb - Athens (via Dubrovnik) route of Croatia Airlines continues to operate three times a week, every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday on the DashQ400 aircraft, with a capacity of 76 passengers.

It should also be mentioned that Volotea also canceled flights from Dubrovnik and Split to Athens until the end of the summer flight schedule.

Furthermore, Croatian Aviation reported that as of Sunday, August 2, Turkish Airlines is operating fewer weekly flights on the Istanbul - Zagreb route.

In July, Turkish Airlines operated five times a week on the Istanbul - Zagreb route, but since the beginning of August, there has been a reduction in the number of weekly flights. Throughout August, the company will operate on the mentioned line only four times a week, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, flights will take place on Mondays and Fridays in the evening, and Wednesdays and Sundays in the morning.

Smaller capacity aircraft (mainly A319) have been announced on the route. It is worth mentioning that before the outbreak of the pandemic, Turkish Airlines flew to Zagreb twice a day, transporting a large number of passengers from Asia, and these tourists are almost non-existent in Croatia this year. The company has repeatedly adjusted its capacity on the line by introducing larger aircraft, such as the A330, but this will probably not be necessary this year.

The second line of Turkish Airlines in Croatia, to Dubrovnik, was previously announced for September. However, all flights have been postponed and the company is currently offering flights in October, though they will soon be canceled. In fact, Turkish Airlines will not return to Dubrovnik Airport this year.

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August 4, 2020 - In anticipation of Ferragosto, the period in which Italians most often use their vacations, the Croatian National Tourist Board is carrying out intensified marketing activities on the Italian market as part of the large promotional campaign "The Vacation You Deserve Is Closer Than You Think" on leading internet portals and print media in Italy.

"Italy is one of our most important tourist markets, where we have maintained the visibility of Croatia as a tourist destination, even during the global coronavirus pandemic. In these moments, when travel is possible and when Italians travel the most, we decided to strengthen the presence of Croatia in the Italian market, given the noticeable interest in Croatian destinations and our overall tourist offer. Currently, there are about 16,000 Italian tourists in the country, and most of them are in the destinations of Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County," said the director of the Croatian Tourist Board Kristjan Stanicic, adding that Italian tourists arrive in Croatia by boat.

For example, since the beginning of August, Jadrolinija has introduced a high-speed line on the Zadar - Ancona route, which allows passengers from Italy to come directly to Zadar. A catamaran with a capacity for more than 400 passengers sails from Zadar to Ancona five times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

"On the Italian market, there is a noticeable interest in Croatian destinations, both by individual travelers and by partners, but also by the media, so publications about Croatia can be found in popular publications such as Lonely Planet, Il Messagero, Bell Europa and others. The greatest interest is expressed in Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia, and when we talk about tourist products and accommodation facilities, nautical and camping are the most sought after," said Viviana Vukelic, director of the CNTB Representation in Italy, emphasizing that Croatia is perceived as safe among Italians.

According to the eVisitor system in Croatia, more than 133 thousand arrivals and about 630 thousand overnight stays have been made in the Italian market so far (January 1 to August 2), which is about 30 percent of last year's result in the same period. During the first two days of August, more than 31 thousand overnight stays were realized from the Italian market, mostly in the destinations of Mali Losinj, Rovinj, Medulin, Porec, Cres, Pula and Umag.

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August 3, 2020 - In July, Istria achieved 60 percent of last year's tourist traffic. According to eVisitor, 630,000 arrivals were recorded on the Peninsula last month, and in 2020 so far, the number of visitors exceeded one million.

Glas Istre reports that on average, guests spent more than seven days on holiday, and in July, there were 4.77 million tourist overnights. The number of overnights spent since the beginning of this year in Istria increased to 6.7 million.

Caution and the higher possibility of respecting social isolation measures have taken their toll, so when it comes to Istria County, so this July, the most in-demand accommodation was camps and holiday homes. These two segments of the tourist offer, when absolute numbers are in question, achieved the best results. The category listed in eVisitor as household facilities recorded more than 200,000 tourists in July, and 1.5 million tourist overnight stays. These results are thirty percent worse than those achieved last July, but given that holiday homes and villas with swimming pools, which are extremely popular this summer, are in the same category as apartments, for which the demand is still somewhat lower, it can be assumed that a large number of buildings from this first group passed this July without the slightest gaps.

Istrian hotels also had slightly better occupancy than in June, but given the specific situation with the organization of business and compliance with all prescribed epidemiological measures, most of them opened their doors only last month. Hotel accommodation in Istria recorded 114 thousand tourist arrivals in July, and almost 640 thousand overnight stays, which is about 40 percent of the result achieved last year. When it comes to far smaller numbers, there are also segments of the tourist offer on the Peninsula, which, even in these times burdened by the constant threat of COVID, managed to achieve results that surpassed those of last year. In that sense, the absolute champion of July 2020 in Istria is nautical tourism, which with 4,207 arrivals and 33,329 overnight stays in both comparative indices, exceeds last year's results by about 2 percent.

In terms of the number of guests, the first are the Germans, who in July were only about 10 percent less than last year. The Slovenes overtook the Austrians in second place, who traveled far less abroad this summer due to a solid campaign by the Austrian government and the local media. While arrivals from Germany to Istria reach 87 percent, and from Slovenia, 95 percent of last year, those from Austria were halved. Thus, in July, the number of Austrians on the Istrian coast was as much as 53 percent lower than in the comparable period last year.

When looking at individual Istrian destinations, compared to July last year, Medulin is at as much as 95 percent, and Porec and Rovinj at about 90 percent. Interestingly, near Istria, there is one town that was 2-3 percent better than July last year - Crikvenica.

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