19 June 2021 – The Dubrovnik Tourist Board released a new promotional video made for the Israeli market in Dubrovnik. The motivation behind it is the announcement of direct flights between Dubrovnik and Tel Aviv

Dubrovnik is a famous travel destination in many corners of the world. There are many things attracting travellers to it, none more so than its rich history. Dubrovnik’s history contains a very interesting story about the local Jewish community, and this is exactly the thing Dubrovnik Tourist Board capitalises on in this newest promotional campaign.

At the heart of the campaign is a short promotional video showing some highlights of Dubrovnik’s Jewish heritage. It is hosted by a local tour guide and member of the city’s Jewish community, Matija Singer. In a beautifully filmed, 5-minute video, viewers are taken around Dubrovnik’s historical centre. Mr. Singer expertly presents some of the most important places and artifacts in Hebrew. The video does have English subtitles, so make sure to watch it below.

Direct Flights from Israel

The main driving force behind the campaign is the establishing of a direct flight from Tel Aviv to Dubrovnik. Dubrovacki Vjesnik reports the line will be operated by Croatia Airlines and Arkia Airlines. It will run from the beginning of July to the end of October. We are to see four flights per week with Arkia Airlines connecting the two cities on Mondays and Fridays and Croatia Airlines also running flights twice per week starting on July 15^th.

This is exciting news for many in the tourism sector. Interest for Dubrovnik has been rising cautiously over the last decade on the Israeli market. Still, there is still plenty of room for progress. In 2019 local tourist board recorded only 6322 arrivals by Israeli guests. With these announced flights, Dubrovnik has a real chance of breaking those numbers and starting on the path of becoming an important destination for citizens of Israel. Considering this news comes now, while the city is still struggling with the lack of guests and international travel restrictions, it is even more exciting.

 For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

11 June, 2021 - The very first large Dubrovnik cruise ship with passengers on board since the start of the pandemic arrrived today. This is a pieces of news many people in Dubrovnik have been waiting for for quite some time.

MSC Orchestra arrived to Dubrovnik this morning. It is the first big Dubrovnik cruise ship to bring passengers into the city after a long and costly silent period caused by the pandemic. This 294m long behemoth can house 2550 passengers in its 1275 cabins. It is not new to Dubrovnik as MSC ships are some of the most commonly seen cruise ships in the city's port. With the city’s tourism sector feeding so many local Dubrovnik families, the long awaited arrival of a thousand or so guests at one time is seen as nothing short of a blessing. This is exactly why Dubrovnik’s mayor Mato Frankovic was quick to point out the arrival of the ship and its significance on his social media.

Source: Mato Frankovic / Facebook

Dubrovnik’s love/hate relationship with modern day cruise ships has been an ongoing state of being for the last couple of decades or so. The cruise ship industry brought to the city a quick way of recuperating large numbers of guests after the Croatian Homeland war of the 1990’s, which left the city’s economy in a total shambles. Soon after the first ships started arriving back to Dubrovnik, it became clear that Croatia's southernmost city is a perfect short stop port for many. Cruise ships brought with them large number of guests and did wonders in prolonging the tourist season.

Of course, it’s not all good news. A large amount of people coming to the city for a short time means crowded streets and traffic jams once again, an old Dubrovnik problem. For many, the experience of Dubrovnik became lessened by the fact the movement along the main areas was at times very difficult. Overcrowding and the strain placed on the infrastructure became a real issue. Dubrovnik’s image of a pleasant destination perfect for longer stays is now under threat.

What’s Next?

With all this being said, it will be very interesting to see how cruise ships are going to fit into Dubrovnik’s tourism picture this year. There will be a few of them, most probably with reduced capacity and sales. This might be a unique opportunity to see whether cruise ships and Dubrovnik can finally settle their differences.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

8 June, 2021 – CNN's Richard Quest is in Dubrovnik preparing his story on the city and Croatia's travel industry. He seems to still find time to have some fun in the process.

