August the 25th, 2022 - The Croatian property price increase has been enormous, and so far, this summer tourist season has well and truly outdone that of last year and of couse of 2020.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, when speaking solely in terms of income earned, the current tourist season could reach the record year of 2019 at the end of August, Tourism Minister Nikolina Brnjac confirmed in a recent interview for N1.

That's why experts expect that this year's tourism revenue will be 30 percent higher than that often referenced, record-breaking pre-pandemic year. Those who earn their cash from tourism now have "sweeter" troubles to ponder over, such as what to invest their earnings in under the circumstances of high inflation that is rapidly eating away at the value of money itself. The result: the expected new Croatian property price increase.

According to the indicators so far, the season is going more than excellently. We aren't nearing the end of 2022 yet, but Nikolina Brnjac is already extremely satisfied with the income earned this summer from tourism.

"According to some calculations, if this continues, we calculate that at the end of August and the beginning of September, we'll manage to surpass 2019 in that segment," said Minister Nikolina Brnjac.

While that's all well and good, just how much does that satisfaction amount to in the currency of the Croatian future - euros?

"Well, back in 2019, there was some 10.5 billion euros in income earned from foreign tourists, and now the CNB's projects are 11.3 billion," said Brnjac.

"If we're talking about Split, we're talking about Croatian buyers of property, apartment buyers, and if we're talking about destinations like Primosten or Rogoznica, in addition to locals, foreigners also buy property there, and they do so in significant numbers," said Marin Biliskov, director of the Biliskov real estate agency, writes N1.

"If we look at tradition, a good season down on the coast always meant a good property selling season in Zagreb," said Boro Vujovic, the director of the Opereta real estate agency.

A good season means higher demand and higher prices, and when it comes to Croatian property, we're already seeing record growth by as much as 20 percent compared to last year. The average square footage of a new building in Croatia stands at 2140 euros.

Is there room for additional Croatian property price increases?

"Given the average income and standard in Croatia, regardless of a good summer tourist season, I think prices have reached a point that shouldn't be exceeded now. But as long as the demand is greater than the supply, it's an economic law that the price goes up," said Biliskov.

As Vujovic says, if the prices of energy and everything else rise, then real estate prices will rise as well.

"I think it will slow down because interest rates will rise, some people just won't be creditworthy, so that will reduce demand," Vujovic said.

The demand of foreigners for property in Croatia is also constantly growing. Croatia's entry into the Eurozone and Schengen could stimulate both domestic and foreign demand.

"What we mustn't ignore is the significant activity of foreign buyers who, with Croatian entry into the Eurozone and Schengen, will raise awareness of Croatia as an interesting investment destination precisely through transactions in euros. Although transactions were tied to the euro but realised in kuna, they'll now be able to realise everything in euros, which will further stimulate the interest of foreign buyers," said Vedrana Likan, director and partner of the Colliers company.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

August the 23rd, 2022 - The Croatian ferry company Jadrolinija is edging ever closer to the record numbers it and we all saw back during the pre-pandemic year of 2019, having transported 1.1 million passengers during the month of August so far alone.

As Morski/Alenka Juricic Bukarica writes, this year's tourist season, in terms of physical indicators, is coming extremely close to the eye-watering figures we saw back during the record year of 2019, and therefore the traffic in passenger ship transport is also returning, writes Rijeka portal Novi list.

As such, from the beginning of the year to August the 15th, Jadrolinija's fleet transported an impressive 7,850,000 passengers in total, which is just four percent less compared to the same period back in 2019, as well as 2,248,000 vehicles, which is 7.7 percent more than 2019.

During the month of August alone, more precisely from August the 1st to the 18th, Jadrolinija transported a total of 1,150,000 passengers, which is just 9.1 percent less than in 2019, and 400,000 vehicles, which is 3.5 percent less than during the record pre-pandemic year of 2019.

''We are approaching the figures we saw back in 2019. On certain Jadrolinija ferry lines, vehicle traffic is surpassing the figures from 2019, but passenger traffic is still lagging slightly behind.

The reason for the smaller number of passengers is the absence of larger tourist groups that regularly came to Croatia by bus in earlier years, Jadrolinija pointed out, adding that the lines with the most passengers are Valbiska - Merag, Brestova - Porozina, Prizna - Zigljen, Zadar - Preko, Split - Supetar and Split - Stari Grad (Hvar).

''In this jubilee year, when Jadrolinija celebrates a whole 75 years of existence, we are optimistic and hope for a successful season and that we manage to reach the results from the record-breaking year of 2019,'' Jadrolinija concluded.

