June the 13th, 2021 - With the epidemiological picture finally becoming more favourable and vaccination across Europe going well, things are beginning to very slowly but steadily return to some form of pre-pandemic normality. For Croatian tourism, there couldn't be better news. So far, 14 Zadar cruise ships are scheduled, the first of which is set to arrive in mid-July.

As Morski writes, the well known Cruise company Viking Cruises is the first cruise company to publicly announce the return of their cruisers to the Dalmatian city of Zadar this summer, and it isn't the only one. As 057.info has learned from Rebeka V. Pevec, the General Manager of ZIPO (Zadar International Port Operations), 14 Zadar cruise ships are set to arrive in Zadar's Gazenica Port this summer.

''With an increasing number of cruisers returning to operation and choosing the Mediterranean for their itineraries, we hope that number will increase. Of course, all this primarily depends on the epidemiological situation in Croatia and in the Zadar region, on how much everyone will adhere to the epidemiological measures, and on the level of vaccination of the population. All these are factors that these companies are closely monitoring, and based on that, as well as on the recognisability of the destination, they make decisions that they will include in their itineraries for this season,'' explained Rebeka V. Pevec.

Passengers with deep pockets will arrive on 2020's Zadar cruise ships...

The companies that have confirmed their Zadar cruise ships this year are Viking Cruises, Holland America Line (HAL) and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. All three companies are considered luxurious and passengers generally have a higher purchasing power, and accordingly have higher expectations of their chosen destinations and expect a higher level of service and quality, not only on board, but also in the destinations they visit.

The first announced and so far confirmed of the Zadar cruise is on July the 20th, when Viking Venus is due to arrive, the newest ship in the Viking Cruises fleet of identical ships. Considering that Viking Venus is the first cruiser to visit Zadar after more than a year, and that this is its inaugural arrival in Zadar, we hope that together with the tourist boards and citizens of Zadar and the region we'll give a worthy welcome to both the guests and the crew, to prove ourselves as good hosts and as a good destination for cruisers,'' Pevec added.

Given the pandemic and the slightly better numbers after the start of the vaccination rollout, is there any optimism for this season?

''What gives us optimism and hope is the fact that more and more cruising companies are returning to operation, they're creating new itineraries and depending on the epidemiological situation, we see our opportunity there. However, at the same time, it's important to note that there is a lot of competition between ports and destinations in both the Mediterranean and the Adriatic, in terms of service, shipping costs, fees and the very recognisability of the destination. Therefore, and compared to the announced numbers of tourists arriving in Croatia by land, and the still current classification of the US State Department, according to which Croatia is in the red zone, our optimism is very cautious,'' Pevec stated.

Now is the time to make the best impressions for next year

''As for the epidemiological measures themselves, the recommendations were made in accordance with the recommendations of the most relevant regulatory bodies, the ECDC and EU Healthy Gateways, and since back in August 2020, no incidents have been recorded. Most ships are currently sailing at approximately 50% capacity, the passengers and crew are mostly vaccinated, so things should be fine if good preparation is carried out and if all stakeholders strictly adhere to the prescribed and agreed epidemiological measures.

In this situation and given all the circumstances, we look forward to every guest and every cruise ship arrival and we'll try to leave the best possible impression as a port and as a destination, in order to attract as many arrivals in the future. So, we aren't just focusing on this season, but we're thinking long term, because in this industry the real results are not seen immediately, but are realised through at least two years. The priority is to prove ourselves as a safe destination, with a high level of vaccination and with a culture of adherence to prescribed epidemiological measures, and of course as excellent hosts to ships, their guests and their crew,'' said Pevec.

Given the overall situation across the world, especially in the emitting markets of the cruising industry, a return to the figures from 2019 is expected in five years.

''Of course, it could happen earlier, but with the condition of very strong promotion in all media relevant to the cruise industry, and with a focus on Zadar as a safe and ideal destination for cruisers. With the appearance of the pandemic, all previous results were minimised and now we need to win over cruise companies to choose Zadar as one of their destinations. As a community, we can achieve this only with strong marketing, impressive service and the creation of a reputation as a serious destination that understands and appreciates the cruising industry,'' Pevec concluded for 057.info.

