When it comes to results, Croatia's Include published an impressive 115 percent growth in revenue in the first quarter of the year, and an average selling price growth of almost 40 percent.

As Tomislav Pili/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 23rd of April, 2019, one of the main stars of the Croatian startup scene, entrepreneur Ivan Mrvoš, is continuing to impress. Just two years after Include's first capitalisation through Funderbeam, recapitalisation is about to happen again, aiming this time at almost ten times the amount. Before today's public announcement of the campaign, Include's main man revealed that his company, which is a top Croatian manufacturer of solar powered benches, is collecting part of the finances through Funderbeam while the other part will be provided by private investors.

"After the successful first round of investment back in 2017, when we raised about 3.5 million kuna with a 30 million kuna valuation, we decided to enter a new round of recapitalisation. We didn't set a fixed amount, but we expect that the investment will be at least 20 million kuna, with the potential to reach approximately 30 million kuna. As for Funderbeam's part of the investment, we're expecting to raise about 10 million kuna through the platform,'' said Include's boss Ivan Mrvoš. At the moment, he has secured about 10 million kuna from the Funderbeam platform and is actively discussing the additional funds with several potential investors, including private individuals and venture capital funds.

"Right now, I can't say which investors are involved, but they're people who have led or are currently leading various Croatian industries, which we consider to be a significant indicator," he pointed out. When asked how much shares in Include now sell for and how much the company is valued at, Include's founder explained that things are a bit different now than they were back in 2017.

"The company has four years of business behind it and some remarkable results have come to fruition, so we decided to hire one of the companies from ''The Big Four'' to do a valuation. What I can say is that it was a very intensive process that lasted for several months, and the company was estimated at 110 million kuna last week,'' says Mrvoš.

"The company ended last year with a positive result, and we also continued things successfully during the first quarter of this year, with 60,000 kuna of net profit," Mrvoš revealed.

The collected money will certainly go into the development of existing markets, but also to conquering new markets.

"We intend to strengthen our presence on existing markets and continue to build a global distribution network. In addition, we're beginning with the development of new products that will be complementary for the existing markets, and intended for those same markets, and we'll also get some more advanced equipment for our development and production activities,'' explained the talented young entrepreneur.

The trading of Include's tokens at Funderbeam was stopped on April the 1st this year due to campaign preparation, and the latest market price is 3.5 euros. The director of Funderbeam Damir Bićanić explained that the price of the shares will not be one euro as they usually are in Funderbeam's campaigns, but higher, meaning more specifically that they'll reflect the company's new valuation.

The leading investor, as was the case in 2017, will be Ivana Šoljan who says that Include will certainly pass at least one recapitalisation, and "hopefully maybe go to the stock market in the future.''

"Mr Ivan Mrvoš and his whole team have advanced tremendously. Organisationally, they did well, they wrote regular reports to investors, they're not late with deliveries, they plan things smartly - they're ready for a new round,'' concluded Šoljan.

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Click here for the original article by Tomislav Pili for Poslovni Dnevnik

Close cooperation between Britain and Croatia as Cambridge University students join forces with the Fortenova Group.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of April, 2019, consultants from the University of Cambridge are working on a project to find the best solutions in the field of artificial intelligence and automation for Fortenova's operative companies. It seems that Croatia's Foretnova, the former Agrokor, is entering a new era indeed.

Fortenova Group's values ​​also include a leading role in the implementation of new technologies and cooperation with leading educational institutions in Croatia and across the world. Within this direction, Collaboration with the University of Cambridge, whose team of consultants, presented selected solutions in the field of artificial intelligence and automation to the management of the operative companies of the Fortenova Group. At the same time, companies with great potential to be partners of Fortenova in this area were presented.

Today, artificial intelligence and automation are used in 40 percent of large retail chains and consumer goods manufacturing companies, and it is expected that by 2021, their share will grow to as much as 80 percent. Since these solutions have a significant impact on both revenue and company operating costs, their implementation is totally unavoidable in any company that wants to really be competitive and a have a chance at being a market leader.

Therefore, Fortenova's management has started collaborating with the esteemed British Cambridge University in order to find proper solutions in the field of artificial intelligence and automation that have the greatest potential.