For more on Croatian maritime transport, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

August the 1st, 2022 - The Croatian 2022 tourist season is succeeding in pushing GDP and spending up, but with the German stagnation still ongoing, things on that front continue to remain a valid concern from a very important market for the country.

As Morski writes, thanks to the excellent Croatian 2022 tourist season so far, spending and consumption back in June continued to grow on an annual basis for the seventeenth month in a row: retail sales increased by 3.8 percent, and at the same rate, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (CBS) shows, industrial production also increased, for the second month in a row and more rapidly than back in May.

These latest indicators confirm previous announcements that economic activity in the second quarter of the year could be even higher than it has been during the first and that GDP growth should exceed five percent this year despite the negative consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, this means that consumers aren't aware of the circumstances in which they find themselves, as reported by Jutarnji list. While it continued to grow on an annual basis, retail trade fell by 1 percent compared to the month of May, which also recorded a faster annual growth of 4.3 percent.

While the data on fiscal receipts and invoices for June pointed to a strong growth in retail trade turnover, as noted by RBA analysts, "it was certainly supported by increased tourist spending", and indicators of consumer optimism simultaneously pointed to a slowdown in the annual growth rate, "which recorded deterioration on a monthly and annual basis in June".

Disposable income

The consumption structure itself points to the increased caution of consumers, given that the turnover of food, beverages and tobacco products is growing at a rate of 5.2 percent, on an annual basis, while non-food products (except for the trade in motor fuels and lubricants) fell by 0.3 percent. However, for as long as the Croatian 2022 tourist season continues to last, it is quite likely that encouraging figures will thankfully prevail across the nation.

''We expect a good season and a double-digit growth rate of both physical and financial indicators, which will positively affect consumption. This will certainly contribute to the preservation of disposable income and thus have a positive effect on retail trends,'' concluded the aforementioned RBA analysis. However, the effect of the base period and the strong uncertainty due to geopolitical events, they believe, will certainly slow down the dynamics of positive changes in trade activity. The high perception of inflation, which is strongly influenced by the rise in food and energy prices, also has a direct effect on restraining consumption.

What the Croatian economy can expect largely depends on global trends, especially in Eurozone countries that are its main foreign trade partners, and which it is set to join on the first day of 2023.

The latest data suggests that the Eurozone's economy is more resilient than previously expected. According to Eurostat's initial data, GDP in the second quarter increased by 0.7 percent compared to the previous three months, while economists expected a growth of only 0.2 percent. In addition, despite the shock caused by the war in Ukraine, growth accelerated compared to the first quarter, when it stood at 0.5 percent. Nevertheless, the data indicates that the German economy is very much stagnating, and as stated by the statistical office Destatis, this is primarily due to "weak trade".

While Germany is visibly suffering the consequences of higher energy prices and inflation, the leaders in terms of growth in the Eurozone are now Spain (+1.1), Italy (+1.0), France and other countries that are supported by tourism and higher consumption. Quarterly declines were recorded by Latvia (-1.4 percent), Lithuania (-0.4 percent) and Portugal (-0.2 percent), but year-on-year growth rates were positive for all countries.

Although the Eurozone achieved faster growth than expected, the pressure on the cost of living is still intensifying. The official estimate of inflation for the month of July reached 8.9 percent, compared to 8.6 percent back in June.

Across the pond, the USA is in recession...

Analysts pointed out that difficult days are yet to come for the Eurozone, especially for Germany. A technical recession in that country, the Dutch Ing Group analyst Carsten Brzeski pointed out, "looks like a done deal", given the high prices of energy and raw materials that continue to undermine purchasing power and profit margins.

The American economy, on the other hand, is technically already in recession after the announcement that GDP fell for the second quarter in a row, by 0.9 percent. At the same time, in an effort to curb inflation, the US central bank raised key interest rates by a further 0.75 percentage points. However, they said that any further moves will depend on future economic indicators, so a slower pace of monetary policy tightening is now expected.

Production growth is modest, remaining below two percent.

Industrial production back in June grew by 3.8 percent on an annual basis, and by 1.2 percent compared to the previous month. Almost all sectors recorded solid growth, especially the production of capital goods (12 percent) and energy (9.6 percent). Only the production of durable consumer goods fell, 4.7 percent. However, this year, a modest growth rate is expected on average, below two percent, RBA analysts estimate. The main reason for this is the potentially unfavourable influence of geopolitical conflicts, "that is, the dependence of certain important Croatian trade partners on Russia,'' concluded Jutarnji.

