April 1, 2019 - Most of you are already aware by now that American Airlines will connect Croatia and the United States for the first time in 28 years. Namely, the Oneworld member will join Philadelphia and Dubrovnik seasonally, from June 7 to September 27, 2019. 

As AvioRadar exclusively reports, in addition to the already announced three flights a week between Philadelphia and Dubrovnik, American Airlines has added yet another trip to operate on Sundays in September, set to depart and arrive at the same time as the other three weekly flights. You can see the timetable below. 

Ex Yu Aviation previously reported that American Airlines is getting ready to launch its Dubrovnik service.

"Wherever we see opportunities and demand, we'll go. As with the opening of our Dubrovnik - Philadelphia line, we are very specific about demand. Central Europe has the greatest growth potential. We are preparing to add more and more new links. We want to continue to lead the market," American Airlines' Managing Director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa Sales, Tom Lattig, said. 

And there could even be additional flights next year. 

"We will look closely at the results for the first year of operations. We are always looking at new opportunities to grow our network to ensure we offer service to where our customers wish to go,” Lattig added. 

"This pilot project from American Airlines will grow over the coming years to include more American cities as well as new airlines. We have been working intensively on the US market for years and it seems that this work is starting to bear fruit,” Romana Vlašić of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board said. 

And the connection to Philadelphia has already shown impressive bookings. 

"We have been negotiating the Philadelphia service with American Airlines for years. Advanced bookings have so far been excellent and the Dubrovnik Tourism Board has launched a marketing campaign in the States,” Dubrovnik Tourist Board director Romana Vlašić added,

Recall, the American Airlines service will operate using a 209-seat Boeing 767-300ER aircraft with a capacity of 28 high-class seats in business class and 181 seats in economy class, and Wi-Fi services will be available throughout the entire flight.

Airline company American Airlines currently owns 955 aircraft and employs 122,000 people. They operate 6,700 flights a day to 350 destinations. Philadelphia is the largest hub of American Airlines on the east coast.

Ex-Yu Aviation also reported March 25, 2019, that the newly formed organization VisitUSA Croatia hopes to expand operations between Croatia and the US. 

"We are primarily looking to secure services between Zagreb and New York as this route would fuel travel between the two countries, however, at this point, we do not have any concrete announcements for a new year-round service. This will only happen if a number of stakeholders get involved in the project. Croatia is a regional tourism powerhouse and we must also use this advantage to position ourselves as a leader in outbound US travel for the entire region,” said VisitUSA Croatia. 

Robert Kohorst, the US Ambassador to Croatia, is also a fan of the idea. 

"This new nonstop service between the USA and Croatia sends a strong and positive message to the tourism sector. I am hopeful that all of the planned nonstop flights this summer will be full and that it will lead to the launch of new routes, which will, in turn, generate additional tourism and business exchange". 

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

April 1, 2019 - Welcome back, Break Time Dubrovnik and Split (Trogirska 8)! 

As Novac writes on the 27th of March, 2019, tourists staying in both hotels and private accommodation in Dubrovnik are on average 42 years of age, of a higher level of education and possess decent paying power. They typically spend 170 euros per day on average, which is 90 euros more than the average stands in seven other coastal Croatian counties, according to a survey taken by TOMAS Dubrovnik 2018.

This research was conducted by Zrinka Marušić from the Institute for Tourism, for the needs of the City of Dubrovnik, only for Dubrovnik, conducted on a sample of 1,600 respondents.

"Dubrovnik attracts a specific sort of guest, due to broadcasting markets that aren't specific to the rest of Croatia. According to the motives of the visits, we can no longer speak of a [typical] holiday destination," Marušić said.

Namely, while visiting Croatia's southernmost city, guests are mostly attracted to new experiences, gastronomy and cultural sights, as well as swimming, local portal Dubrovački vjesnik writes.

According to the survey's data, the average daily spending of stationary guests staying in Dubrovnik is 170 euros, of which about half or 87 euros refers to accommodation, food and drink outside the accommodation facility accounts for 43 euros, culture and entertainment accounts for 14 euros, purchases account for 11 euros, etc.

The biggest spenders are from non European, more distant countries, topped quite unsurprisingly by the Americans, followed by tourists from Australia and from various Asian countries. Two thirds of Dubrovnik's stationary guests arrive in Dubrovnik with their partner, and 86 percent of them who visit the city are doing so for the very first time.

Research has shown that Croatia's long-standing tourism Mecca is a distinct airport destination as more than 85 percent of the respondents arrived by air. As many as 70 percent of the southern Dalmatian city's guests stay from four to seven days.

The city's visitors are most pleased with the beauty of the city, the levels of safety and security, the hospitality, and the typically high quality of the provided accommodation. They are least satisfied, however, with local transportation, shopping opportunities and the intolerable crowding and traffic in public places and on the city's numerous beaches.