The collaboration of Fortenova's management team and a team of consultants from the University of Cambridge resulted in a detailed review of the international ''ecosystem'' of artificial intelligence and automation and a short selection of potential solutions, and after that, a meeting with the management teams of Fortenova's operative companies and an attempt at identifying the solutions with the greatest potential for application in those companies in the future took place.

Preferred solutions come from the field of image recognition, frameworks, image optimisation, shop-based optimisation on customer-led shopping, advanced customer analytics, which are focused on personalised access and micro segmentation, an extensive insight into market trends and the needs of consumers, and finally, inventory management optimisation. The team of consultants from the University of Cambridge will elaborate business cases for selected solutions in the next stage, followed by the implementation of the chosen pilot project.

Dragan Mrkajić, Fortenova's strategy director said on this occasion: "This cooperation supplements Fortenova's values, which wants to be a leader in the implementation of new technologies and to broaden its cooperation with educational institutions both in Croatia and the rest of the world. As leaders in its business areas, we're privileged to be able to cooperate with Cambridge University's MBA study consultants, as this business management study is considered to be the world leader in education. I consider this cooperation to be extremely productive and useful to our company, as it will definitely bring added value to our way of selling our products and the services we offer to our customers, as well as our supply chain.''

Ivan Babić, director of Fortenova's transformation, expressed his satisfaction with selected solutions: "The quality of final solution choice largely depended on the fact that consultants from the MBA study at the University of Cambridge were able to gain a comprehensive understanding of the way Fortenova does business. This was of crucial importance to the success of the project, including its organisational structure, its business objectives, its operational business and its product portfolio. The project has brought significant benefits to both sides in understanding key global trends, players, and case studies where artificial intelligence has improved business performance in the retail and food industry.''

Antonija Kožul, senior project manager at Fortenova, said: "The gathering together of the best talent and the most advanced technologies together with the enthusiasm of Fortenova's operative companies in their adoption make up the fundamental values ​​of our group. This project is about just that and this is precisely why I consider it to be a privilege that I'm the head of it."

Chayanika Ranasinghe, an MBA consultant from Cambridge University, described the collaboration as follows: "I was very interested in participating in this unique transformation which the Fortenova Group has begun to work on, with a highly motivated and dynamic team.''

Shuntaro Horiuchi, an MBA consultant from the University of Cambridge said on this occasion: "The Fortenova Group's project is striving to introduce new value in established and sophisticated work based on the latest technologies. I'm excited to have had the opportunity to take part in this ambitious project and I expect that this opportunity will accelerate further increase of value for buyers.''

Slaven Štekovic, an MBA consultant at the University of Cambridge, also stressed the regional impact of the project: "The focus of the Fortenova Group's introduction of state-of-the-art technologies in its business to enhance value for its customers was a key factor which motivated me to join this dynamic and intellectually stimulating environment. Along with the experience I've gained at the core of some of the leading high tech innovation projects, I recognise the tremendous value of cooperation with such an influential company in building a pilot project for the entire region of Central and Eastern Europe, and South East Europe.''

This project is the beginning of collaboration between Croatia's Fortenova Group and Britain's University of Cambridge, which will continue in the future through the transfer of knowledge, experience and the best business practices.

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Get your wallets and credit cards ready as something new opens its doors Sesvete near the Croatian capital city of Zagreb, breathing life into an old building and potentially the local economy, too.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 17th of April, 2019, the brand new Five Star Outlet has officially opened its doors in the place of the former Europatrade building and has a great many leading international brands in its rich assortment.

Otherwise, Sesvete's new Five Star Outlet is the very first cosmetics outlet in the Republic of Croatia, covering 1200 square metres of space in total.

Customers from Sesvete and beyond will now be able to purchase products designed for all generations and all kinds of needs in just one place, and the assortment of offered items for sale in the new centre will be constantly changing and being updated so that all the necessary supplies can be obtained at the lowest possible price at any given time without any deteriorated quality in any of the available segments.

Sesvete's new shopping outlet will be the new home to very many hugely popular leading international brands such as Loreal, Nivea, Max Factor, Vileda, Make Up Revolution and Rossman, a high quality and extremely popular German brand that will be found for the first time on the shelves of some Croatian stores.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for much more. If it's just Zagreb and the surrounding area you're interested in, give Total Zagreb a follow or check out Zagreb in a Page.