For more on the Croatian 2022 tourist season, keep up with our lifestyle section.

July the 25th, 2022 - The height of the summer tourist season is now in full swing, with more and more foreign visitors pouring into the country through airports. Split Airport has been recording some excellent numbers and it doesn't seem like that is going to stop soon.

The global coronavirus pandemic which caused so much unprecedented damage to the travel and tourism industry appears to be well and truly in the past, with most people assigning that bizarre period to the history books and travelling freely once again. The Croatian tourist season is on course to smash the numbers from the pre-pandemic, record year of 2019, and people are finally able to breathe a sigh of relief following warnings earlier in the year of the war in Ukraine having a potentially negative effect. So far, that fear hasn't materialised.

As Morski writes, we've just seen off the penultimate weekend of July, we're being dominated by a heatwave and the majority of Croatian residents as well as tourists have gone off on their holidays down to the coast, therefore the traffic density has increased on the roads throughout the country. It's also extremely busy at Split Airport.

According to all current indicators, Split Airport at Resnik is slowly but surely approaching the figures from the record year of 2019, with the impressive figure of 450,000 passengers having already been exceeded in July.

''Over these two days, we expect 215 planes carrying 55 thousand passengers. Of course, by the end of July, we expect to be somewhere between 650 and 700 thousand passengers. There's an operation going on every five minutes. At the moment, Split is connected to 90 destinations, i.e. 24 countries. There may be a delay of half an hour, an hour or even a cancelled flight as a result of varying events in European destinations, but this isn't significantly affecting the flow of traffic here and we're completely ready, available and working hard at the peak of the summer season according to our capacities. We're in for the biggest amount of work next weekend or the one after that. It's historic. Those two or three weekends, which occur during the very heart of the season, are when record numbers are achieved,'' pointed out Mate Melvan, head of the passenger reception and dispatch service at Split Airport, writes HRT.

At the end of August, the two millionth passenger will have passed through Split Airport this year.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

July the 5th, 2022 - The Croatian 2022 tourist season has been beyond excellent so far, and tourist spending is 24 percent better than it was back during the pre-pandemic, record year of 2019.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Josipa Ban writes, tourist traffic is slowly but absolutely surely returning to pre-crisis figures, and data from Croatia's highly praised eVisitor system shows that in the first half of this year, 83 percent of arrivals and 94 percent of overnight stays were achieved compared to the record year of 2019. The financial results for the Croatian 2022 tourist season so far are even better.

Data from the Tax Office shows that in the first six months of this, fiscal year bills/receipts issued accounting for a huge 12.8 billion kuna were fiscalised, which is 129 percent better than back in the same period last year and 24 percent more than during 2019.

"The current results we're achieving are almost at the level of those from back during 2019. The data so far is particularly important because it all confirms the increasingly significant demand for Croatia outside the main summer months and the positive results of activities aimed at making Croatia recognisable as a sustainable and quality destination which can be visited and enjoyed throughout the whole year,'' said Nikolina Brnjac, Minister of Tourism and Sport.

In the first six months of 2022, despite a war on European soil breaking out, due to which it was feared that the Croatian 2022 tourist season could be disrupted, Croatia was visited by 5.7 million tourists who realised an impressive 24.7 million overnight stays. The share of foreign tourists in overnight stays stands at almost 87 percent.

Traditionally, guests from Germany (6.1 million), Austria (2.4 million), and Poland (1.3 million) realised the most overnight stays in the country. Most of those overnights were spent in hotels (7.5 million). Negligibly fewer nights were recorded in private apartments - 7.4 million, while campsites recorded 5.1 million overnight stays.

Istria is the most popular destination of all so far in the Croatian 2022 tourist season!

There have been no significant changes in the attractiveness of various locations either, and in the first half of this year, the most overnight stays were realised in gorgeous Istria (7.9 million) and Split-Dalmatia County (4.2 million). The most popular destinations are Rovinj (1.3 million overnight stays) and Dubrovnik (1.2 million). They're followed by Porec (1.1 million), then by Zagreb (909,000 overnight stays).