The survey also included visitors who arrived in Dubrovnik on a cruise ship and shows that they are on average 49 years old and spend on average 51 euros per day. The most extravagant among them are once again Americans, and the most frugal are our neighbours from across the Adriatic, the Italians.

As many as 92 percent of the tourists asked were visiting Dubrovnik for the very first time, discouragingly, they are mostly ''one-day visitors'' and remain in Dubrovnik for a mere five and a half hours. Most often, they visit sights and eat at restaurants, and these guests are by far the least satisfied with the shopping opportunities and the total lack of organisation of the traffic and the huge crowds.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle and travel pages for much more. If it's just Dubrovnik you're interested in, give Total Dubrovnik a follow.

The City of Dubrovnik wants 30 million kuna and 30 percent of future revenue for the use of the popular Srđ cable car without a concession contract.

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of March, 2019, the several year long ''argument'' over the concession of the Srđ cable car has escalated to the extent it has because the City of Dubrovnik filed a lawsuit against Excelsa nekretnine (real estate) owned by the Lukšić family, accusing them of the unlawful acquisition of money. The amount that City of Dubrovnik is seeking for the use of the popular cable car without a concession agreement is 30 million kuna, as Dubrovnik's mayor Mato Franković announced last week.

He also explained that DORH had given the company a deadline which is the end of this month to comply with the law of the Republic of Croatia, to pay a concession fee to both the City of Dubrovnik and to the state, and by April the 1st, they are obliged to sign a concession agreement with the City of Dubrovnik.

If this doesn't happen, the cable car will be closed because its use would then be illegal, Mato Franković said, adding that a new report showed that the concession fee of 15 percent is too low and the belief is that it should be 30 percent. At the next session of Dubrovnik's City Council, a proposal to annul the old motion and to propose a new one will take place. In an interview with Poslovni Dnevnik, Anto Rusković, the director of Excelsa nekretnine explained why a concession contract has not yet been signed and that the company will not agree to an even higher fee than the one which was previously proposed.

Do you admit that there is a 30 million kuna debt to the City of Dubrovnik? Do you consider that the city's claim is justified?

The City of Dubrovnik filed a lawsuit against Excelsa nekretnine in the amount of 20.1 million kuna, and Excelsa nekretnine will pay as much as is determined by a final court judgment. Given that such verdicts still haven't come to pass, and in order to ensure that the City will be able to be paid if the court's verdict goes in its favour, we have offered the City of Dubrovnik the appropriate means of securing its eventual receivables in good will. It should be stressed that, if [any debt] exists at all, then it has arisen because the City of Dubrovnik hasn't offered a conclusion to the concession contract to date.

Why has a concession agreement between Excelsa nekretnine and the City of Dubrovnik not been signed yet?

Excelsa nekretnine has applied for a concession, with the concessionary terms agreed with the City of Dubrovnik, filed in August 2015, while the City of Dubrovnik hadn't issued a concession decision in accordance with the agreed terms until April 2018. In the meantime, the city brought in and then revoked several concession-related decisions, and the last one from April 2018 hasn't yet been implemented. It's necessary to clarify that we have been seeking concessions since 2010, but we had to wait for the applicable legislation by the state. The law granting concessions to cable cars entrusted to local self-government units was passed in 2014 and then we started negotiations with the city, finally agreeing on the concession conditions in July 2015. Since then, the process has only become more complex and has led us to the situation in which we find ourselves today. If the concession contract was signed in 2015 as was agreed, the City of Dubrovnik would have got its concession fee the entire time and there would be no dispute today.

Is the closure of the cable car expected?

In the potential situation of the closure of the cable car, all sides will suffer significant losses, especially Excelsa nekretnine and its partners, since the work of the cable car provides jobs for a significant number of people.

Furthermore, if the cable car closes, the state budget will lose part of the tax revenue, and the City of Dubrovnik will not receive any revenue from the concession. It's important to note that since the beginning [of the work of the cable car] Excelsa nekretnine has contributed more than 122 million kuna in taxes and contributions to the state budget, predominantly based on the cable car's business.

We believe that the scenario of its potential closure should be avoided, but we're not in a position to make such a decision. Not only are we disappointed in the way the authorities are acting, but we're also frustrated by the fact that, unsuccessfully, we've repeatedly tried to solve this problem with a reasonable and rational approach. Unfortunately, this negative attitude towards investors will not contribute to improving the investment climate in Croatia.

Do you have a license from the Ministry of Transport to work on the lift and on what basis does has it been provided?

Excelsa nekretnine received approval from the Ministry of Transport for the carriage of passengers by cable car before the cable car even started working back in 2010. At that time, such approval was granted instead of a concession due to the long duration of the concession-issuing procedure, as is written in the very approval. Had Excelsa nekretnine not received explicit permission to carry out activities of the carriage of passengers by cable car, we wouldn't have even begun doing so.