For more on cruises to Croatia, check our our travel section.

ZAGREB, 10 June 2021 - SV Golden Horizon, a steel-hulled five-masted rigged tall ship, which is intended to be used as a cruise ship, left the Brodosplit shipyard on Wednesday, the Split-based dock reported on Wednesday afternoon.

The  Brodosplit company that built the vessel reported on its website that "this luxurious vessel can accommodate up to 272 passengers and will provide the service under the Tradewind Voyages from the UK."

"As far as itineraries are concerned, it is designed for voyages according to 'where the wind and sea currents take it."

The clipper is 162 meters long and 18.5 meters wide. It has five masts with 36 cross sails with a total area of ​​6,347 square meters. The vessel's carrying capacity is  2,000 tons.

On Wednesday also, the unfinished "Onega Gulf" oil/chemical tanker was towed to the Split dock for finalization.

For the latest news from Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

April the 8th, 2021 - The Zadar cruise ship season for this summer is being called into question owing to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Many worry that cruise ships won't be docking in that particular Dalmatian city until autumn.

As Morski writes, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic completely paralysed the cruise ship industry last year. Due to the impossibility of securing the necessary epidemiological measures, the world's largest cruise companies moored almost all of their gigantic vessels. Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) shows that in the circular tourism sector in 2020, there were only 26 arrivals, which is 700 trips or a mindblowing 96.4 percent less than there were in 2019, all as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the numerous problematic restrictions on international travel.

The data also shows that there were cruises of foreign ships taking in the first three months of last year, then there was a complete cessation of travel until the month of July. Five trips were made in August and September, after which the cruise industry stalled completely by the end of the year. In 2020, cruisers sailed only in ports in Dubrovnik-Neretva and Istria counties. Unlike large international vessels, small cruise vessels from Croatian agencies and companies did make several voyages in late June and early July, following the easing of epidemiological measures in Croatia back at that time

Skific explained the situation with the interruption of cruise ships and problems in the last year, as well as the potential and prospects for the upcoming tourist season.

''Last year will probably be recorded as one of the most difficult years we've ever had, especially in the segment of international passenger traffic. The coronavirus pandemic practically wiped out all cruise ship announcements as well as international liner traffic in the space of a mere few weeks in March, not only in all Croatian ports but in all ports across the world. It's been a global crisis, and cruise companies have been hit the hardest by the pandemic, even more so than the aviation industry. It's impossible to dock in more or less all of the world's ports, and the only type of activity that remains in the ports has become the acceptance of ships without passengers on them, vessels which are at rest,'' explained Skific.

''Out of the announced slightly more than 200,000 passengers back in 2020, only 714 passengers arrived, and all of this more or less happened before the start of the pandemic in March. An additional limiting element in the acceptance of cruise ships during 2020 was the Decision of the National Civil Protection Headquarters on the ban on entry of passenger ships carrying more than 200 passengers into Croatian waters.

For most of the year, there were one to two cruisers of the Marella Cruises company (Dream and Discovery 2) in the ports, in their lay-up (at rest) status,'' he added.

Compared to pre-pandemic 2019, revenues in the cruise ship segment decreased by approximately 5 million kuna. When compared to the announcements for 2020, the decline in revenue should have been even more pronounced. Zadar Port Authority lost so much at the expense of collecting port fees. Broadly speaking, the lost revenue of all our concessionaires that are directly related to the provision of services to cruise ships are very high,'' noted Skific.

The Zadar cruise ship season this year is being called into question, and this industry will have the hardest time of all when it comes to recovery

Experts predict that the cruise ship industry will have the hardest time recovering from the consequences of the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Unlike airlines, which, in the absence of passenger transport, shifted their operations to freight, cruise companies had no choice but to "drop anchor" and wait. Due to the uncertain situation with the coronavirus pandemic, the Zadar Port Authority hasn't yet published its list of announced cruiser arrivals. They say that when a trip is actually realised, they will publish the data day by day.