Big time celebrities are nothing new in Dubrovnik. Still, when one of them is travelling to actually do a report about the city, it inevitably raises plenty of interest. Richard Quest is a CNN International news anchor and editor. His show Quest Means Business is vastly popular.

Dubrovnik is hosting Mr. Quest for a few days as he is currently doing a piece on the state of city's tourism. Today, the local Tourism Board released some interesting photos from the filming in the city's historical centre. Lazareti, ancient quarantine complex just outside of the Old Town centre, is the home for Folklore Ensemble Lindo. This organisation preserves traditional folk songs and dances as well as historical costumes of the area. It is synonymous with Dubrovnik local culture. In the photographs Quest is seen visiting Lazareti and interviewing one of the members of Lindo. He also apparently joined in during the rehearsal as we've also seen him in full traditional costume.

 Photos Courtesy of Dubrovnik Tourist Board:

(With Dubrovnik Tourist Board director, Ana Hrnic)

Important Promotion at the Crucial Moment

It seems like the filming is going well and everybody is in high spirits, which only makes us more impatient to see the end story. We have reported earlier on the main topics of CNN's Dubrovnik story. The discussion will mainly revolve around the most important questions of the day for many citizens of Dubrovnik. These include lifting of COVID related restrictions in Croatia and the state of the travel industry.

With important topics like this, amazing backdrop of medieval Dubrovnik glistening in the sun, and Richard Quest in his full local costume, this promises to be a very interested promotion for Dubrovnik and Croatia. With the rise in the interest of travellers from American market, this is certainly the type of news Dubrovnik Tourist Board was hoping for at the beginning of the summer. Don't miss CNN's report from Dubrovnik on Thursday 10th of June.

For more news like this, make sure to follow our lifestyle section.

Are you looking to get to and from Dubrovnik this summer?

June 7, 2021 - Expectations from the tourist season are more optimistic than last year, says the Rixos Dubrovnik director, Ayhan Basci.

Expectations from the tourist season are more optimistic than last year. Still, the epidemiological picture and the readiness of destinations to provide the highest level of service and convince tourists that they are safe on holiday is crucial, says the director of Rixos Premium Dubrovnik Ayhan Basci on Novac.hr.

"More tourist arrivals and hotel reservations in Dubrovnik can be expected from the end of June and July, when we could see the first results of the opening of new airlines from the USA, Moscow, Poland, Ukraine, Israel, Paris, Lyon, Luxembourg, and others. Vaccination is certainly a key tool that will enable a return to a kind of 'normality.' However, tourists will certainly be measured by the general situation in a particular destination and the level of measures implemented to ensure a favorable epidemiological picture. This certainly includes Ccovid passports as well as the availability of tests. I believe that the combination of all these tools will make the season more successful than last year," Basci said in an interview with Hina.

Basci notes that countries such as Spain, Greece, Portugal, and others have undertaken numerous promotional and other activities for the summer to attract tourists. At the same time, when asked about the offer and prices, he says that in Dubrovnik, as elsewhere, prices are higher than last year.

"This is not uncommon given the circumstances. Higher prices are an indicator and expected higher demand this summer. Other Rixos hotels in the United Arab Emirates or Turkey have similar prices. However, this season will be more specific in terms of what security and unique destination experience it can provide guests, not at the cost of accommodation," Basci says.

Regarding tourist demand and supply this year in the still present pandemic, he believes that countries that have approached the vaccination process seriously and where it is taking place without delay should not have problems with the number of reservations and tourist arrivals.

"It is essential for each of us today that travel is a safe zone, and free time and money earned are valued more than before, and in that sense, it is not enough to offer only 'sun and sea.' Tourism and hospitality workers should provide their guests with the added value of a destination based on service and offering the highest quality, from top gastronomy to entertainment, nature tours, and more, and destinations that offer selective forms of tourism will be more successful and competitive even after a pandemic," he adds.

He points out that the biggest advantage of Croatia is its beauty with untouched Mediterranean nature, recognizable history, heritage, and culture, which is why it is regularly placed on the lists of the world's most desirable destinations and is a member of the EU, and is easily accessible to the European market and can respond to almost all the requirements of the new generation of passengers.