As for June 2022 when compared to June 2019, 89 percent of 2019's arrivals and 98 percent of 2019's overnight stays were achieved. Expectations are also very high for the two prime tourist months, July and August.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

May the 25th, 2022 - Czech tourists in Croatia throughout this year's rapidly approaching summer season could be a ''hit'', at least according to the current indicators of Croatia Luxury Rent's sales statistics.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, the number of bookings in luxury private accommodation from individuals living in the Czech Republic is growing significantly according to the share of the total number of bookings, and has approached the number of arrangements sold from nearby Austria and neighbouring Slovenia. This is an increase of as much as 23 percent compared to last season, which could put Czech tourists in Croatia in 2022 very high on the list when it comes to foreign visitors.

"On the other hand, it seems that due to the impact of the war in Ukraine, instability and the influx of large numbers of refugees, the markets of Poland and Slovakia are recording a decline in reservations," the aforementioned agency said.

With that said, economic growth and gradually deepening pockets which are strengthening the Czech market have caused a significant increase in the number of requests, bookings and overall interest in coming to the Republic of Croatia this summer from that country.

The Czech Republic is otherwise one of the fastest growing economies in all of Europe, and their positive economic results of course bring an increase in wages and, consequently, purchasing power and general consumption. Those factors were visibly declining back during the beginning of the global coronavirus pandemic in 2020, but have thankfully returned to a higher level over the last year.

The fact that the Czech Republic has one of the lowest unemployment rates within the entire European Union (EU) should be especially emphasised when it comes to spending power, and as such the likelihood of Czech tourists in Croatia being very numerous this summer. Last year, Croatia recorded an impressive 775,000 arrivals from the Czech Republic with 5.2 million overnight stays also realised, about 50 percent more than back during the previous year, and it was Croatia's fifth largest emitting market of all.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

May the 21st, 2022 - German desire for Croatian holidays as we approach the height of the summer season is enormous according to happy tour operators who are glad to be back to normal after two unstable and depressing pandemic-dominated years.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, record inflation and the ongoing war in Ukraine don't seem to be having any particular affect the desire of Germans to finally book their Croatian holidays, reports Deutsche Welle. Multiple tour operators are happily reporting a large influx of summer arrangements, and the number of Croatian holidays sold to German tourists already exceeds the figures that prevailed before the coronavirus crisis broke out in Europe at the beginning of 2020.

Another trend is noticeable among German tourists in 2022, it seems the people looking for a holiday this year are no longer looking at the price as much as they did before, and are also buying arrangements from the more expensive sector.

"People are looking for longer holidays in better hotels," said the largest German provider of travel arrangements, TUI.

"After a long period of giving up travel and tourism, Croatia is at the top of the German wish list. Even strong inflation and rising prices aren't negatively affecting this trend,'' said Norbert Fiebig, president of the German Tour Operators Association (DRV). It seems, according to Fiebig, that Germans are no longer looking at every euro they might spend this year when planning a holiday. Despite the general increase in prices, trips this year aren't significantly more expensive than they were last year.

Stable prices - for now

Many tourist companies leased hotel and transport contingents at the prices stated last year, which explains the stable prices. But the closer the summer season gets, the more expensive the arrangements get.

“This year, those looking for bargains could end up surprised,'' believes TUI director Fritz Joussen.

According to a survey commissioned by the Bavarian Tourist Board (BZT), 69 percent of those surveyed this year intend to go somewhere on holiday regardless of the situations which might play out, so they won't be spending their time off at home as was mostly the case during the coronavirus pandemic. One third of the respondents who haven't yet decided where to go on holiday, still state the price as the basic criteria when choosing an arrangement or destination.

Croatia remains one of the favourite destinations of German travellers

Those who decide on a spontaneous flight to their destination must in any case count on higher fuel prices this summer, which have risen significantly since the start of the war in Ukraine. Price increases have already been announced by companies such as Lufthansa and KLM.

The FTI Group says that after the start of the war in Ukraine, there was a delay in the purchase of tickets, but in the meantime the market has very much recovered.

"Reservations for the entire period from Easter to autumn for people's usual favourite tourist destinations exceed the figures from pre-pandemic times," said FTI Director Ralph Schiller. This, in particular, applies, he said, to destinations such as Croatia, Greece, Turkey and Egypt.

“Over the summer, we expect a big rush to these destinations so not everyone will get to their desired place on the plane,” Schiller says. Alltours reports similarly. They are talking about an "enormous increase in demand" that could exceed the demand from pre-pandemic 2019 by 40 to 80 percent.

Packages containing luxury hotels and offers are especially sought after. All companies emphasise that the increase in kerosene prices will not affect the prices of purchased arrangements. But despite huge demand, the turnover of travel companies overall still lies below the level of the last year before the pandemic (2019).

