April 23, 2020 - Like many airports around the world, one of Croatia’s busiest airports in the summer will take a considerable hit this year. Dubrovnik Airport readies for a challenging season ahead. 

The tourism sector is one of the biggest victims of the coronavirus pandemic, and when travel resumes remains unknown. Lifting the travel restrictions, however, is just part of the solution - what airlines will survive once all is said and done, and what connections will remain is another hurdle we have yet to cross. 

Ex Yu Aviation reports that Dubrovnik Airport General Manager Frano Luetić is anticipating handling just 30% of its planned traffic this year - and that is the best-case scenario. 

Recall, American Airlines and Qatar Airways won’t be resuming traffic to Dubrovnik until 2021, while a handful of airlines like Lufthansa, airBaltic, Enter Air, Jet2, Finnair and Volotea are significantly reducing operations. 

“We are witnessing something unlike we’ve ever seen in peacetime. We have been left without any traffic,” Luetić said.

Ex Yu Aviation adds that Dubrovnik Airport has been closed since March 19 and has no plans to open until at least May 2. 

“Some domestic flights are expected to resume next month, however, the majority of international services are unlikely to resume before June. The airport estimates it will register a net loss of 9.5 million euros during the first half of the year. Despite the result, none of its 387 staff members will be dismissed, although the fate of 162 seasonal workers will depend on the support the Croatian government provides to its airports as part of measures to stimulate the economy in the aftermath of the pandemic,” writes Ex Yu Aviation. 

Dubrovnik Airport has also stopped all non-essential investments, though it could purchase thermal cameras to measure body temperature once operations resume. 

2020 was meant to be record summer for Dubrovnik Airport, with a 4% increase in overall operations. However, in the first quarter of this year, the airport was down 38.6%, welcoming only 72,406 passengers. 

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

April 12, 2020 - Easter in Dubrovnik as you have never quite seen it - a lonely Easter egg on Stradun.

Can you imagine how quickly the world will change if we humans stay caged up in our self-isolation homes for a few months more?

After just a couple of weeks of lockdown in China, the air pollution above the country improved visibly. A couple of weeks without tourism in Venice, and the waters became clear again. 

And in the Croatian symbol of overtourism - the Pearl of the Adriatic known as Dubrovnik aka Kings Landing, the rather unusual sight of grass growing around its polished stone floor. 

Easter in Dubrovnik is a very important time for the city and its people, but this year - as elsewhere in the world - things are a little different. 

There are no tourists, and very little is open. But just because there are very few people, that does not mean that Dubrovnik cannot celebrate its ancient traditions for this time of year. 

Dubrovnik this morning through the talented lens of Marko Novak, where a lone Easter eff lies lazily among the stone and the grass in the April sun on Stradun, the most exclusive street in the whole country, with Dubrovnik Cathedral in the background. 

Superb shot, Sir!

And for more pictures of stunning Dubrovnik in the era of undertourism, check out these from a couple of weeks ago.

April 8, 2020 - More signs that perhaps it is time to say Goodbye Season 2020, as American Airlines and Qatar Airways shelve all plans for Dubrovnik this year. 

One of the most bizarre things in my world at the moment (and with so much weird stuff going down, it has to be bizarre to even get a mention at the moment) is the lack of understanding in some quarters that things have changed, perhaps (or more likely, probably) forever. 

Less than 2 weeks ago, on March 25, 2020, I wrote an article called Hope v Reality: Will There Be a 2020 Tourist Season in Croatia? The article got a lot of attention, and it was also carried by leading Croatian portal Index.hr (thank you! - you can see the Croatian version here).

One of the points I made in that was that people were on different stages of understanding around the globe about the pandemic, with people demanding I tell them if their flights were going to be ok in April. As if I run the airlines. 

That was then, and the world has changed several times since March 25. But still the questions fill my inbox. Will Ryanair be flying in May? Is my Jet2 flight in June going to be ok?