As Lea Balenovic/Iva Grubisa/Novac writes on the 17th of April, 2019, Croatian tourism's current business model is unsustainable and has some serious challenges, according to Emanuel Tutek, a partner at the Horwath HTL consulting house, who stated this at the very beginning of a conference on the challenges of the Croatian tourism sector at Edward Bernays High School, the co-organiser of which was Jutarnji list.

Since 19 percent of Croatian GDP comes either directly or indirectly from tourism, the unsustainability of the system is a more serious issue, he added.

''First of all, our tourism is an extremely seasonal sector and as much as 86 percent of all tourism activities in Croatia take place during the summer months. It's also problematic that 96 per cent of these activities are realised on the coast and in Zagreb. In translation, this means that we have plenty of room for progress and the development of our tourist offer across the rest of Croatia, as well as the extension of the season. We are well below the European average. For example, if we compare just the peak of the tourist season, ie July and August, there is 10 to 20 times more of a burden on the area and the residents in Croatia than there is in other European countries. Just remember how some of the destinations and beaches look in July or August,'' warned Tutek.

He also added that Croatia has plenty of room for progress and development in the quality of the accommodation it provides. The Croatian hotels that, as Tutek says, are the pearl of Croatia's hospitality, are very much losing the battle with the hotel industry in the rest of Europe, and the alarm that should be enough to wake the country up is also the fact that the revenue made from tourists' overnight stays in Croatia is less every year.

In addition to this, Croatian tourism is feeling the country's ongoing demographic crisis bite hard, and has a human resource problem as a consequence. This is, as was explained by Tutek, actually a global problem. However, since the international labour market is far more competitive than the Croatian one is, foreign countries are filling their gaps with Croatian workers. Croatia is, unfortunately, at an unimpressive 100 of 138 countries in the world according to the labour market competitiveness index. An even more concerning piece of information shared by the Horwath HTL consultant was that Croatia is the last and second to last in the world on the ladder of attracting and retaining workers.

''We have no solution. The answers to this can't just be some lump sums and other initiatives, we need something more fundamental,'' he warned. One of the negative factors in each case is the uncompetitive average salary. In nearby Austria, for example, in the hotel sector, wages are about 122 percent higher. Still, the hotel industry here in Croatia has experienced a great discrepancy in numbers, and they have therefore begun to increase employee salaries for the last two summer seasons, which has been a fruitful decision. With the rise in salaries and expenses, revenue also grew.

In addition to the inadequate management of human resources, huge problems are also created by the Croatian tax policy. Property tax, Tutek said, practically doesn't exist in Croatia. ''We're the champions of how good private landlords have it. Croatia is a tax oasis,'' he claims.

''We want to be competitive, but there are a number of things that we're not even close to, not even in the wider environment. VAT reduction is certainly important, and there is also the question of consistent policies. It is important for us to have a perception of what will happen in the future at some point, but if the policies constantly change then we can't have a stable business,'' said Sanjin Šolić of the Lošinj hotel group Jadranka.

Davor Lukšić, President of the Lukšić Croatia Group, agreed with him, pointing out that Croatia's 25 percent VAT rate is very high, and even with a rate of 13 percent there would still be room for progress. "We have to remain competitive, especially now when other destinations in the Mediterranean are making a come back," Lukšić added.

But if one was to as Croatian Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli, the problem of the high VAT rate is one of the easiest problems to solve in the Croatian tourism industry. The minister claims that the Croatian Government could lower the VAT rate with one decree, bringing it down to 10 or 13 percent, and such a decision is in the government's plans for the beginning of next year.

''We have a problem with having five-star hotels in two star destinations. First of all, we have to start improving the quality of the destination and spend the whole year measuring what's happening and only after a few years will we see whether both residents and tourists are happy, as well as service providers and the environment. If everyone is more or less happy, then it makes sense to invest in a four or five-star hotel,'' stated Minister Cappelli, adding that in Croatia, it often happens that investments are made in luxurious hotels first, but not in the development of the destination in which it is located.

"Well, we have cases where five-star hotels don't have sewage systems but septic tanks," he said. The minister also referred to the initial lecture by Emanuel Tutek about the key challenges facing Croatian tourism. He agreed that there was always room for progress, but he also pointed out that he was tracking the figures daily and that he couldn't bring himself to agree with all the alarming warnings about the unsustainability of Croatian tourism.

