January the 18th, 2021 - The Dubrovnik City Walls were typically thronged with people during the hot summer months in good old pre-pandemic times. These imposing Medieval walls, some of the best preserved of their kind in the whole world, are among the southernmost Croatian city's top attractions for tourists, from Game of Thrones fans to history and architecture buffs and everyone in between. As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, however, there are more city employees walking them than there are visitors.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, as stated, previous years, the mighty Dubrovnik City Walls broke record after record in terms of attendance, and the (often-complained-about) price of 200 kuna was formed in order to try to reduce crowds on the ancient walls which need special care in terms of their structure. There used to be up to 10,000 visitors a day walking them, taking panoramic photos of the stunning views of the Old Town and the Adriatic sea, but throughout the whole of 2020, there were not even 150,000 guests recorded.

Tremendous financial losses have also seen some reconstruction projects stopped in their tracks, according to a report from HRT.

''As for domestic tourists... if they send us an e-mail can get a ticket to walk the Dubrovnik City Walls for fifty kuna. This did stimulate people to go come and walk the walls, and the residents of Dubrovnik and the wider Dubrovnik-Neretva County have free admission,'' says Renata Andjus, president of the Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities.

However, in spite of that, there are days when there are more city employees present on the walls than there are foreign or indeed local visitors. If we compare and recall, back in pre-pandemic 2019, the walls were visited by a mind-boggling 1,250,000 visitors. In the tumultuous year of 2020, a mere 10 percent of that turnover was realised.

Again due to unprecedented financial losses, the Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities had to take out a loan. Their priority is to provide salaries for about seventy employees. At the same time, they reorganised their monument heritage restoration projects.

''It was done in a way that we simply stopped many projects because it became impossible. We've finished or are finishing the projects that were almost done anyway - Ston and Pridvorje,'' says Renata Andjus. Thanks to a donation of two million euros by Ivo Felner, the renovation of the Rector's Palace on the nearby Elaphite island of Lopud, which lies just northwest of Dubrovnik, is now nearing completion. Still, everyone is hoping for a better 2021.

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If you've ever been to Dubrovnik, and the chances are that if you've visited Croatia at all then you have, you'll have more than likely thought ''How much!?'' (or perhaps even said it out loud) when confronted with the ticket price to walk the city's famous Medieval walls.

While for some foreign tourists the price tag to walk along these magnificent, ancient walls isn't much, for many domestic tourists that price simply isn't justifiable - and with good reason.

Dubrovnik's walls are among the most impressive preserved Medieval structures in the world, and the UNESCO city protected by them sends many a foreign visitor up onto them for the couple of hour walk around them. One thing that has come up for many years is the extortionate price which for a time just kept on rising and rising. 

The appearance of the coronavirus pandemic, the economic crisis that ensued and the need to change many things to encourage tourists, both domestic and foreign, to pump some money back into the economy requires changes. It seems that it has taken an invisible virus and the threat of economic collapse to make the City of Dubrovnik, known for its hefty price tags, finally lower the city wall ticket price.

As Morski writes on the 19th of May, 2020, the ticket price to enter and walk along Dubrovnik's imposing city walls is now just fifty kuna, being dragged down from an eyebrow-raising 200 kuna. The decision made by the Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities, which manages the upkeep and care of the walls, is in force until June the 30th, 2020.

This information was confirmed for local portal Dubrovacki dnevnik by the president of the aforementioned sciety, Niko Kapetanić.

''Due to the coronavirus crisis, a ticket price of fifty kuna will be applied as of Wednesday for all visitors to the walls, both domestic and foreign visitors. The decision according to which the inhabitants of Dubrovnik-Neretva County can visit and walk the walls free of charge is still in force.

''Additionally, the price of a ticket to the walls in nearby Ston and to Sokol tower down in Konavle has been lowered from 70 kuna down to a mere 30 kuna, which was formerly the price of a children's ticket,'' said Kapetanić for Dubrovacki dnevnik.

It's worth mentioning that the Association of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities, which manages this valuable resource, earned more than 150 million kuna from the sale of tickets alone last year. Despite having raked in so much money, they lost that solid income due to the coronavirus outbreak back in March, so they sought and received the payment of salaries from the state for 71 workers.

They didn't want to comment on the fact that they kept the price of 200 kuna per ticket to walk Dubrovnik's city walls for all this time, even when they had no visitors whatsoever. Instead, the reply was that "all ticket prices for facilities managed by the society are a matter of business policy."

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We're sure that a disgruntled huff can be heard across various platforms when greeted with the unwelcome news that the Dubrovnik city walls' entrance fee has risen once again.

Dubrovnik is a bit of a paradoxical city. Known for being shamefully expensive yet also boasting some of the cheapest lesser known locations in all corners of the city, many tourists consider the sheer beauty and history that makes Dubrovnik what it is to be overshadowed by its often extortionate prices.

Having lived in Dubrovnik for several years before relocating to Zagreb, I can say with some confidence that this talk of everything being ultra-expensive isn't entirely true, and that Dubrovnik's story certainly isn't that black and white.

Regardless, seeing the price of enjoying a cold beer on Stradun is enough to make anyone jump to such rash conclusions about the famed Pearl of the Adriatic and its continuous descent into the almost Disneyland-like misery of its own wild success.

The Dubrovnik city walls, a truly magnificent medieval structure surrounding the heart of the UNESCO protected old city, are by no means left out of this age old conversation on pricing, having faced several price hikes over the past several years, it comes as no real surprise to learn that the City of Dubrovnik has raised the entrance fee yet again.

As Morski writes on the 6th of January, 2019, the Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities, in agreement with the City of Dubrovnik, have introduced a new price tag for the entrance to Dubrovnik's city walls. As of January this year, visitors will need to fork out 200 kuna per person for the visit, instead of the previous amount of 150 kuna, which was already met with complaints by many.

The new decision has also abolished discounts for groups. The Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities, in addition to the Dubrovnik city walls, manages several other historical sites across the wider Dubrovnik-Neretva County, and each location managed by the society, growth in visits has been recorded. Otherwise, about 1.3 million visitors visited the Dubrovnik city walls in 2018, according to a report from RTL.

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