''The announcements of arrivals for this year aren't relevant because the data changes from day to day and this is completely unreliable data, given that even cruising companies don't know if and when they will start implementing their own respective itineraries for 2021. In the announcements, we had a little less than 200 voyages on which about 320,000 passengers were to arrive, counting on the full capacity of the vessel. Realistically, we expected about 280,000 passengers in 2021, of course, this was according to the announcements before the coronavirus pandemic struck,'' explained Skific.

The Zadar cruise ship season for 2021 will depend entirely on the epidemiological situation at any given time

The biggest challenge for cruise companies in 2021 will be to gain the trust of both tourists and employees. Holidays in a situation where the proper epidemiological measures aren't one hundred percent guaranteed are now no longer attractive at all. No company is interested in repeating last year's situation in which the passengers and crews of cruisers found themselves, when it was discovered that the virus had appeared on vessels in the United States and in Japan.

Passengers and crew in such situations were forced to either carry out quarantine on board the ships or in the country where the ship was granted permission to anchor. Some countries such as Thailand and Malaysia have banned the landing of cruisers in their ports. Such a situation also leads to diplomatic conflicts between countries whose citizens are infected on a cruise ship and countries that aren't ready to take care of the sick or at least arrange to ensure their return to their home countries in accordance with all epidemiological measures.

Skific was asked about the existence of instructions and protocols on the entry of vessels under foreign flags if there are infected crew members or passengers on them.

''According to the announcements, a general instruction of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure on the treatment of infected passengers is expected. However, it's also expected that in agreement and coordination with the National Civil Protection Headquarters, different approaches will be present depending on the destination, city or port. It will all depend on the current epidemiological situation in certain destinations,'' he said.

Both ports and cruise companies are required to provide security and safety protocols

''From the very beginning of the pandemic, we've taken a number of measures to protect the health of employees - all according to the instructions of the Headquarters - from disinfectants in each office to having it at the entrance to the Port Authority. The entrance door to the premises of the Zadar Port Authority is locked so that we strictly control who enters and exits, we keep our distance at meetings and wear masks, we also do the same in our offices if more than one person is working in the office at any one time.

There are few of us and it's very important for us to preserve the health of every single employee given the large amount of work and projects that this Port Authority implements. Additionally, in the case of smaller controlled events with more than one person involved, the body temperature of each of the participants is measured,'' he assured.

Cruise ships are practically prisons at sea, which is hardly an attractive idea to anyone. Last year, due to a lack of information about the novel coronavirus, and due to not finding a way to prevent the virus from entering ships, cruise companies were brought to their very knees in the form of bankruptcy. This year, the main task of cruise companies is to provide healthcare and safety protocols to protect both passengers and crew.

The most important part of these protocols is to test all passengers and crew members for the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, before departure. One of the ways to reduce the possibility of exposure to the virus is to abolish the stay outside the vessel during a vessel's time in ports or to arrange organisations referred to as ''Bubble trips", in which passengers and guides don't come into any contact with any people who haven't been on board.

In terms of hygiene standards, the use of hospital disinfectants, which destroy 99 percent of the virus, is now recommended. Reducing the number of passengers to ensure social distance is another important item to take into consideration although this will also hurt the already empty pockets of the industry. It is also being recommended to determine isolation units for guests and crew with suspected coronavirus infection.

With all of the above in mind, Royal Caribbean, together with the Israeli health and tourism authorities, offered the first round trip on which the crew and guests over the age of sixteen must be vaccinated against COVID-19.

A properly controlled corridor

''Cruise ship companies have adopted a number of very strict protocols - from PCR tests after the first and after each subsequent entry into the vessel, some companies will only allow vaccinated passengers to book, excursions are being organised in strictly controlled conditions and for some, it will not be possible for people to leave the ship freely with some individual arrangements.