''We're a strange people, two years ago there were no tourists and they wanted to get rid of me, now there are a lot of tourists, and they want to get rid of me again, the projections of what's to come in two years keep coming in, and they're already that I'm shaking in my chair,'' said Cappelli, adding that Croatia is spending what it earns and has therefore finally got an investment rating.

''Now the pressure on public finances is being relieved and the taxes on the economy can be reduced slowly,'' he said.

If the Croatian tourism association is asked for their opinion on the matter, this is last chance saloon for this tax relief to actually become a reality. Namely, it is anticipated that hotels could reduce the volume of their investments by as much as thirty percent over the next three to four years. ''We want to warn the government that it must not let that happen. We have to invest, but we expect that the government to create measures to encourage that and not just put us off,'' said Jadranka's Sanjin Šolić.

Dubrovnik has experienced not only growth in terms of tourism but also the improvement of infrastructure in recent years, Lukšić believes. However, despite the wild popularity of this particular southern Croatian city, it has multiple problems during the winter season.

''In the last two years, we have extended the [tourist] season and the so called ''congress season'' has helped a lot. But we all have to sit around the table and design a strategy for the winter season, which is actually the only problem,'' Lukšić said, arousing a grin from Šolić, who, having being on an island, has much bigger problems.

''It's easy for Dubrovnik. Imagine how it is for us to extend the season! You need to get to the island, the bridge is a problem, the bura is a problem, everything is a problem. We're less competitive than our colleagues on the mainland whichever way you turn. The Chinese, the Koreans, whoever comes to Croatia, lands in Zagreb, goes to Plitvice, Split and Dubrovnik, nobody comes to us,'' complained Sanjin Šolić.

That is why his team sat down together at the table and decided to turn to health tourism for which Lošinj has natural resources, a strategy and a future, said Šolić. Another solution for the development of island tourism is golf. Therefore, a location permit is currently being sought for the construction of a golf course with eighteen holes, with which will be a hotel and villa that will have a total of 800 beds.

''These are the two routes we have on Lošinj. People don't play golf in July and August because its too hot. During November, December, January, February and March, the weather is wonderful and we'll fill our capacities that way,'' he noted.

Emanuel Tutek welcomed this discrepancy in Croatia's tourism development strategies at various locations.

''Not all destinations are suffering the same issues. In Dubrovnik, there is a problem with excessive demand, and the quality of the offer needs to be worked on to reduce the number of tourists. In Istria, the offer should be increased. This has, for example, been done in Maistra. Nobody thought it would pay off to build a five-star hotel in Rovinj, but after the construction of the hotel, the rest of the sector was accompanied by the arrival of tourists and the development of the destination.

However, in addition to the respective issues destinations face in Croatia, the eternal problem facing the entire Croatian tourism sector is labour and wages.

''Salaries are a problem, they're still a base for attracting workers,'' said Tutek, agreeing with the CEO of Jadranka, but as he said, it's difficult to increase salaries because there isn't enough revenue.

"When the minister sorts us out with less taxes, I'll give the rest of it in salaries," he stated.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle and business pages for much more.

Click here for the original article by Lea Balenovic and Iva Grubisa for Novac/Jutarnji

As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 16th of April, 2019, in the very first NOA store in Dublin, Ireland, this company from Koprivnica, Croatia, sells mobile phones, televisions and mobile phone accessories all under their own brand.

Croatia's successful Hangar18 company from Koprivnica, which has developed its very own brand of mobile phones, NOA, which has a market share in the domestic field immediately behind giants like Samsung and Apple, has opened its first own NOA store.

The first brand store the company has opened is in the Irish city of Dublin, and this Croatian technology company has stated that it plans a further fifteen such stores in Ireland alone. Additionally, over the next three years, Hangar18 plans to open a total of one hundred of its own NOA stores across Western Europe.

Mario Pintar, Marketing Manager at Hangar18, says this enviably successful Croatian company has changed their approach to developing its sales network. In Eastern markets, with the exception of Croatia, and where they have been operating so far, the company does business via distributors, while in the west, he wants to be in direct contact with the company's customers.