I have no idea if and when this pandemic will pass, and how the world will look from the other side. Optimists (and I include myself among them) hope there will be a late season, even if the summer is lost. Here is what the airlines think - this from ExYuAviation:

American Airlines has cut its international summer schedule by 60% to match a sharp drop in demand due to the coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak. The carrier’s seasonal service between Philadelphia and Dubrovnik, which was to run between June and October on a daily basis, has been suspended for the entire summer season. “Nobody is booking travel”, Vasu Raja, American’s Senior Vice President for Network Strategy said. “If we can reduce our capacity this summer, we can reduce our expenses”, he added. In total, American is suspending 25 summer seasonal flights until 2021. It will focus on services into London Heathrow and Madrid, where passengers can connect to flights on its partners British Airways and Iberia, respectively.

In the same article, ExYuAviation also reports that Qatar Airways has also postponed its planned Doha to Dubrovnik route until May 17, 2021, and Air Baltic similarly from Vilnius. And the news from Germany is hardly encouraging either...

The ever-reliable ch-aviation portal, whose main subsidiary office is in Zagreb (see TCN feature story last year), talked about the reduction of capacity of another important player in the Croatian low-cost market - Eurowings - in Lufthansa Group confirms Germanwings closure yesterday.

In tandem with its capacity rationalisation, Eurowings' headcount is also expected to be reduced in line with the reshaping of its network to focus on short- and medium-haul routes. As such, Eurowings will reduce the overall number of aircraft it contracts. In the short-haul segment, an additional ten A320-200s are planned to be phased out while its long-haul business, which is run under the commercial responsibility of Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int'l), will also be reduced.

It should be noted that it is not all doom and gloom from the budget airlines with flights to the region, as Wizzair plans to restart operations in three locations in former Yugoslavia (although not Croatia at this point) in May, pending government approval. 

Minister of Tourism Gari Capelli, who is fond of talking numbers and percentage increases at every turn, was a little more downbeat in his assessment of how things will pan out - read more in Tourism Minister Predicts Revenue Plunge, Regardless of Summer Season.

So is it Goodbye Season 2020, or is there still some hope?  Most people will be much further along the path of understanding of the current realities than they were two weeks ago, but here are the main factors to consider when assessing if there will still be a season:

• Even if all this is over by June, so many people will have lost their jobs that the market of tourists is going to be much smaller. 
• Competition from countries like Italy, Greece, Egypt and Turkey will be INSANE - and Croatia never does well on price. 
• There will be much fewer flights, even for those who are happy to jump on a plane and mix with others. 
• Not so many people will have holiday time anyway, as many have been forced to take their holidays now as companies rationalise their losses. 
• There will be big patriotic campaigns from governments (including Croatia) to holiday at home and support domestic tourism - the French in France, the Italians in Italy etc.
• SO many tourism businesses in Croatia and elsewhere will go bankrupt that there will be an inevitable disruption in the tourism infrastrucure. For example, a hotel group going under would leave a destination without hotels. 

I really wish things looked brighter, but when the big airlines are taking decisions in early April to postpone all until next year, perhaps we should all start to face up to the reality of Goodbye Season 2020.

For those looking for direction on planning for post-corona tourism and how that might even look like, I highly recommend the excellent recent series by Zoran Pejovic from Paradox Hospitality on post-corona tourism. 

April 4, 2020 - Online communities around Croatia are now bringing Croatian farms to your doorstep. 

A tough part about the coronavirus pandemic in Croatia is that, because of the stringent measures in place, going to outdoor markets have become a thing of the past. 

The once-bustling markets, loud with sellers luring in buyers by convincing them that their product is the best, are mostly bleak and vacant until we’re on the other side of the coronavirus battle. 

However, one small light in the coronavirus pandemic is that it has forced creativity in order to sustain businesses, and Croatian farms that formerly only had a presence at their market stands now belong to large online communities. 

Who could have imagined a week ago, our babas and didas' eggs and produce would be advertised and sold online to be delivered to your doorstep? No one! But here we are.

With just one click, fish, fresh fruits, vegetables, honey, and eggs from your favorite sellers can be found on your doorstep the next day. 

The large number of virtual marketplaces that opened from Osijek to Dubrovnik testify that the OPGs, or Croatian farms, are determined to find a way to feed us all. 

A look at the online marketplaces around Croatia courtesy of Slobodna Dalmacija.

“Yesterday I ordered eggs, chard, young onions and radishes. A man brought me everything this morning, delivered to my door, and even left a small flower seedling as a gift. There was no contact, I paid them into their account, and they left me eggs and vegetables at my front door,” said a member of the Facebook group Virtual Pazar Split, which already has close to 12,000 members. Not only green products of local farmers are offered, but also delicacies from the continent, as well as lamb, cheese, and even donkey milk.