Passengers who don't respect this will simply be sent home if, contrary to the ship's protocol, they go beyond the agreed rules. Such events have already been recorded in the few test itineraries organised with a limited number of passengers involved. In addition, companies will only fill part of their capacitis, and bus trips with more than 50 percent of their full capacity utilised will not be allowed on excursions.

Individual departures from the vessels in the next short-term period will not be possible at all. The protocols are such that in the destination they actually take us as a bigger threat to passengers than they could be to us,'' Skific pointed out, adding that COVID-19 protocols of cruise companies currently don't and won't allow for the uncontrolled arrival and departure of passengers.

''A controlled corridor with security guards measuring body temperatures, disinfectants and masks inside the terminal in that short passage time to the bus at this point seems quite sufficient. Travel and maritime agents, drivers and everyone from the destination who is in contact with passengers will have to adhere to the same protocols. However, depending on the epidemiological situation, the introduction of additional measures is not excluded,'' he warned.

Although the Zadar cruise ship season is in doubt, luckily, the Zadar Port Authority doesn't depend exclusively on cruise ships

''More or less all cruise ship trips before the end of June have been practically cancelled, and the big question is what will happen in the second half of the season. According to informal talks with these cruise companies, they don't expect a significant number of trips to actually happen before the end of August and the beginning of September. Let's hope that the vaccination of the population will do its thing - by improving the epidemiological picture across Croatia by the end of the summer, we could reach at least autumn with the arrival of some cruise ships.

Back at the very beginning of this year, we thought that about one-third of the planned arrivals would be realised, however, as things currently stand, we'd be pleased with the very fact that traffic is starting to actually kick off again. Luckily we aren't quite as exposed to the need for revenues from cruise ships like some other ports in Croatia and the world are, our revenues are prudently dispersed into several segments of traffic and activities, however, in case the pandemic fails to calm down by the end of the year, we'll all have cause for concern,'' warned Skific.

One thing is for sure, even if the coronavirus pandemic were to suddenly end tomorrow, all cruise companies will need a lot of time to regain the trust of customers and potential employees after this absolute disaster.

For more information on coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, quarantine and border rules, as well as the locations of testing centres up and down the country, make sure to bookmark this page.

For more on travel, click here. For all you need to know about Zadar, visit Zadar in a Page.

August 23, 2019 - Scenes from Gruž port in Dubrovnik on Thursday suggest anything but an improvement in buckling down on the city's cruise ship tourism.

On July 8, 2019, TCN published the results of the "Transportation and Environment" Association, which, along with the support of numerous similar environmental foundations, including the European Commission (EC), conducted extensive research on air pollution in European destinations in ports which accept cruise ships in 2017. The study revealed alarming stats about the pollution levels in Croatia's top destination - Dubrrovnik.

Namely, 27,173 vehicles were registered in Dubrovnik in 2017. During that time, in the port of Gruž, forty such massive vessels sailed in while taking round trips, spending a total of 2,791 hours moored. Thus, 2,523 kilograms of contaminated particles were discharged into Dubrovnik's air.

During that same time, the aforementioned 27,173 vehicles registered in the Dubrovnik area released 11,561 kilograms of exhaust gases into the air. Translated into basic percentages: 20.1 percent of the air pollution in Dubrovnik comes directly from cruise ships.

When considering the release of harmful compounds such as sulfur and nitrogen oxides, the data for Dubrovnik is as follows: During those 2,791 hours of cruise ships being moored in Gruž, cruise ships released a massive 140,259 kilograms of nitrogen oxide into the air, while 27,173 registered vehicles during that same year released 100,174 kilograms of the same harmful compound.

Furthermore, during their stay, cruise ships released 6,344 kilograms of sulfur oxide into Dubrovnik's air, and passenger cars released 331 kilograms of the same compound during that time.

Exactly one month later, on August 8, 2019, TCN reported the following cruise ship statistics according to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics:

In the first six months of 2019, 272 journeys of foreign vessels on cruise were realised in Croatia.