"Customers in Eastern Europe buy mobile phones of up to 150 euros, while in the west, due to the better purchasing power, they're buying more expensive devices, and we see a greater room for growth," explained Pintar. He added that the company's expansion initially started a year ago, and intensive work has been going on on for the past six months.

He didn't want to comment on just how much the company invested, nor did he want offer any comment on much they plan to invest in further expansion. According to data from Business Croatia, Hangar18 saw growth from 242 to 137 million kuna from 2013 to 2017, its exports jumped to an impressive 66.7 million kuna, and its net profit rose from 1.3 to 4.8 million kuna. Mario Pintar says that they already have a warehouse over in Ireland and that they're hiring the first workers for it. He says that on average, the company will require three to four employees per store, and potentially even more for sales and management.

"Our colleague Tihana Magdić has been living in Dublin for a long time, so that's why we started with Ireland. She was promoted to country manager, she's well acquainted with the market, and the shopping centre we first entered was a great partner and it was very easy to arrange everything with them,'' Pintar said.

Pintar explained that in the west, Croatia's Hangar18 will compete in the B category of brands, but as the first choice of those who instead of A brands want the Best Buy mobile.

"What sets us apart is the fact that we give customers the functionality of A brand at a fair price, and then the Noa Premium Care warranty covers the first twelve months for damages such as screen breakages and water damage, and our ''after sales support,'' and we open our authorised NOA service in every country we enter,'' explained Pintar.

He added that after Ireland, Croatia's Hangar18 plans to open stores in other European countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain. However, he noted the fact that they hadn't forgotten about the eastern markets. For example, in Croatia alone, there are fifteen retail outlets where they sell various brands of ICT equipment. "Recently, we've been able to directly export to Russia as a third company from Croatia, which opens opportunities for us in both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan,'' concluded Hangar18's Pintar.

Make sure to follow our dedicated Made in Croatia and business pages for more on business in Croatia, investment in Croatia, products and services from Croatia and much more.

Click here for the original article by Bernard Ivezic for Poslovni Dnevnik

While bleak and uninspiring stories about the state of the Croatian economy and doing business in Croatia continue to circulate across news and media portals as well as in newspapers, not everything is so bleak, you just need to look a little harder. Croatia's AD Plastik has contracted brand new jobs for the European Union market worth a massive 46.8 million euros.

As SEEbiz writes on the 16th of April, 2019, Croatia's AD Plastik d.d. has contracted the new jobs for the European Union for the PSA and FCA Group.

The job of the production of speaker carriers for the Citroen Picasso and C-Elysee PSA Group cars was contracted, which is worth 1.7 million euros, with the start of production scheduled for 2020 with a projected eight-year duration. With the very same buyer, the production of side panels for the Citroen C3 in the value of an additional three million euros, with the start of production planned in 2020, is also in the works, with a projected duration of four years.

New operations for the production of guardrails/handrails for several PSA Group vehicles (Peugeot 208, Peugeot 2008, Citroen DS3 Crossback and Opel Corsa) have been agreed with a total value of 20 million euros attached to them, with a projected ten-year duration, and the works begining during 2019. The Opel Adam Crossback is yet another vehicle from the aforementioned group, for which the engine manufacturing, costing 1.4 million euros, has been contracted with Croatia's AD Plastik, with the anticipated start of serial production being next year, and the duration of the project standing at seven years.

Croatia's AD Plastik d.d. also arranged and contracted 20.7 million euros' worth of new jobs for the FCA Group for the Jeep Compass and Fiat 500e cars. For the Fiat 500e, interior components and air intakes will be produced at AD Plastik's factories, and the total value of the project is 13.9 million euros. The project duration is projected at eight years and serial production is planned for 2020.

For the Jeep Compass, handgrip production contracted at 6.8 million euros has been agreed and the start of serial production is planned for next year with an estimated four year project duration.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for much more on doing business in Croatia, products and services from Croatia, manufacturing in Croatia and much more.

As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 14th of April, 2019, Croatia's Nocturiglow is currently the biggest startup ''surprise'' in the Republic of Croatia. The story of this startup, which won best pitch at the first Investors Conference @ Algebra Lab, has accelerated beyond all possible expectations.