"I see certain shortcomings of Croatian tourism in the limited number of high-quality tourist and catering staff, which is the result of a large number of young people leaving the country for economic reasons. Therefore, Croatia should be more open to foreign workers," Basci said.

He adds that in the offer of luxury tourism, high-paying guests must be provided with added value through services and continuous review and improvement of their own capacities to provide the best to guests.

Therefore, according to him, a stronger synergy of the private and public sectors is needed, which should cooperate more in managing the destination and agreeing on minimum standards for all levels of services, which everyone then follows and implements.

This would lead to year-round tourism that Croatia can have, so Dubrovnik and other most famous destinations should be open all year round and provide services continuously, says Basci.

"For example, Dubrovnik currently differs from the Cote d'Azur in that it is possible to fly to southeastern France at any time of the year, and hotels, restaurants, bars, shopping, and more are available in winter. If this level of service availability were ensured in Dubrovnik, we would certainly have guests in the winter as well, which would result in several benefits for the local population and the economy as a whole," says the hotelier.

Noting that the Rixos group has been present in Dubrovnik with one hotel for more than 16 years and that 150 million kuna was invested in its renovation last year, which was the highest for Dubrovnik tourism last year. Basci added that they are ready to receive guests looking for luxury a five-star lifestyle hotel, which is also a certain turnaround in the business.

"The challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic to the tourism sector have adversely affected the business of the Rixos Group, as well as other businesses operating in the field of tourism. However, I am proud that none of the 180 full-time employees at the Rixos Premium Dubrovnik hotel was fired, even though the hotel was empty, and we did all the professional practices," Basci points out.

Rixos, like other hotel chains, has seen a drop in revenue in the pandemic but hopes for better results this season.

He says that Rixos Premium Hotel is one of the most luxurious in Croatia and one of eight in the world. When asked why he thinks there are not more luxury hotels in Croatia, he says that the answer can be found in destination management.

"The public and private sectors should join forces and, through destination management, strengthen the turn towards the development of a luxury segment of the market, in which there is no place for mass. Luxury tourism for a destination has several advantages, especially in the context of sustainability and minimizing environmental and community impacts. Although Dubrovnik can also benefit from cruises, I think that the development of elite tourism and ensuring the presence of high-paying guests is a better direction for the destination, with not only a luxury hotel offer but the entire offer of places, including quality shopping, excellent restaurants, rent luxury boats, renowned clubs, beaches and the like. In that sense, I see more room for progress in the offer and facilities of Dubrovnik," says Basci.

Asked whether Rixos is considering or planning a new acquisition or investment in Croatia, Basci said he always analyzes market opportunities, but also that it would make it easier for entrepreneurs who want to do business in Croatia, including the hotel industry, to simplify the entire investment system and related administrative steps.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

May 22, 2021 - The relaxation of measures to combat the pandemic, given the decrease in infections and the current vaccination campaign, is one of the reasons why the American demand for Dubrovnik and Croatia as travel destinations for this summer season has increased considerably.

Dubrovnik undoubtedly stands out as one of the most popular destinations to visit in the summer. And although the city has a lot to offer twelve months of the year, and this is something that has recently been worked on through the digital nomads project as an ideal destination to work remotely, it cannot be denied that its beaches, islands, history, and nightlife place it at the top of the rankings made by hundreds of prestigious tourism and travel magazines and portals each year.

As hrturizam.hr writes, Croatian destinations are increasingly being searched on the US market, so the well-known American magazine Forbes published data that the search and American demand for Dubrovnik on online search engines are continuously growing, said the director of the Croatian National Tourist Board in the USA, Ina Rodin.