The virtual Zagreb market, however, gathered more than 35,000 members in a week. The group was founded by HSS spokeswoman Ivana Tomic. Food vendors can be advertised free of charge in Zagreb's virtual marketplace, where you can find everything from basil, to onions and mint, asparagus from Zadar. 

An official online marketplace was opened in Zagreb on Friday, and the launch of a drive-in purchase on the green market has been announced. About fifty family farms and artisans from the Zagreb area and its surroundings are offering products online.

On the page, you can see how they deliver the goods, delivery times, and what locations they cover. The profile of each OPG on to the platform has their contact information, product list and price. Besides calling them, customers can also place an order through a query that goes to the farmer’s email address.

Lana Šegetin from Dubrovnik founded the Facebook group Virtual Dubrovnik Market. It brings together members from Peljesac to Konavle, and all local food producers from the wider Dubrovnik area and the surrounding area can advertise and offer their products for free. More than 7,000 people from the Dubrovnik-Neretva County have joined the group.

Through the website kupujdomaće.hr, 450 Vrgorac family farms producing strawberries, apples, grapes, eggs, nectarines, honey, and quality wines could be found. Clicking on a fruit or vegetable icon opens a rich list of OPGs offering that selected product.

“I sell green onions, parsley, collards, leeks,” advertises an OPG on the page Virtual plaza - Neretva Valley. 

“We sell oranges, apples, fresh cow's cheese, seedlings of all kinds of vegetables, ajvar, lemons, sweet potato, and more,”

Citizens of Velika Gorica, Sisak, Pula, Osijek, Varaždin, Bjelovar can also enjoy virtual markets.

To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

March 28, 2020 - From Kings Landing overtourism to Dubrovnik undertourism - a photo tour of the Pearl of the Adriatic in the corona era. 

Have you ever heard of the English word 'overtourism'?

It is a word which I think entered the English language in about 2017, and it referred to lots of people from foreign countries who were inappropriately socially distanced in the same place at the same time. 

As with corona there were overtourism hotspots, especially in Europe. Barcelona, Venice, Amsterdam and Dubrovnik. 

Beautiful cities where tourist would come and fill the destinations in the summer months. 

It was, apparently, a huge problem. 

I often wonder what that must have been living, now that I live in the Corona Era. 

The Pearl of the Adriatic, Kings Landing to all those Game of Thrones fans, is arguably the most beautiful city ever built. Take out the tourists, the restaurant tables, chairs and stones, and you will discover a true natural wonder - Dubrovnik undertourism - one of the world's architectural masterpieces stripped back to its original stone and devoid of human presence. 

I am very grateful to Ivan Vukovic Vuka, tour guide and CEO of Dubrovnik Tour Guides for these really stunning photos of Dubrovnik undertourism in action. 

For the latest news about coronavirus in Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section.  

March 23, 2020 - A really nice compilation from the guys at Cities in 4K, featuring four Croatian cities as well as many others. While we can't travel, stay at home and dream.

Life is difficult for all of us at the moment, as we adjust to a new temporary reality of staying at home and putting our busy travelling lives on hold. 

One of the interesting aspects of this new reality is observing how people are reaction. Some are complaining, others accepting, and a nice number are looking to add a little positivity to the situation.

I have always been a big fan of the work of the guys from Cities in 4K, and we have featured their videos of destinations in Croatia and Montenegro. This is really gorgeous compilation of day and night timelapses of several fabulous European cities, including four in Croatia - Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Sibenik and Rovinj. 

It is called City Lights Turn On, Stay Home, and the Cities in 4K introduce it as follows. 

During these hard times we decided to create this video to ask all people over the world to stay at their homes so this situation changes into a positive end as soon as possible. So please take it very serious and make yourself comfortable at home.

This video is a combination of day to night time lapse videos from different cities all over the world, like Venice, Berlin, Zagreb, Lion, etc. 

Like a lot of people this affected us and our channel very much, so we are not able to travel in the near future and so it is good to take a look on the cities we traveled in the past. 

Stay safe!

The world may never be quite the same again, but there is still so much beauty to enjoy from the comfort of our own homes, the safest place to be right now. 

You can watch more of the Cities in 4K videos on their YouTube channel. 