The Nocturiglow team has developed a low-tech care product for the elderly and infirm which has the same name as the company itself, for those who struggle to get up to go to the bathroom to urinate, or for those who simply cannot for whatever reason. The only, conditionally speaking that is, "technological" thing that Nocturiglow's ''bowl'' possesses is that it has fluorescent elements which make it glow in the dark, which is why it's easy to locate and use during the night. There is a female and a male version.

Nocturiglow's Ivan Babić politely declined to show an image of the design of Nocturiglow's new product, because he is currently in the process of having this intellectual property protected for sale on the EU market.

"We're completely low tech. That was our whole goal, because our competition doesn't focus on quality and user experience, and that's why we think we have room for success," Babić says. He added that Nocturiglow will develop other care products aimed at the older generation in the future, and they will also incorporate sensors, which of course means adding more technology.

Like most millenials today, unsatisfied with the potential income and opportunities that he could accomplish with a master's degree in logistics and management here in Croatia, he was looking for a stroke of luck which would take him down a different path, and so he left Croatia. For three years, he worked as a carer for people with disabilities over in Germany, a job which helped him arrive to this idea in the first place.

"When the STEP-RI startup incubator issued a tender, I applied, I resigned from my job in Germany and came back to Croatia to develop my own business," Babić says. In the past six months, he has made a prototype on his computer with his partner Sara Gunjača and his designer, Ivo Blažinčić.

Now he is preparing to create the very first functional prototype. His plan is to make fifty copies to be shared by test users. Previously, this type of thing was tested through surveys among employees of private and public healthcare institutions.

"We have also noticed that our product is not only good for patients but also for healthcare institutions, because it facilitates jobs for caregivers, as well as insurance companies," added Babić.

He noted that he wants to start selling Nocturiglow's brand new product through his own web store by the beginning of 2020, while the ''attacking'' the EU market through Amazon. He also wants to develop sales to various  healthcare institutions. He has even been in talks with an American company, a partner of Kickstarter, about production. Currently, however, investors haven't come knocking at his door, yet.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for much more.

Click here for the original article by Bernard Ivezic for Poslovni Dnevnik

The problem of emigration in Croatia has been further underlined by weak economic indicators, after Bulgaria, Croatia is the most underdeveloped country in the EU, explains economist Zdeslav Šantić.

As Tomislav Pili/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 14th of April, 2019, bringing Croatian average salaries closer to the average salaries of Western Europe, and strengthening institutions, are major factors which could significantly reduce the outflow of people from Croatia to work overseas, according to a study by the Brussels think tank, Centre for Economic and Political Studies (CEPS), which was published last week.

In a piece of research entitled "Mobile Workers of the European Union: A Challenge for Public Finance?" authors Cinzia Alcidi and Daniel Gros discuss current trends in labour mobility within the European Union, and the challenges faced by the countries from which such a workforce leaves.

The research suggests that in the last ten years, the mobility of workers has increased considerably in the EU. While in 2007 only 2.5 percent of workers had left their home countries, in 2017, the share of the mobile working population of the European Union grew to 3.8 percent. Increasing the mobility of European workers is the result of two factors, states CEPS. The first is the enlargement of the EU to the east having occurred in two waves, and mobility has increased much more, especially after the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the EU back in 2007. Apart from the east-west direction, recent years have seen more labour force mobility from the southern EU member states to the north, due to debt crisis and unemployment growth.

The latest data referenced by CEPS shows that Romania, Lithuania and Croatia have the highest share of workforce abroad, far above the European average. Nearly 20 percent of Romanian citizens earn their money in other EU member states, in Lithuania it is 14.8 percent, and in Croatia, 13.9 percent. For Croatian economists, such data doesn't really come as a surprise.

"Increasing emigration over the last few years was expected, and the experience of other new EU member states has shown that after EU accession and the labour market opening, emigration strongly increased, and in Croatia, the problem of emigration is further underlined by weak [domestic] economic indicators.

Croatia had one of the longest recessions in Europe, lasting six years in total. At the same time, even after recovery began, the growth dynamics remained insufficient in bringing Croatia closer to the EU's economic growth. Today, Croatia, after Bulgaria, is the least developed country,'' says OTP banka's economist Zdeslav Šantić.