Credit: Mario Romulić

A Forbes article states that on the popular KAYAK travel search page, the American demand for Dubrovnik as a travel destination for this summer season has recorded a search jump of as much as 205 percent, followed by Zurich with a growth of 167 percent, Prague with 144 percent and Reykjavik with a growth of 143 percent. The article states that the growth of search is directly related to the easing of passenger restrictions in Croatia and Iceland, and mentions that Croatia and Greece are currently the most sought-after destinations on the Click & Boat boat rental site.

The well-known American television network CNBC states that Croatia's Internet search is growing by 31 percent and Iceland's by 22 percent. Although Americans are expected to travel the most in their own country in 2021, airline searches rose 47 percent after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's optimistic statement hinted that vaccinated Americans could travel to Europe this summer. The renowned American newspaper The New York Times also writes about the conditions of arrival and stay in Croatia, as well as the measures that are currently in force.

The American The Wall Street Journal also makes recommendations for European travel, and the list includes, in addition to Greece, Croatia, and Dubrovnik, which were mentioned as perfect destinations for this year's American vacation.

According to the CNTB, 70,000 overnight stays from the US market have been made in Croatia so far this year, which is an increase of 38 percent compared to the same period last year.

You can learn more about what the ‘‘Pearl of the Adriatic’’ can offer you on your next trip, in Total Croatia’s Dubrovnik on a page, HERE. Total Croatia’s articles are now available in your language!

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border, and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of vaccination points and testing centers up and down the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and choose your preferred language.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

cToday’s interview is with Rob Schubert. Rob is a young entrepreneur and tech wizard from the Netherlands. After coming to Estonia to get his master’s degree in the area of digital health, Rob eventually started a healthcare startup VocDec. VocDec is a tool for early screening of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in newborns. Rob and his team won an award for the most impactful healthcare startup in Europe. After a success like that, it is clear to see why he exudes optimism and is looking forward to new challenges.

Through LinkedIn, he found out about the Dubrovnik Digital Nomads-in-Residence program. Seeing how he wanted to visit Croatia, which he knew to be a beautiful country, Rob jumped at the possibility of applying. After a strict selection process, he ended up being one of the ten nomads selected for the program. Rob will undoubtedly bring a valuable perspective on working and living in Dubrovnik.

The Digital Nomads-in-Residence program was created by Saltwater Nomads in partnership with Total Croatia News. It will utilise the collective experiences of ten digital nomads living and working in Dubrovnik. Using design thinking process workshops, a strategic direction for the city will be created. Dubrovnik Tourist Board and the City of Dubrovnik both support and collaborate on the program. It represents a push towards the diversification and sustainability of Dubrovnik as a destination.

Paul caught up with Rob recently to ask him a few questions and get his impressions on living in Dubrovnik and being a part of the Digital Nomads-in-Residence program. Particularly interesting were his views on Dubrovnik as a destination prior to the program:

“Before, I knew that this was a highly touristy destination. Mainly, people were visiting for Game of Thrones sights.”

Having spent some time living and working in Dubrovnik, his views of the city as a travel destination have changed:

“ …I see that there are way more opportunities for other types of tourism…”

“I think the city can also communicate something different than being this Old Town… and the set of Game of Thrones.”

In the short video, Rob shares his experiences of working alongside his fellow nomads in a unique Dubrovnik co-working space. Check out the full interview below.

Learn more about the Dubrovnik Digital Nomads-in-Residence program.

Saltwater Nomads' Tanja Polegubic on Dubrovnik Digital Nomad-in-Residence Programme

Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Frankovic on Digital Nomads, US Flights, 2021 Season

The winner announcement video:

For the latest digital nomad news from Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section.

May the 14th, 2021 - Dubrovnik tourism, much like the tourist industry across the rest of the country, has taken a tremendously strong blow thanks to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The City of Dubrovnik and its surrounding area, which is primarily an air destination due to the fact that it is so far south and currently still cut off territorially from the rest of Croatia by Neum, the only part of neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina's coastline, has been empty like never before over the past year or so.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Dubrovnik in 2020 was more or less a ghost town when compared to other wildly successful tourist years in which Croatia's southernmost city lay lazily and comfortably on its laurels.