In the period from January to June 2019, there were 54 foreign vessels on cruise that arrived in Croatian seaports, which realised 272 journeys. There were 409 thousand passengers on board who stayed for 554 days in Croatia.

The highest number of cruises was realised by vessels under the flags of Malta (72 cruises) and Italy (45 cruises), while the highest number of passengers on board the arrived vessels were under the flags of Italy (108 thousand passengers) and Panama (100 thousand passengers).
 
Out of a total of 272 journeys of foreign vessels on cruise, the majority was realised in the County of Dubrovnik-Neretva (60.3%) and the County of Split-Dalmatia (25.3%), which makes up the total of 85.6%. The remaining 14.4% of journeys were realised in the following counties: Zadar (5.9%), Istria (4.8%), Primorje-Gorski kotar (2.6%) and Šibenik-Knin (1.1%). 

The most visited seaport was the seaport of Dubrovnik, followed by the seaports of Split and Zadar
 
The majority of visits of foreign vessels on cruise were realised in the seaport of Dubrovnik (195 visits), followed by the seaports of Split (104 visits) and Zadar (45 visits). 

In the period from January to June 2019, the number of journeys of foreign vessels on cruise increased by 10.6% and the total number of sojourns by 6.1%, as compared to the same period of 2018. In the aforementioned period of 2019, the number of passengers on board increased by 14.8%, as compared to the same period of 2018.

Just yesterday, on August 22, 2019, Dalmacija Danas published a photo that perfectly presents the shocking reality of cruise ship tourism in Dubrovnik today. 

You can have a look for yourself below. 

Photo by Boris Bašić 

”Contracts with cruise companies are signed for next year, so that throughout the whole week, from Monday to Sunday, we will have a maximum of two cruisers a day. Sometimes there will be only one, sometimes two will arrive at one or one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. We aspired to that, and now we have achieved it,” the mayor of Dubrovnik, Mato Franković, said last year.

However, Thursday’s view of Gruž reveals an entirely different reality; one where there were twice as many cruisers as promised at the port.

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

As Morski.hr writes on the 11th of August, 2019, Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Franković received an official letter from the MSC Cruises executive chairman, Pierfrancesco Vago, apologising for a situation which occurred owing to the MSC Sinfonia vessel, which for the first time in two years caused a total halt in pedestrian traffic at Pile gate (western entrance to the Old City).

Pierfrancesco Vago's apology arrived to Mayor Franković after a letter of protest was sent by the mayor of Dubrovnik to CLIA Europe shortly after the unfortunate event.

The chairman of one of the world's largest cruise companies also apologised to the residents of the city for the inconvenience caused by the MSC Sinfonia mooring in the Port of Gruž earlier than envisioned.

This, as Vago says, is the result of unfortunate and unplanned circumstances. "The earlier arrival of the ship to was largely driven by adverse weather at sea, which caused Sinfonia to miss Mykonos (Greece) on the way from Venice and head directly to Dubrovnik," the memo reads.

The MSC chairman also states that, under these circumstances, the arrival of the ship was actually orally authorised by the Port Authority of Dubrovnik two hours before schedule, but that there were lapses in the MSC control mechanisms and that Sinfonia was not allowed to disembark until the regular time of arrival, thereby violating the rules of CLIA, as well as those put in place by the city itself.

"I would like to assure you personally that this event was an exception - caused by external factors and that we have introduced a new level of control without delay that will ensure that all of our arrivals are fully in line with the agreement of CLIA and the city," concludes MSC's chairman, along with the message that their commitment to their agreement with the CLIA and the wishes of the southern Croatian city remains solid.

The City of Dubrovnik recalls that on the 24th of July, 2019, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and the City of Dubrovnik signed an Agreement on Cooperation for the Preservation and Protection of the Cultural Heritage of Dubrovnik through Responsible Tourism Management, in order to make the UNESCO city an example of sustainable tourism in the Adriatic sea and beyond.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for much more. If it's just Dubrovnik and the extreme south of Dalmatia you're interested in, give Total Dubrovnik a follow or check out Dubrovnik in a Page for all you need to know about the Pearl of the Adriatic.