"The accelerated outflow of the working-age population is particularly evident with the opening up of [Croatia's access to] the single European market since 2013, which was further strengthened by the deep recession in Croatia. However, with the exit from the migrant crisis, emigration from Croatia, especially among the working-age population, has not diminished but accelerated. Migration motives can be different - from differences in incomes, to employment opportunities, to structural factors,'' emphasised Zrinka Živković Matijević, an analyst from RBA.

"The very last factors - a weak institutional environment and (unfavourable) expectations of future economic prosperity (quality of education, satisfaction and trust in politics, future opportunities for generations to come) - are the most common motives for migration of citizens of a particular state who have a higher level of education. In that context, it isn't surprising that the countries which the most emigration are those with the lowest social progress index.

Regarding the convergence of wages, the fact is that at the very beginning of the transition process, Croatia had a high exchange rate, ie, a higher level of wage adjustment with the EU compared to other new members, following only Slovenia, the RBA analyst said.

"Meanwhile, the pace of wage growth and the standard of measured purchasing power parity in other countries has increased considerably since 2004, while GDP measured by the purchasing power parity in relation to the EU 28 average remains at approximately the same level (around 60 percent of the EU average), stagnant or comparatively behind,'' explained Živković Matijević.

Unfortunately, in Croatia, the problem of emigration is not a consequence of current economic trends, Šantić added, saying that the high perception of corruption and nepotism, inefficient state institutions, the huge importance the state carries in overall economic trends and the lack of transparency in the public sector further encourage young people to leave.

"When talking about the emigration of young people, it's worth mentioning that there's a lack of a housing care strategy. There's no regulated rental market yet, but young people have only the option of buying property through multi-year borrowing, and government measures are aimed solely at boosting property purchases,''

An interesting detail in the CEPS survey is the share of faculty-educated mobile workers. Although the usual theory often claims that those who find it the "easiest to leave'' are the highly educated, research shows that this is not the case, especially in the case of new EU members such as Croatia.

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Click here for the original article by Tomislav Pili for Poslovni Dnevnik

As SibenikIN writes on the 13th of April, 2019, Croats have taken yet another EU record, and it isn't the most encouraging one economy-wise. This time, Croatia has taken the crown when it comes to the age until which young people continue to live with their parents, Eurostat's data shows.

The only country in which young people leave the parental nest later than Croatia is Malta. While Maltese youth tend to leave the parental home at 32.2 years of age on average, the average is 31.9 years old in Croatia, according to Eurostat's data on the matter.

In comparison, in Sweden, the average age at which people leave the parental home is 21 years old, in Denmark it is 21.1 years old, Luxembourg id 21.4 years old, and in Finland, people tend to leave at around 21.9 years old. At the other end of the scale, after Malta and Croatia, come Slovakia (30.8 years old), Italy (30.1 years old), Greece (29.4 old), and Spain (29.3 years old), reports Index.

While this is immediately rather discouraging generally, in Croatia, however, the situation has slightly improved compared to how the situation was back in 2015, when the country took first place, and Malta came second. Back then, the average age that Croats left the parental home was 31.4 years old, and for the Maltese, 31.1 years old. A map of the European Union, published by Eurostat, also clearly shows that at least in this respect, Croatia is at the forefront of the EU - just where it shouldn't be.

According to Eurostat data for 2016, more than half (58.7 percent) of young Croats aged between 25 and 34 were still living with their parents, putting Croatia in first place for this statistic. The average at the EU level is only 28.5 percent, twice as low as it is in Croatia, reports Index.

The Nordic countries which are part of the EU have done the best by far in this respect: Denmark (3.8 percent), Finland (4.3 percent) and Sweden (6 percent). After Croatia come Slovakia (55.5 percent), Greece (55 percent), Malta (51.5 percent) and Italy (48.9 percent), at the extreme opposite end of the scale.

Eurostat also found that in each EU member state, females tend to move out of their parental homes earlier than males do. The biggest gender difference was recorded in Romania, where the age for women is 25.6, and 30.3 years for men. The second is Bulgaria with 26.5 for women and 31.1 for men, while Croatia is once again very close to the top, in third place: the average age for leaving Croatia is 30.4 years of age for Croatian women, and 33.4 years of age for Croatian men.

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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.

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