December 28, 2021 - In the 28th edition of the renowned World Travel Awards, the distinction of the best European cruise destination went to Dubrovnik, surpassing other cities such as Amsterdam, Oslo, Lisbon, and Athens.

The award for the leading European cruise destination went to Dubrovnik as part of the 28th edition of the World Travel Awards, reports HrTurizam. It is an organization that awards the best in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry every year, and the awards are given at the global, regional, and national levels.

The winners are chosen by experts from each field, but also by users who also participate in the selection. The World Travel Awards, also known as the Oscar of the World Tourism Industry, is an esteemed award in the tourism sector and is globally recognized as a top feature of excellence in the industry.

Dubrovnik has been declared the leading destination for cruises in Europe, where there is no lack of competition. Also nominated were Amsterdam, Athens, Lisbon, Venice, Copenhagen, Oslo, Cannes, St. Petersburg, the Scottish cities of Edinburgh and Forth, and as many as three Turkish destinations: Bodrum, Izmir, and Kusadasi.

Dubrovnik has also entered the selection for the world's best cruise destination. A total of 14 destinations from all continents were nominated, and Jamaica was re-elected as the best. In addition to this, Dubrovnik was nominated for the award of the leading European city destination at sea, which also included Barcelona, ​​Lisbon, Porto, Istanbul, and Venice.

The cruise industry around the world, including Croatia, has experienced a slight recovery this year. In the first nine months of this year, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, 24 foreign cruise ships sailed into Croatian ports with 134 cruises. Of that number, most cruises were realized in Dubrovnik, a total of 111.

For more, check out our dedicated travel section.

July 31, 2021 - After a year of economic losses caused by the pandemic and the suspension of navigation, the Croatian cruise industry seems to finally see a gradual recovery that will continue its course in the coming years.

The Croatian cruise industry sees signs of optimism after last year's traffic disruption due to the pandemic, reports HRT News. This year, cruisers are gradually returning, even to the Croatian Adriatic, while recovery and stronger traffic is expected in 2022 and 2023, says Maria Deligianni, director of the CLIA for the Eastern Mediterranean.

CLIA (Cruise Line International Association) is the world's umbrella association of the cruise industry, whose members are almost all the largest shipping and cruising companies in the world, numerous travel agencies, and others, and in recent years has developed stronger cooperation with Croatia, especially Dubrovnik, and other cities on the Adriatic with larger ports.

After a break of almost a year and a half, large cruisers began arriving in Croatia this year around mid-June in Dubrovnik, where they will continue to arrive, as well as in some other ports.

In the pandemic, the CLIA, with stronger communication and coordination with members, developed security protocols that have now, in a way, become the standard. On cruise ships, no matter how large, there are fewer passengers than before due to the limitation of their number and the implementation of strict measures during navigation and when touring the destination where they dock.

''The measures on cruisers are such that they almost go beyond those carried out in other environments and include various checks, from constant testing of passengers and crew to intensified cleaning'', says Deligianni.

She points out that the gradual lifting of travel restrictions and vaccinations have also brought increased demand, as a result of which about 80 percent of cruisers have announced that they intend to cruise in the next two years.

According to available data, more than a hundred ocean cruises around the world have renewed their service this year, while about 60 will be in Europe, the Canary Islands, and elsewhere in the Mediterranean by the end of July, rising to 72 in August and 81 in September.

"In addition, the CLIA predicts that there will be 270 ocean-going ships in the CLIA member fleet this year, and 20 new ships are expected to be released, while the global order book envisions an investment of $64 billion by 2027", Deligianni said, who also notes that the recovery of the industry with traffic at previous, pre-pandemic levels is expected in 2022 and 2023.

When asked how Croatia is currently positioned on the global map of the cruise industry, Deligianni answered that it is an important European market and destination for cruises, and Dubrovnik is one of the most popular in the world.

''Croatia is an important destination for cruises, through which, according to data for 2019, it was visited by about 1.3 million passengers, of which 818 million euros are 'generated' annually and create more than 14 thousand jobs, and therefore CLIA members highly appreciate the opportunity to return to Croatian ports safely'', says Deligianni.

She says that before the pandemic, Dubrovnik reached about 770,000 cruise passengers a year, which is 60 percent of all passengers from cruises in Croatia, and the CLIA does not expect the pandemic to affect the popularity of Dubrovnik, because it is still highly sought after and safe, for which, as Deligianni points out, the involvement of Mayor Franković and his team, as well as the Croatian Government with decisions on reopening both tourism and cruising, played a major role.

