While having increased in popularity over the last couple of years owing primarily to active tourism, the Dalmatian hinterland tends to live in the shadow of its coastal cousin, but is all that about to change?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 3rd of December, 2018, the calculations of the Institute for Croatian Tourism show that the number of overnight stays in Split-Dalmatia County could rise by 30 percent, mostly in the Dalmatian hinterland, by more than 200 percent. The study in which these figures were presented was entitled "Measuring Sustainability of Tourism in Practice".

Tourism Institute researcher Zoran Klarić explained that Split-Dalmatia County tourism would be able to achieve a presumed growth of 30 percent, but only if certain obstacles are dealt with and removed before that goal, Slobodna Dalmacija reports.

"When it comes to the biggest development obstacles, we've come across an unacceptable situation with waste disposal, a power system on the edge of durability, a water supply system that depends on a single source in the case of Split, inadequate drainage, and very weak traffic power, plus parking spaces," said Klarić.

He explained that tourism in that particular county was explored through five parts: Split, the Split riviera, the Makarska riviera, the Dalmatian hinterland, Brač, Hvar, and Vis. In addition to the Dalmatian hinterland, which could account for 200 percent growth, the biggest potential for growth lies on the nearby island of Brač, where calculations show potential of up to 50 percent growth, Slobodna Dalmacija writes.

Through the additional number of guests who could come to Croatia over the coming years, the institute calculated that the potential increase of tourists could be as much as 250,000 per year. According to estimates, the largest number of overnight stays would be made by Makarska riviera (two million) followed by the Split riviera (one million and 950 thousand), while Split would see as many as 670,000 overnight stays realised.

In the coming years, the number of hospitality and tourist zones could increase, to 145 with a total of 95,000 beds on offer.

"It's almost twice the capacity available today in this type of accommodation," the institute noted, adding that there is currently no indication that the growth of tourism in private accommodation which otherwise currently accounts for about 80 percent of Split-Dalmatia County's overall accommodation capacity today will be limited.

Despite these indicators, which can be taken in both a positive and a negative way, tourism has some limitations in parts of the aforementioned county. The lack of labour is a big problem, and one which will continue to grow, and the Makarska riviera has a particular issue with its overall beach capacity.

Make sure to stay up to date with our dedicated travel and lifestyle pages for more. If you're interested solely in the Dalmatian hinterland, make sure to follow Total Inland Dalmatia.

New hotels in Croatia are popping up all the time, and some major investments have seen the tourism sector come on leaps and bounds even very far away from the glitz and glamour of the yacht-filled coast. 

Croatia's investment climate has some big improvements to be getting on with, and quickly, but despite numerous issues, large investments in the country's safest sector, tourism, continue to pour in.

The Croatian capital of Zagreb has gone from all but entirely overlooked as a tourist destination to a ''must visit'' continental city which many are referring to as the ''new Vienna'' among other names. The city's dazzling Advent in Zagreb festivities has seen the Croatian capital take the prize for best European advent destination for an impressive three years running, and as the hotels fill up, new ones continue to open their doors.

As SibenikIN writes on the 28th of November, 2018, the new luxury Hotel Capital Zagreb group Amadria Park, to which the extremely popular Solaris Resort near the ancient Dalmatian city of Šibenik belongs, will be officially opened on Thursday in the centre of the Croatian capital. The brand new hotel boasts 112 rooms and the value of Ugo Group's investment, which stands behind Amadria Park, is a massive 14.5 million euro.

The new hotel is located in the building of the former Croatian branch of Wiener Bankverein at the corner of Jurišićeva and Palmotićeva street, and is the first so-called ''city'' hotel of the Amadria Park group.

''[Opening - TOMORROW 29.11.2018] The moment has arrived! It's time to unveil Amadria Park's first Zagreb hotel - Capital.

A heritage hotel with a well-appointed, central Zagreb location, it combines early 20th century architectural grandeur with the upmarket elegance of a modern hotel.

Only 450m from Ban Jelacic Square, it offers 112 rooms, restaurant, bar and cafe, fitness zone, underground garage, upmarket store and meeting rooms.'' wrote an update on Amadria Park's Facebook page.

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Government spending has risen since 2009, citizen spending has slowed down, and employers continue to express their heightened anxiety about the emigration of Croatia's domestic labour force. Despite issues, a good Croatian tourist season has seen the economy boosted in the third quarter.

As Ljubica Gataric/VL/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 28th of November, 2018, the Croatian economy grew by 2.8 percent in the third quarter of this year, which is better than the previous expectations of domestic economists, but slower than the economy grew during the same period over last three years. A good Croatian tourist season has of course done its job well, and along with tourism, this positive contribution to economic growth has also been boosted by the further export of goods.