"Despite a very good summer, we still aren't expecting to achieve the total annual turnover from the period before the pandemic," said the umbrella organisation DRV. As for 2023, the industry is cautiously optimistic, despite the unpredictable development of the situation around the war in Ukraine, as well as ongoing inflation.

For more, check out our travel section.

May the 16th, 2022 - The height of 2022's summer tourist season is rapidly approaching, and the Croatian labour force is still missing around 15,000 employees. 

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the director of the Directorate for Development, Investments and Competitiveness of the Tourism Economy at the Ministry of Tourism, Robert Pende, said recently on the radio that the Croatian labour force, when it comes to the all important tourism sector, currently lacks as many as 15,000 workers, although he expects the deficit to decrease as time goes on.

"Currently, according to the information we've received from the sector itself, there are about 10,000 people who should come or be employed for this tourist year," said Pende, referring to the lack of workers in the tourism sector, which is ironically Croatia's most important economic branch.

However, he pointed out that many permits for foreign workers (meaning those from non EU-EEA countries such as neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, who require special permission in order to work here) are still in the process of being requested, so he expects those numbers to be somewhat lower eventually.

MUP is notoriously slow in processing employer requests for work permits for third country nationals such as the citizens of the aforementioned non EU countries, with cases of those would-be employees throwing in the towel and going elsewhere or only being approved for their work permit when the tourist season is already well and truly underway.

"In any case, we will have a deficit, I would say, throughout the main tourist season," Pende told HRT.

The president of the Dubrovnik County Chamber, Nikolina Trojic, said that the need at the Croatian national level is certainly between 15 and 20 thousand workers that must be introduced from somewhere.

"At the level of Dubrovnik-Neretva County alone, there are certainly at least two or three thousand people who are needed to come and work this season, so it's that many would-be employees who are missing. It's very difficult to fill that number from the Croatian labour force, and we will undoubtedly have to continue to import labour from abroad,'' added Trojic.

Dubrovnik already has a significant number of employees each summer season from nearby Trebinje, which is just over the border in the Republika Srpska governed part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that alone often causes rifts among locals who remember people from Trebinje attacking Dubrovnik thirty years ago. The issue with filling the Croatian labour force isn't only an issue economically, but on a much more personal level, with many feeling that the Dalmatian coast's many restaurants should be filled with Croatian, preferably local staff, and not those from Bosnia and Herzegovina or Serbia.

For more, check out our business section.

May the 15th, 2022 - The tourist season is rapidly approaching, and Peljesac bridge construction works are still ongoing, with some final things to tie up and one or two issues to solve yet.

As Morski/Andrej Jelusic writes, the height of the summer season is just around the corner, and the largest road investment in all of Croatia, Peljesac Bridge, is still being constructed to a certain degree, despite numerous encouraging announcements. We'll be waiting until mid-July for the Peljesac bridge construction to be entirely completed and for the structure to be open to traffic, but that won't really be the end.

With the arrival of summer temperatures across Croatia, the tourist season has unofficially begun. Since the global coronavirus pandemic severely impeded global travel for two years, there was a fear that Croatian tourism would also continue to experience a real fiasco, writes net.hr.

Fortunately, that didn't happen. The reason is not some special campaign or vision of the Croatian Government but the country's very lucky position. More precisely, the fact that Croatia very close to large markets from where tourists came to us in previous years. The coronavirus pandemic has proven that people feel the safest when travelling by car, at least as far as this contagion is concerned. In other words, destinations to which people can drive on their own have benefited. Countries to which people usually fly suffered, and Dubrovnik, separated from the rest of Croatia by Bosnia and Herzegovina's only tiny piece of coastline (Neum), also suffered enormously.

Given the country's location and relatively good road network and connectivity, the past two summer tourist seasons have been better than expected. Road connectivity should be even better in the future, as well. The Istrian Y should get another lane, and the Ucka tunnel will be further improved. The most famous road project in the country is certainly the Peljesac Bridge construction, which will unite not only Croatian but EU territory, cutting out the BiH border crossing entirely.

The bridge will be there, but it will also be crowded...

Back in 2017, a tender was announced, and in 2018, Peljesac bridge construction began. The Republic of Croatia was granted 330m euros to finance 85 percent of the Peljesac bridge construction costs, and the bridge has been built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, which made a bid of 2 billion kuna, with a construction deadline of 36 months.

The works were slowed down by the coronavirus pandemic, but in July 2021, the last segment of the bridge was installed, and it was announced that the end of works on the bridge could be expected by the end of the year. At the beginning of 2022, the asphalt and other such equipment were installed on the huge structure, and a test load of the bridge was performed, which is why 21 trucks weighing up to 40 tonnes arrived at the Peljesac bridge construction site.