She also reminds that Dubrovnik and CLIA are long-term partners and that they are proud of the Memorandum of Understanding they signed in July 2019 for responsible management of tourism and cruising and preservation and protection of the cultural heritage of Dubrovnik.

Other seaports in Croatia in CLIA consider it important that they can benefit from their unique position 'in the heart' of the Adriatic and increase cruise traffic by further engagement on roundabouts and in the development of unique products for trips to the mainland.

Asked about the business and industry losses due to the pandemic, Deligianni noted that it is not easy, but that in cooperation with ministries and health authorities, port associations and administrations, destinations, and others, much has been achieved in several markets regarding the necessary conditions to continue their business.

However, the losses due to the pandemic are also large in the cruise industry, and the global losses are estimated at 77 billion US dollars for the six-month period of interruption of navigation, from March to September 2020.

Deligianni states that globally, this industry contributed 155 billion dollars a year to the world economy before 2020 and had about 1.2 million jobs, of which about 518 thousand have been lost in the pandemic so far.

In Europe alone, the cruise industry generates 53 billion euros a year in the European economy and supports 435 jobs, which is almost 40 percent of all in the world.

''The cruise industry employs a truly global workforce, and crew members are its 'foundation' as highly trained and dedicated professionals who help ensure health and safety", says Deligianni, concluding that prior to the pandemic, large CLIA cruise ships employed more than 200,000 seafarers from more than a hundred countries, and faced with border closures and travel restrictions in 2020, have also greatly helped in the repatriation of various passengers and even crew members to their homes.

The Pearl of the Adriatic for some, King’s Landing for others, walled city Dubrovnik is UNESCO World Heritage Site perfection for all. Tips for travel, food, accommodation, sights & things to do can be found in Total Croatia's Dubrovnik in a page. Read it here, now in your language!

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May 2, 2021 - In a press release, the candidate for the mayor of Dubrovnik, Andro Vlahušić, asked for experienced people and professionals to save the cruising season.

As Dulist.hr reports, Andro Vlahušić has requested a staff solution regarding the Dubrovnik Port Authority director, Blaž Pezo, through an open statement from his platform, Dubrovnik our city:

‘‘Dubrovnik is, among other things, a city of sailors. In history, they created a network of trade and connected the city with the whole world. Even today, Dubrovnik naval officers have impressive captaincy and managerial careers at the world's largest companies. That is why in 2017, it was easy to find someone professional and experienced to come to the head of the Dubrovnik Port Authority. However, HDZ decided on the completely opposite approach and appointed a person who has neither a day of work experience nor an hour of education in maritime affairs. Although he did not meet the conditions of the tender, HDZ party operative (which was once called the party commissioner) Blaž Pezo was appointed director of the Dubrovnik Port Authority. The Dubrovnik public protested then, but the commissioner rubbed his hands together. For obedience and loyalty, he was awarded a respectable position upon which hundreds of jobs depend in Dubrovnik. Aware of the way in which he was appointed, he continued to deal exclusively with the party, not professional tasks. That is why cruisers bypass Dubrovnik today. There was no one in the Port Authority to prepare and develop the epidemiological protocols that are a prerequisite for receiving ships on cruises’’, Vlahušić said in a statement and continued:

‘‘Unfortunately, Mayor Franković did not do anything in the preparation of the protocol of visiting the City, entering museums, the walls or movement in organised groups in an epidemiologically safe way. And hundreds of jobs have become compromised. Buses, taxi drivers, guides, souvenir shops and restaurants will remain without income for the second year in a row. They will not be able to survive it. The responsibility of the irresponsible director Pezo, but also of those who appointed him even though he is not qualified, is simply such that the minimum of decency is to admit a mistake, dismiss him, and appoint someone who has knowledge of ships and seafaring in his place.

The Dubrovnik our City platform calls on Minister Butković to find a staffing solution for this catastrophic situation without delay because Dubrovnik cannot afford that the income that once remained in Dubrovnik today goes to Greece and Cyprus just because someone does not know that his job is to negotiate with directors of shipping companies, not pay for beer to party cadets. And with every cruiser that will not sail into Dubrovnik, a million kuna is lost.

The people of Dubrovnik still remember how the Dubrovnik hospital became a central place for examinations and medical treatments of the world's largest cruising company at the time when it was headed by Dr. Vlahušić.

The Dubrovnik our City platform and candidate for mayor, Andro Vlahušić, have been proposing and appealing for months that epidemiological protocols for receiving ships and visiting the historic core be developed, defined and implemented, and this will be our first task as soon as we come to power and thus create preconditions for the return of cruisers and job preservation.