August 8, 2019 - The cruise ship numbers in Croatia keep on growing, reports the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. 

Cruise tourism is booming, and nowhere more so than Croatia, which is reporting a big rise in traffic for the first 6 months of 2019, according to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics: 

In the first six months of 2019, 272 journeys of foreign vessels on cruise were realised.

In the period from January to June 2019, there were 54 foreign vessels on cruise that arrived in Croatian seaports, which realised 272 journeys. There were 409 thousand passengers on board who stayed for 554 days in Croatia.

The highest number of cruises was realised by vessels under the flags of Malta (72 cruises) and Italy (45 cruises), while the highest number of passengers on board the arrived vessels were under the flags of Italy (108 thousand passengers) and Panama (100 thousand passengers).
 
Out of a total of 272 journeys of foreign vessels on cruise, the majority was realised in the County of Dubrovnik-Neretva (60.3%) and the County of Split-Dalmatia (25.3%), which makes up the total of 85.6%. The remaining 14.4% of journeys were realised in the following counties: Zadar (5.9%), Istria (4.8%), Primorje-Gorski kotar (2.6%) and Šibenik-Knin (1.1%). 

The most visited seaport was the seaport of Dubrovnik, followed by the seaports of Split and Zadar
 
The majority of visits of foreign vessels on cruise were realised in the seaport of Dubrovnik (195 visits), followed by the seaports of Split (104 visits) and Zadar (45 visits). 

Increase in the number of journeys, passengers and sojourns of foreign vessels on cruise

In the period from January to June 2019, the number of journeys of foreign vessels on cruise increased by 10.6% and the total number of sojourns by 6.1%, as compared to the same period of 2018. In the aforementioned period of 2019, the number of passengers on board increased by 14.8%, as compared to the same period of 2018.

(Source: Croatian Bureau of Statistics)

The busiest ports. It is interesting to note that Split's expansion in hosting cruise shop tourism continues. It is now at 53% of Dubrovnik's numbers in terms of ships visiting. 

One of the challenges for destinations and cruise tourism in Croatia is that the destinations have little to no control on cruise ship numbers, as this is controlled by the Port Authority. For the Port Authority, more ships means more revenue. 

It is interesting to note that the Ministry of Tourism's 7-year strategic plan from 2013 - 2020 had a focus on maritime ecology at the heart of its strategy. A little like the 30 golf courses promised next year but none yet started, the ecology pledge of 2013 seems to have little to do with the 2019 reality and the expanding cruise ship tourism sector. 

In the first five months of 2019, Croatia welcomed 171 or 18 percent more international cruise ships than in the same period last year, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).

Furthermore, Croatia also welcomed a 19 percent increase in passengers or 247,500 passengers in the first five months of 2019, reports T.portal on July 8, 2019.

Croatia saw 43 or 3 more cruise ships which traveled to Croatia on round trips than in the first five months of 2018 - and they also stayed longer than last year, for 386 days or a 25.3 percent increase. 

The cruise ships came under the flags of ten countries, though most trips were made under the flag of Malta, which recorded 41 ships and 34,000 passengers traveling to Croatia in the first five months. 

Although in the second place by the number of round trips (36 in the first five months), cruise ships under the Italian flag brought far more passengers, or the most among all the cruise ships, which is a little more than 85,000. 

In third place is the flag of Panama, with 26 round trips and nearly 59,000 passengers.

When looking at months, the highest number of cruise ships on the Croatian Adriatic was recorded in May, when there were a total of 88, which is three trips or 3.5 percent more than in May last year, while the most significant increase of these trips, or 48.5 percent, was achieved in April, when there were 49.

Unlike last year when some months saw cruise ship trips in the minus, this year saw more cruise trips this year than in the same month of the year before.

Namely, January saw five cruise ships travel, which is a 25 percent increase compared to January 2018. February welcomed 11 trips, which is a plus of 22.2 percent, and March, which welcomed 18 cruise trips, is nearly 30 percent better than the same month in 2018. 