March 21, 2020 - What is happening with Ryanair in Croatia? So many flight cancellations to Zadar, but not other coastal destinations. And what about the Hideout Festival?

The situation regarding flights with Ryanair in Croatia has been taking up an ever larger part of my inbox in recent times. Emails such as this have become commonplace:

Any clue why ryanair flights to zadar in june and july got cancelled overnight? Theres still several months to go... Any advice you could provide is greatly appreciated

Hvala puno!

I decided to look into the situation, and what I found was VERY unusual. 

The announcement that Ryanair is grounding most of its fleet on March 24 due to the coronavirus situation was a big shock, but there seems to be an interesting sub-story developing with Ryanair in Croatia. 

We have covered flight cancellations with Ryanair in Croatia already due to COVID-19, and the flight situation has been constantly updated in our regular Croatian travel advice - here is today's. 

This was followed on March 13, 2020 that Ryanair was postponing its planned base in Zadar until 2021, as well as cancelling lots (but not all flights).

With the global situation, it is understandable that Ryanair in Croatia would be operating at reduced capacity, but cancelling flights in July? It seemed a little odd to me.

"Given the overall situation, it is quite certain that the flying season will not start as planned. When it will start, it is difficult to estimate at the moment, which is why Zadar Airport is unfortunately forced to postpone hiring of our seasonal staff until further notice," Zadar Airport spokesperson Nikola Barac told Zadarski List when sent a seasonal employment media request. This has resulted in the postponement of the recruitment of 130 seasonal staff at Zadar Airport. 

Asking around, I was told that ALL flights to Zadar with Ryanair were cancelled by local sources. Really? I found that quite incredible to believe. What I found was all the more bizarre, according to the online booking system on the Ryanair website. 

Zadar is the main market for Ryanair in Croatia, indeed it was the entry point for low-cost flights when the Irish carrier entered the Croatian market in 2007. But Ryanair has expanded to other airports, albeit with more limited services. Dublin to Dubrovnik looks fine at the moment from June 1.  

As does Dublin to Split. Ryanair started flights to both Split and Dubrovnik only last year and currently offer only Dublin to both, as well as Vienna to Dubrovnik, and Stuttgart to Split. 

 Things are looking good from London Stansted to Pula from early May. 

And from London Stansted to Rijeka from June 1. 

But London Stansted to Zadar in July and August?

 In fact, there are only two flights currently bookable from London Stansted to Zadar for the whole of 2020.

What about flights to Zadar for the Hideout Festival on Zrce on June 21-25, 2020?

The Hideout Festival on Zrce Beach near Novalja on the island of Pag is scheduled to take place from June 21-25, 2020, coinciding with the only bookable flights from London to Zadar with Ryanair for the whole year.  

Same story if you are coming from Manchester. Currently, the only two flights available for the whole of 2020 are dates either side of the Hideout Festival.  

But if you are planning to visit Zadar from mainland Europe with Ryanair, there seems to be no problem. From Berlin, above, for example.  

The Viennese can arrive from May 1, 2020. 

And from Brussels, just a day later. 

But from the UK, or Ireland - nothing currently whatsoever, apart from the Hideout Festival flights. 

And of course, the big question is - when will this COVID-19 crisis all be over, and when will flights to Croatia resume?

Nobody knows for sure, of course, but perhaps there is a clue on the Ryanair homepage of one of the movers and shakers of European travel, with their most prominent advert, below. 

If anybody has any concrete information with verifiable links to support the info, please contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Subject Ryanair, and I will happily update. 

How do I get a Ryanair refund?

This is a question I am getting a lot as well, and I am certainly not the best person to ask. It will involve filling in a Ryanair refund form, but for the latest information, check out the COVID-19 update page on the Ryanair website, which has the latest on refunds and disruptions.

You can keep track of the latest Croatia travel advice as part of TCN's ongoing coronavirus coverage in our dedicated section. 

March 19, 2020 - The first case of coronavirus in Dubrovnik has been confirmed, with the symptoms reportedly mild. 

It is 23 days since the first case of coronavirus was confirmed in Croatia, and now coronavirus in Dubrovnik has been confirmed, with one case reported after analysis of tests sent to Zagreb. 

Of the 15 tests sent for analysis, one has tested positive for the virus. 