The mayor has announced that he will seek 30 percent of the revenue in the concession contract, which should be signed by April the 1st. Are you ready to agree to that?

We still haven't had any insight [into that] and we don't have access to the new expert testimony mentioned by the mayor which points to the need to increase the fee by 30 percent, so we can't comment on it either. On the basis of the previous expert testimony, we can see that such fees, twice the amount previously agreed, is unfounded. The City Council already approved the concession fee in April last year. We consider that the City of Dubrovnik should send a contract under the previously agreed terms and end this whole situation, which has already been going on for far too long.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for much more. If it's just Dubrovnik and the extreme south of Dalmatia you're interested in, give Total Dubrovnik a follow.

Click here for the original article/interview by Marija Crnjak for Poslovni Dnevnik

It’ll be another busy year for Croatian airports as some 11 million passengers are expected to travel through them in 2019. Recall, this is quite an increase from last year’s 10.5 million. But who’s counting. 

Here’s a breakdown of what Croatia’s nine commercial airports expect this year, courtesy of Ex-Yu Aviation on March 21, 2019. 

Zagreb Airport: The airport in Croatia’s capital expects a 5% increase in passengers in 2019, with a 3% growth in operations. This is thanks to several carriers boosting capacities this summer, including Iberia, Vueling, LOT Polish Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Eurowings. Many other airlines, however, will expand operations. 

Split Airport: It’ll be an exciting year for Split airport, which will open their new terminal in June. As works are still aggressively underway to meet the summer deadline, Pero Bilas, Deputy General Manager of Split Airport, announced the usual 5 to 10% increase in passengers this year. Split airport will also see 50 airlines this summer, with many new carriers including Air France, British Airways, Luxair, Ryanair and Laudamotion.

Dubrovnik Airport: It’ll be another solid year for Dubrovnik airport, which expects passenger growth of 4.59% in 2019. Most travelers are expected from the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Nearly 70 airlines will operate to the city this year, and most exciting is the launch of the American Airlines flight from Philadelphia, which will connect the US to Croatia for the first time in 28 years. Also impressive is that Flydubai will continue with trips this summer and Ryanair will launch flights to Dubrovnik. A significant increase in traffic should be seen from London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Dublin said Dubrovnik airport general manager Frano Luetić.

Pula Airport: After a record 2018, Pula airport projects growth of 7% this year and expects to handle 750,000 travelers. Eleven thousand flights will operate out of the airport in 2019, with airlines EasyJet, Laudamotion, TUI Airways, Jet2, and Condor all introducing new services. Brexit, however, could affect the airport this year, as 32% of passengers traveling through Pula are British. 

Zadar Airport: It’ll be a big year for Zadar airport as Ryanair introduces eight new routes from the city. Easyjet will add two new lines, while Iberia Express, Air Serbia, Transavia, Laudamotion and Condor will launch seasonal flights this summer. Zadar airport will count 16 airlines and 51 trips to 31 destinations in Europe this year and should count an additional 100,000 passengers to last year’s 603,819. 

Rijeka Airport: Lufthansa, Air Serbia, TUI Airways and Volotea will launch operations at Rijeka airport this year, which should see a 16% increase in passengers. Operations at Rijeka airport should also increase by 6%. Many airlines will also boost activities to Rijeka, such as Transavia, who will increase flights by 300% compared to last year. 

Osijek Airport: A growth of 11% and 74,300 travelers are expected at Osijek airport this year. While Wizz Air will boost operations on its Basel service, Eurowings will begin their service from Cologne forty days earlier. 

Brač Airport: Dalmatia’s island airport should see around 31,000 travelers in 2019, which is the same as last year. Recall, the airport is currently in the process of expanding its runway and terminal, which is the primary focus. Works should begin in 2020. 

Lošinj Airport: To conclude, the seasonal Lošinj airport will maintain flights from Zagreb and Lugano on Silver Air this summer, while the Czech carrier will introduce a new operation to Venice twice a week, replacing their Pula route. 

You can read the full report on Ex-Yu Aviation. 

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

The Pearl of the Adriatic is known for its wealth of natural beauty in addition to its rich list of historical and cultural attractions. Dubrovnik is visited by millions from around the world year on year, and in addition to its magnificent walls, which are among the most impressive Medieval structures which are still standing today in Europe, its cable car which attracts seemingly endless queues during the summer months is unarguably among its top tourist attractions.

While the typical ''fights'' about Dubrovnik's cable car are almost identical to those frequently had over the old city walls - the price, there appears to be much more going on under the surface when it comes to perhaps the most expensive three minute ride you'll ever take.