While a good Croatian tourist season is the main thing ''holding up'' these positive results, data following the first GDP estimate reveals that the domestic construction sector recovered more (by about seven percent in surplus), while the manufacturing industry's impact on GDP was negative (minus two percent) since industrial production collapsed that bit more this year.

"Taking into account the possibilities and the framework we're currently facing, particularly the labour market situation and the challenges we have in industrial production, GDP growth of 2.8 percent is a relatively good result, almost at the maximum limit," commented employers around Croatian Employers' Association (HUP), which claims that regardless of the good results in the third quarter, they feel a slight slowdown in growth and a general sense of anxiety and nervousness among employers owing to problems with finding staff and the continuous fall in overall production.

HUP has also used this opportunity to become louder and louder still in its call on the Croatian Government to further ease the economy so that companies can raise employee salaries and thus prevent further migration of the country's young and highly educated people in an ongoing and extremely concerning demographic crisis. Croatia entered winter with 147,000 unemployed people registered on the labour market, as well as 15,000 job vacancies.

In addition to the fact that movements being made in the Croatian economy aren't in support of the current global trends, especially in terms of the dynamics of growth in the European Union, analysts from the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) have noted that relative to the first half of this year, slight changes in growth trends have indeed occurred in some categories of particular demand.

Personal consumption growth has slowed down as the category which has the highest share in the structure of total demand, while when it comes to government spending, investment in fixed capital and especially the export of goods and services, growth has been accelerating.

Looking at the figures, domestic demand during the first six months of 2018 had three and a half times greater impact on the growth of gross domestic product than in foreign countries. RBA analysts note that government consumption at a 3.9 percent rate rose more this year than in the first quarter of 2009, and growth in gross fixed capital investment continued to grow quarterly, an increase of 3.7 percent in the third quarter, which may indicate the increased utilisation of funds from the European Union.

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Click here for the original article by Ljubica Gataric/VL on Poslovni Dnevnik

An economic boost could well be on the cards for Croatian tourism as one of the country's most successful companies within that sector raises employee wages and aims for further expansion for 2019's tourist season.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 5th of November, 2018, after a successful seaso, one of the most successful tourist companies in Croatia, the Jadranka Group from Lošinj, is investing in the salaries of its employees and is looking for reinforcements for next season.

Jadranka Group's education program includes in-house workshops, theoretical lectures and practical training. Among them, the Gastro Academy stands out, and employees are encouraged to focus on improving the skills needed for high-level service at a five-star level.

With internal education, employees have the opportunity to expand their knowledge and skills and thus attend specialised programs held in external institutions for highly specialised professions such as those in concierge and bartending, to name a couple. Therefore, it comes as no real surprise that in Jadranka hotels, the daughter company of the Jadranka Group, the number of employees has doubled since 2009.

"We believe that salary increases are a logical step in developing the group's business and employee relationships, which are key factors for successful business operations. In the hotel and camping industry, we're constantly increasing from year to year so that along with the improvement of living and working conditions, we give a kind of acknowledgment and gratitude to our employees for our collective success. In addition, this year, we've increased the basic salaries in our commercial sector, for retail, wholesale and food production,'' said Sanjin Šolić, the CEO of the Jadranka Group, who celebrated 30 years of work in Jadranka last year.

When speaking about an economic boost, raising salaries and improving employee conditions come above all else.

Mr. Solić emphasised that one of the group's priorities is to ensure the proper conditions for seasonal employees as soon as possible. With this aim, the raising of the level of the tourist facilities to a four-star level began, in a move which will provide the employees with adequate accommodation and ensure much more enjoyable living conditions during their stay and time spent working there in Lošinj.

Jadranka Group's good attitude towards their seasonal workers speaks volumes in support of the fact that the group is by far one of the most desirable employers on the Croatian coast and islands.

In a further economic boost for the workers and the company, at the end of the season, they offer those workers a type of permanent status, which is a guaranteed job for the next year, as well as all of the rights enjoyed by permanent employees. Jadranka Group employs some 700 permanent employees, while during the tourist season the total number of employees stands at about 1,600, a large number of those employees are deployed in the group's daughters-businesses.

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Croatia has been named the best destination of 2018 by the Association of Travel Agents of Quebec. 

More than 807 films from 91 countries were introduced at this year's Zagreb TourFilm Festival, and the best among them were screened during the last three days at Kaptol Boutique Cinema.

Minister of Tourism, Gari Cappelli, and Director of the Croatian National Tourist Board's Head Office, Kristjan Staničić, presented the recent tourism figures on Tuesday. 

While Zagreb out-shined its coastal rivals by far, the post-August drop is still steep.

''The extended runway enables the beginning of the cooperation with Air Serbia, with whom we've been negotiating for a long time,'' stated Peović.