There will be more details on the situation with coronavirus in Dubrovnik at a press conference at 11:00

Dalmatia and neighbouring Montenegro were coronavirus-free until 2 days ago. The numbers still remain small in Croatia overall (99 cases, 1 death and 5 recoveries), with one case in Dubrovnik, 2 in Split, 1 in Zadar, and 8 in Montenegro. 

We will have a full update on the situation in our daily updates - follow the latest on our dedicated COVID-19 section. 

The Croatian Government has an official website with the latest information on the crisis (Croatian only).

March 14, 2020 - As the buzzwords of quarantine and self-isolation take hold, where did the concept of quarantine come from? Like many progressive things in life, from the very home of Kings Landing - Dubrovnik. 

Croatia really is the most amazing country to live in.

One of the things I love most about it is the constant discovery, and there is perhaps no other country in the world which has contributed inventions and discoveries per capita as Croatia has done. 

The contributions of Nikola Tesla (an ethnic Serb born in Smiljan in modern-day Croatia), as well as inventions such as the pen, the cravat and the parachute are well-known, but I was also surprised to find in my research last year that Croats were also responsible for things as varied as laminate flooring, SMS parking payments, the electric speedometer, and diazepam and other tranquillisers (boy, could I use some now). 

And quarantine. 

Quarantine was first introduced in 1377 in Dubrovnik on Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast, and the first permanent plague hospital (lazaretto) was opened by the Republic of Venice in 1423 on the small island of Santa Maria di Nazareth. You can read more in the academic study - Lessons from the History of Quarantine: from Plague to Influenza A.

The Dubrovnik Republic was a great trading power and very progressive, abolishing slavery more than 600 years ago, for example. 

Croatia is also home to another European first, as the birthplace of organised tourism in Europe on the island of Hvar in 1868, when the legendary climate of Croatia's premier island proved a popular destination for the convalescing aristocrats of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and health tourism on the island which came to be known as the Austrian Madeira became extremely popular. 

Here's hoping that the period of quarantine and self-isolation is short, and we can all soon resume those holiday plans for the glistening waters of the Adriatic. 

For the latest on the coronavirus situation in Croatia, check out the dedicated TCN section, or learn more about Croatia's famous inventions and discoveries. 

Mach 13, 2020 - Valamar, the largest hotel company in Croatia, has decided to temporarily close its hotels in Porec, Rabac, and Dubrovnik due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

Valamar decided to close its hotels in Porec, Rabac, and Dubrovnik temporarily, following the recommendation of the competent authorities and the decision of the County of Istria, which restricted public gatherings, closed schools and kindergartens and restricted use of public spaces, reports Index.hr and T.portal.

The Valamar Riveria Administration's statement is transmitted below in its entirety:

"Following the recommendations of the competent authorities and the decision of the County of Istria, which restricted public gatherings, closed schools and kindergartens and restricted the use of public spaces, Valamar decided to temporarily close the Diamond Hotel in Porec and Sanfior in Rabac. After the crisis headquarters stepped up border controls yesterday for nationals of Germany, Austria and other countries, we also decided to close the Lacroma and Argosy hotels in Dubrovnik.

There is no suspicion or occurrence of COVID-19 in Valamar hotels, but we are not able to provide the guests with the desired level of security, quality of service and experience of the destination in this situation. Given the closure of the schools and kindergartens, we have decided to stand behind our parents first and foremost, so Valamar employees will be on a collective vacation until the end of March. We believe that the National Headquarters is managing this unusual situation very well and it is only responsible to follow their recommendations and decisions with the common goal of preventing this as much as possible.

Tourism is a very important industry, so Valamar will continue to work closely with the competent authorities so that we can continue with preparations for the tourist season as soon as possible.”

The number of cases of coronavirus in Croatia rose from 27 to 31 overnight, Health Minister Vili Beros announced at a 9 am press conference in Zagreb.

There were two new cases in Istria, bringing the total there to 6, and two more in Zagreb, bringing the total to 12. the two Zagreb patients were from the close circle of existing patients, while one of the Istrian cases had returned from Italy, and the other had been in contact with someone from Zagreb who had returned to Switzerland. 

In addition to the daily TCN briefing, you can follow all aspects of TCN's coronavirus coverage in the dedicated COVID-19 section by clicking here.