The problem has been the access roads with several viaducts and tunnels. The biggest challenge was the 485-metre-long Ston Bridge. Its specificity is that it will connect two tunnels above the Ston Bay, Polakovica, which is 1242 metres long, and Supava, which is 1290 metres long. The bridge has five pillars and two abutments, and is 40 metres high.

Ston Bridge has now been connected, but there is still a lot of work to be done on that section. A concrete slab is now to be built, which could take about four months, so that sometime in the autumn, perhaps come October or November, these works might also be completed.

When will Peljesac bridge actually be opened?

Peljesac bridge has passed a technical inspection and will be opened along with 20 kilometres of access roads in July this year. The other 10 kilometres of access roads and the Ston bypass will be completed by the end of the year. There will be a total of 32 kilometres of new state road, of which 25 should be ready by July the 15th. Unofficial information as to when the bridge will be open to the public is mid-July this year. Minister of Transport Oleg Butkovic was a little more specific and announced the opening on July the 15th to the 17th.

According to the contract, the workers of the aforementioned Chinese contractor will remain on the construction site until the commissioning of the Peljesac bridge with its accompanying access roads and the complete demobilisation and arrangement of the Peljesac bridge construction site. The contractor of the access roads is the Austrian company Strabag.

The suspended bridge spans a total length of 2404 metres with six main pillars and thirteen spans of steel which are 72 to 285 metres long, and was designed by Marjan Pipenbacher from the Slovenian company Ponting at a height of 55 metres. This was due to a request from neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina so that the unimpeded passage of ships to Neum could be met.

For more, make sure to check out our lifestyle section.

May the 14th, 2022 - Pula Airport is set to be connected with an impressive thirty different European destinations this year, which is excellent news not only for Istrian tourism but for the height of the main summer season across Croatia as a whole.

As Morski writes, in addition to scheduled and charter flights to Pula Airport, some very well-known low-cost airlines are flying this season: easyJet, Ryanair, then the German low-cost airline Eurowings, the Czech Smartwings, the Swiss Edelweiss Air, Norway's Air Shuttle and the Dutch low-cost airline Transavia Holland.

Pula Airport plans a traffic of about 400 thousand passengers this year, which is one hundred thousand passengers more than last year or almost five times more passengers than the initial pandemic year of 2020, when only 83 thousand passengers were recorded passing through the airport.

When it comes to the record-breaking, pre-pandemic year of 2019, Pula Airport had a traffic of almost 778 thousand passengers, which is a good example to look at when comparing the expectations when it comes to passengers this year.

According to the director of the Pula Airport, Nina Vojnic Zagar, these are the current plans for the announced flights, which are subject to change because the situation in the area is unstable owing to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

''During the month of May, we expect an increase in the activity of air companies, with more intensive operations (an increase in terms of frequencies) and the remaining flights of low-budget companies starting at the end of June. Last weekend (Saturday, April the 30th and Sunday, May the 1st), there was a turnover of 825 passengers and 23 rotations of regular and general aviation,'' said Vojnic Zagar for local portal Istra24.

Owing to sanctions, Pula Airport has been left without the impact of the Russian market

When asked how much air traffic will suffer due to the war in Ukraine following Russian invasion, especially given the fact that Pula Airport was connected to Russia by planes that landed there every weekend, Zagar said that last year there were 50,834 passengers from Russia and 21,670 passengers from Ukraine, which accounts for about 27 percent of the airport's total turnover.

Last season, Pula Airport had the largest number of airlines to and from Russia, and from this market there were as many as 12 weekly flights offered by five different airlines.

''Before the invasion of Ukraine, the expected number of passengers from the Russian and Ukrainian markets in 2022 was about 92,000 passengers,'' said Vojnic Zagar. It is obvious that this year we will be left without these emitting markets.

This year, Pula will be connected with 13 different European countries and about 30 cities by air, regular and charter lines.

For example, Great Britain with London, Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow, Doncaster, the German cities of Frankfurt, Munich, Duesseldorf, Stuttgart, Cologne and, in France, Paris.

The planes will also fly to Poznan, Poland, Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Vienna in Austria, and there are as many as four Swiss cities included as well: Zurich, Geneva, Basel and St. Gallen. As for the north of Europe, Pula will be connected with Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Gothenburg and the Finnish capital of Helsinki.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.