In the year in which the Olympic Games are being organised, this is very possible. We just need to appoint serious people, experienced professionals and work with all our strength to make that happen’’, Vlahušić and his platform Dubrovnik our City point out.

For more about politics in Croatia, be sure to bookmark our dedicated section.

For more about ''the Pearl of the Adriatic'', visit Total Croatia's Dubrovnik in a Page 2021 guide HERE.

Dubrovnik's cruise ship issues might finally be coming to a head as Croatia's southernmost city decides to impose sojourn taxes on the passengers of these giant, damaging vessels visiting the city.

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 24th of September, 2019, as of January the 1st, 2021, the City of Dubrovnik will formally introduce the payment of a sojourn tax for one-day visitors from cruise ships, as was decided by Dubrovnik's city council at its session on Monday this week.

As defined by the city's decision, the fee will be paid per ship, and the amount will vary depending on the size of the ship and/or on the vessel's passenger capacity, and it will average around 10 kuna per passenger.

Thus, ships with capacity from 50 to 200 passengers will pay 2,000 kuna in fees per ship, those which can carru up to 1,000 passengers will pay 10,000 kuna, while the largest ships which can carry 3,000 or even more passengers will pay a massive 40,000 kuna per visit fee to the City of Dubrovnik.

As stipulated by the Tourist Tax Act, the funds will be allocated so that 85 percent goes to the city itself and 15 percent to the wider county, in this case Dubrovnik-Neretva County, and will be used to improve public and tourist infrastructure and also be put towards sustainable development projects and programs, which Dubrovnik so desperately needs. It is estimated that around one million euros could be collected from these fees annually, pumping a more than decent amount into much needed infrastructure improvements and more.

As is well known, Croatia's tourism Mecca has recently aligned the rules for the 2020 season with representatives of the shipping companies and the international cruise ship association CLIA, and CLIA have also echoed their support for the introduction of this future system of taxation.

One measure and piece of news for next season is the introduction of cruise ship transportation to Pile and back with low-floor articulated buses, which we recently reported on.

''The shuttle service will be taken over by JGP Libertas, which will significantly reduce congestion on the roads, and better control the situation and prevent malpractices by the agencies,'' explained Mayor Mato Frankovic yesterday.

Make sure to follow our dedicated travel 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.

As Morski writes on the 12th of April, 2019, the Republic of Croatia has achieved growth in terms of nautical tourism, but the problem of the lack of berths has to be resolved - these were some of the conclusions drawn from the meeting of the nautical associations of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) with the relevant nautical institutions, which took place within the framework of the two-day Nautical Tourism Days conference organised by HGK for the preparation of a peaceful, successful and safe season at sea.

The conference covered the need for communication on all of the important issues which concern and involve Croatia's blossoming nautical tourism sector.

''With a fleet of more than 4000 charter boats, with over 140 nautical tourism ports, 17,000 berths, and then more than a million passengers having arrived on cruise ships back in 2018, Croatia is a nautical superpower and one of the most important nautical destinations not only in the Mediterranean, but in the world,'' said HGK's Dragan Kovačević on the first day of the conference.

The revenue achieved by Croatia's nautical tourism ports amounted to 857 million kuna, while the average guest spends a handsome 183 euros per day on a charter vessel, which is more than twice the daily consumption of the average Croatian tourist.

''Money is not only spent on boats, but on all other forms of tourism, and more than 30 percent at that; from culture, sport, entertainment to gourmet and gastronomic offerings, Kovačević pointed out, adding that all these are parameters that speak volumes about nautical tourism in the Republic of Croatia as the country's most dynamic tourist offer and has enormous potential. However, Croatia also needs to make sure to take wise steps to direct the further development of this branch of tourism.

HGK's Paško Klisović pointed out a number of problems facing members of this association, as well as the Croatian nautical tourism sector itself.

''Part of the problem can be solved by better promotion on some markets, especially in the United States. We need to motivate Americans to come in larger numbers, at least as far as Croatia's nautical tourism is concerned. Existing markets are stagnating because we've reached the limit. Last year, our fleet grew by seven percent, and the number of guests grew by less than two percent. The fleet will grow this year, and we will be happy to repeat the past. We're somewhat concerned about the fact that, as far as bookings are concerned, Greece has become the most sought after charter destination. These are the trends and we need to make the right moves,'' stated Klisović.

The conference also discussed new regulations for nautical tourism, the prevention of unregistered activities, as well as the overall sustainability and safety of nautical tourism.

Make sure to stay up to date by following our dedicated lifestyle and travel pages for much more. If it's just nautical tourism and sailing in Croatia you're interested in, give Total Croatia Sailing a follow.

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