For a single adult, a mere three minute cable car ride from just above the Old City of Dubrovnik to the top of mount Srđ and back comes with a price tag of 150 kuna. Dubrovnik's locals get it cheaper, however many avoid the cable car entirely, opting instead to hike or drive up the rugged 412 metre mountain which towers over the city.

Srđ is, despite the apparently eternally increasing cost of the use of the cable car, a unique must-see location when in Dubrovnik. The mountain provides stunning views over the extreme south of Dalmatia, the sparkling Adriatic sea and the Elaphite islands (Lopud, Koločep (Kalamota) and Šipan), and when turning around, a view over the mountainous and somewhat baron interior of neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, the border of which is extremely close to Dubrovnik (Ivanica).

In addition, a restaurant and the Homeland War Museum sits at the top of Srđ, housed in an unassuming Napoleonic building known as Fort Imperijal. The museum should be visited by all those wanting to learn more and pay their respects to the sacrifice made by Dubrovnik's brave defenders during the Yugoslav and Serbo-Montenegrin attacks on the UNESCO protected city in the not so distant past.

Alright, now we're done talking about Srđ as a destination, let's get to the point. 150 kuna per ride or not, it seems that one of Dubrovnik's top attractions, the cable car, could be threatened with closure, according to a report from RTL vijesti (news).

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of March, 2019, according to Dubrovnik's mayor Mato Franković, DORH (State Attorney's Office of the Republic of Croatia) has given the somewhat ''famous'' Lukšić family company until the first April to pay huge compensation to the City of Dubrovnik and to the state, and to sign a concession agreement. Otherwise, the iconic cable car will be suspended.

A 150 kuna price tag for a three minute ride up a mountain is a bit steep (no pun intended, well, maybe a bit), and as prices for some of Dubrovnik's main attractions continue to rise, many tourists are beginning to become disillusioned with the Pearl of the Adriatic's offer. "For 150 kuna, I think the ride is too short, but the view is fantastic," said Indian tourists Karthi and Sushma.

It is precisely that beautiful view that makes the cable car as popular of an attraction as it is, and there is always row after row of tourists standing along the poorly laid out street with no shade (which also acts as a bus stop for regular city buses and for the airport shuttle) regardless of the ticket price.

The cable car's turnover stands at about 60 million kuna per year, Excelsa real estate accounts for about 65 percent of the net profit, while the City of Dubrovnik has apparently never even received even one kuna in revenue from the cable car. Could all that be about to change in a matter of mere days? Apparently so.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and news pages for more. If it's just Dubrovnik and the extreme south of Dalmatia you're interested in, give Total Dubrovnik a follow.

March 18, 2019 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Dubrovnik, and Split.

March 17, 2019 - The Croatia rugby team and Oxford University continue their years of comradery with a rugby match in Dubrovnik next month. 

Organized by representatives of HTZ in London and the Tourist Board of Dubrovnik, the Irish national air carrier Aer Lingus and Cork Airport promoted Dubrovnik in Ireland's second-largest city, which was attended by more than 80 travel agents, reports HRTurizam on March 15, 2019. 

Introducing the new direct Aer Lingus service between Cork and Dubrovnik, which will run twice a week starting May 4, representatives of Aer Lingus and Cork Airport, Jenny Rafter and Brian Gallagher, highlighted the above-average expectations regarding the availability of the new service.

"This event has proven to be an excellent example of exchanging experiences and ideas of the tourism and aviation industry of Croatia and Ireland. We have extremely high expectations regarding the availability of direct flights and with great impatience we await their launch in May. The enormous response of the agents added confirmation that Dubrovnik is an exciting destination in Ireland and we expect that interest will be reflected throughout Croatia,” said Brian Gallagher.

“We were expecting about forty agents and media, and it was twice as big, which is proof of the incredible appetite of the Irish tourist market for Dubrovnik. Ireland is ready for something new and different, and Dubrovnik meets all the requirements to become the main favorite among Irish tourists,” added Jenny Rafter.

"This interactive and educational event has confirmed that Dubrovnik as a destination keeps pace with the trends dominated by cultural and entertainment content and authentic eno-gastronomic experiences. If we add to the fact that the Irish economy is on the upward path, and the Irish tourists are still large consumers looking for new and inspiring destinations, Dubrovnik has the potential to establish itself as this year's hit destination on the Irish market,” concluded Ivana Shiell, representative of the Croatian National Tourist Board in London.

A presentation was held for the agents which revealed the comprehensive potential of the destination, from the vibrant historical and cultural heritage to tourist capacities and numerous events throughout the year. According to the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, this successful evening was aimed at convincing the agents of the quality and authenticity of Dubrovnik’s wine and gastronomy offer alongside Dubrovnik’s specialties, Croatian wines and the sounds of klapa music. 

Aer Lingus now connects Ireland and Croatia with direct flights from Split, Pula, and Dubrovnik.

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

March 14, 2019 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Pula, Dubrovnik, and Split.