When it comes to the ever pressing question of just how it will be this year, no one knows the answer. About a thousand guests are currenly wandering along Stradun every day over recent days, so at the minute, things look a bit like March in normal, pre-pandemic years for Dubrovnik tourism. That's why the city's hotel rooms are still 10 to 50 percent cheaper than normal, as are booking prices for private accommodation. Many restaurants are still closed, and those that have opened are offering discounts of up to 50 percent, writes RTL.

No one in Croatia's tourism Mecca expected to hear silence. The silence about which the Dubrovnik's famous troubadours sang 32 years ago, happened for real back during the pre-season of a very fateful 2020. These days last year, only a hundred tourists walked along Stradun, today - only a thousand of them do the same.

Although a thousand nights a day is a good increase, Dubrovnik tourism is still hungry for human traffic and guests are seeking a proper holiday. Therefore, private renters, as well as hoteliers, decided to lower their prices. They have lowered their prices by 10 to 50 percent, so it's possible to spend cheaper nights in the very heart of this stunning UNESCO city, as well as outside of it, because tourists are no longer only interested in a safe location but also cheaper accommodation.

Along with Australians and Americans, other Europeans such as Brits were the city's most frequent foreign guests. With new direct flights announced from the US to Dubrovnik, hopes remain high for American visitors with deep pockets in summer 2021.

Up to 70 planes a day from all over the world could soon take to Dubrovnik's deep blue skies. The first cruise ship, announced on June the 11th, is also eagerly awaited, a stark contrast to the complaints of too many cruisers, too much pollution and the newly coined term that the Venetians know so well - overtourism - as Dubrovnik tourism continues to grapple with the invisible enemy which is the novel coronavirus.

For more, follow our dedicated travel section.

May 4, 2021 - The Dubrovnik Port Authority has announced that the Dubrovnik cruise ship season will open on June 11. 

Important news for Dubrovnik came at the start of the week as the Dubrovnik Port Authority confirmed the first major cruise ship to visit Dubrovnik this year will be the MSC Orchestra on the 11th of June, as reported by Dubrovacki Vjesnik.

Question of Sustainability and Pandemic Woes

Cruise ships bring in well over half a million tourists each year to Dubrovnik, making it one of the busiest cruise ship ports of the Mediterranean. With the city's infrastructure strained under the pressure of all the guests visiting during a typical summer season, many have raised a question of whether these numbers are sustainable. With cruise ship guests having very limited time during which to visit the city, the financial effect of their visits is a thing of controversy in the „Pearl of the Adriatic“. 

The past 12 months have been anything but typical. This is very true for Dubrovnik’s tourism sector as well. The driving force of Dubrovnik’s economy has ground to a halt during 2020 and the voices screaming for sustainability are very much silent at the beginning of another extremely uncertain tourism season. With this in mind, it is easy to see why the news about the arrival of MSC ship is hailed almost universally as a good thing.

Beginning of Dubrovnik’s Bounce Back?

After the initial arrival on June 11th, there are 35 more visits to Dubrovnik planned by MSC in the 2021 season by the company’s ships MSC Orchestra and MSC Splendida. According to the official website, MSC Orchestra has a maximum capacity of 3013 passengers, while MSC Splendida can hold an impressive 4363 passengers. Even if the maximum capacity is reduced due to COVID-related measures, it is clear these numbers look very promising for a destination hit by a pandemic drop in revenue more severely than the rest of the Croatian coast. 

According to the General Manager of Dubrovnik’s Port Authority Blaz Pezo, there are several other cruise companies that will be confirming their Dubrovnik arrivals very soon. Many in the tourism industry are crossing their fingers in hope of seeing the sector bounce back during the summer. At the same time, some Dubrovnik locals and guests were happy with clear roads and city streets free of excessive crowds last summer. 

Maybe this year the city will get close to the perfect balance of tourists bringing in revenue and people being able to enjoy the city. 