As usual, Dubrovnik was the most visited hotspot for cruise ships this year, with 124 visits. Split is in second with 76 of these visits, while Zadar saw 32, Korcula 30, Šibenik 25 and Hvar 20. Less than ten visits were recorded in Rovinj, Ploče, Stari Grad, Pomena and Pula.

But this is anything but good news, for various reasons.

For one, TCN reported last week that the "Transportation and Environment" Association conducted extensive research on air pollution in European destinations in ports which accept cruise ships in 2017, which presented the results of research from Croatia's top destination - Dubrovnik.

The authors of the study showcased the observed pollution levels in Dubrovnik in figures and tables, to make them as clear as possible. In the study, the release of harmful particles of sulfur and nitrogen oxide was compared with that produced by the number of registered vehicles present at cruising destinations.

According to the data, 27,173 vehicles were registered in Dubrovnik at that time. During 2017, in the port of Gruž, forty such of these vessels sailed on round trips, spending a total of 2,791 hours moored, and during that time, 2,523 kilograms of contaminated particles were discharged into Dubrovnik's air.

During that same time, the 27,173 vehicles registered in the Dubrovnik area released 11,561 kilograms of exhaust gases into the air. Translated into basic percentages: 20.1 percent of the air pollution in Dubrovnik comes directly from cruise ships.

When considering the release of harmful compounds such as sulfur and nitrogen oxides, during those 2,791 hours of cruise ships being moored in Gruž, they released a massive 140,259 kilograms of nitrogen oxide into the air, while 27,173 registered vehicles during that same year released 100,174 kilograms of the same harmful compound.

During their stay, cruise ships released 6,344 kilograms of sulfur oxide into Dubrovnik's air, and passenger cars released 331 kilograms of the same compound during that time.

But Dubrovnik isn’t the only polluted cruise ship destination, as Rijeka and Split made the list, too. You can find the full study at Transport & Environment. 

Some Croatian travel agencies are taking a symbolic stand to protest this cruise ship pollution, like Secret Dalmatia, which you can read more about on TCN.

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

The fact that we are edging closer to the heart of the tourist season is evident by the number of cruise ships entering Split’s city port. Namely, on Sunday, two cruise ships sailed into Split, both under the Panamanian flag, and both under the cap of MSC Krstarenja. Their Musica and Sinfonia cruisers brought thousands of guests to the city over the weekend, albeit only on a one-day excursion, as they sailed off at 6 pm, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on May 19, 2019. 

The Musica ship can accommodate 2,550 guests, while the Sinfonia carries one hundred more. Apart from the Port Authority of Split, who surely get their share of the profits, Split caterers and sellers of ice cream and souvenirs earned little from the cruise ship guests, though buyers of magnets seemed to make the biggest buzz.

"These are not the guests who spend a lot, they have everything on the ship, and in the city they only create crowds,” commented one Split resident. 

Split will, however, have to get used to these guests. On Sunday, the city welcomed only the 60th cruise ship this year, and by the end of the year, there will be more than 224 arrivals. 

Namely, the Port Authority of Split has announced the arrival of 284 cruise ships on excursions to Split this year alone - and this is still not the final number. Recall, Split welcomed 260 cruise ships last year, and by 2020, some 305 arrivals have been announced.

No stranger to cruise ships, Dubrovnik implemented a new measure that will introduce a daily tax for guests of cruise ship passengers in the amount of one euro per person in 2021, from which the city will be able to turn about 950 thousand euros into cash in just one year. The move will limit the number of cruise ships in Dubrovnik to two daily, so that no more than 5,000 visitors will arrive in the city in any one day. This is the result of intense negotiations between the City of Dubrovnik and the largest cruise companies in the CLIA association, which took place to attempt to solve the problem of up to seven cruisers a day entering Dubrovnik, which would bring up to 10,000 passengers into the city per day.

Should Split look into doing something similar? 

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.