For more information and travel tips on Dubrovnik, be sure to visit our newly launched Total Croatia portal.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

April the 25th, 2021 - Dubrovnik tourism employees begin getting vaccinated against the novel coronavirus as the city attempts to obtain some form of security for the upcoming 2021 tourist season this summer.

Croatia's tourism Mecca, the Medieval walled city of Dubrovnik and the country's southernmost city, relies very heavily on air traffic partially owing to the fact that it is effectively cut off from the rest of the country by the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina at Neum, the neighbouring country's only piece of coastline.

While this usually doesn't pose that much of an issue as it can typically be crossed quickly with some exceptions during the height of the summer season, the coronavirus pandemic has changed everything, and the lack of air traffic to Dubrovnik from other European countries which have banned unnecessary travel, such as the United Kingdom, has dealt a heavy blow to the city which once rested very firmly on its laurels.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, the vaccination of Dubrovnik tourism employees began recently, and it was accompanied by the Minister of Tourism Nikolina Brnjac who was there on a working visit. The Minister and the Prefect of Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Nikola Dobroslavic, visited the point of organised vaccination in the sports hall in Gospino polje.

"Thanks to our Dubrovnik tourism employees who responded to the organised vaccination invitation, this is an extremely important message being sent out from the tourism sector to foreign guests who are planning to come to Croatia this year. We're seriously preparing all the conditions to have the safest and most successful tourist year. I encourage and invite tourist workers to get vaccinated, from May the 1st we'll receive 230,000 doses of vaccine per week, the amount of vaccine will be enough to optimally prepare for the season,'' said Minister Nikolina Brnjac.

After Dubrovnik, in accordance with the priorities and national vaccination plan, the vaccination of tourism employees will begin in all other tourist destinations across the Republic of Croatia, and the exact order of priority vaccination by counties will be determined by the Croatian Institute of Public Health. The Ministry of Tourism plans to organise vaccinations for all seasonal workers as well, if necessary, as well as for providers of household accommodation services after the vaccination of employees in larger companies is completed, where there are higher risks of spreading the infection.

In addition to providing priority vaccination for Dubrovnik tourism employees and of course other such workers across the country, additional points for testing guests for the novel coronavirus in tourist destinations are currently being set up, antigen tests for tourists will be co-financed, and while people with a reason or with residence in Croatia were always able to arrive in the country, Croatia has been open to tourists coming from third countries such as the USA and Russia since back at the beginning of April.

For more on coronavirus specific to Croatia, from travel, border and quarantine rules to the locations of vaccination points and testing centres across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section.

April 23, 2021 - Südwestrundfunk, or SWR, is one of Germany’s most-watched television public networks, and its crew is currently working on a Dubrovnik show.

The Dubrovnik Tourist Board reports that the camera crew of the German television SWR, which has about 14 million viewers and is part of the large ARD TV system, will be in Dubrovnik from April 20 to 24. During their four-day stay, a three-member team of national television is recording a Dubrovnik show on the topic of the future of tourism.

In an interview with SWR, the director of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board Ana Hrnić spoke about various topics, from the situation before and during the pandemic, the cruising industry, tourism workers, guides, Respect the City projects, the Digital Nomads in Residence, Safe stay in Croatia, and the future the concept of tourism in Dubrovnik. Ana Hrnić pointed out that a difficult and challenging year is behind us, but despite that, now is the opportunity to turn in the direction of developing sustainable tourism.

Credits: Dubrovnik Tourist Board

Accompanied by a German-language guide, Gabriela Lučić, a German TV crew in Dubrovnik filmed conversations with several Dubrovnik residents about how the pandemic had changed the world and had an impact on their lives and work: from guides, restaurant owners, craftsmen, farmers, and private renters.

The German market is one of the most important emitting markets in Dubrovnik. In previous years, German tourists were in third place on the top list of the most numerous guests in Dubrovnik. In 2019, 111,446 German tourists stayed in Dubrovnik, with 294,661 overnight stays.

If you want to know more about the things to do and see in the ''Pearl of the Adriatic'' in 2021, visit Total Croatia's Dubrovnik in a page HERE.

Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.