ZAGREB, 28 July 2022 - Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac on Wednesday opened in Split a conference on the green and digital transformation of family and small hotels, organised by the National Association of Small and Family Hotels.

A new brand in family and small hotel management - eco green hotels - was presented at the event, the Tourism and Sports Ministry said in a statement.

Addressing the event, Brnjac said that small and family hotels have a very important role in moving away from mass-scale, seasonal tourism and reorienting oneself towards sustainability and greater quality, welcoming the initiative to introduce the new brand.

She noted that the importance of small and family hotels was also recognised in the new strategy for the development of sustainable tourism in the period until 2030 and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), and that efforts would be made to direct as much as possible of the HRK 2.2 billion (€293 million) intended for tourism, towards entrepreneurs.

A total of HRK 1.2 billion (€160 million) is intended for direct investments in the private sector, including HRK 720 million (€96 million) for hotels, to help them transform Croatia into a year-round destination.

Brnjac said that strategic activities would focus on the green and digital transition, social responsibility of tourism, education and accessible tourism for all.

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ZAGREB, 14 May 2022 - Ombudsman for Persons with Disabilities Anka Slonjšak on Saturday issued a statement on the occasion of International Day of Families, observed on 15 May, emphasising sustainable urban policies, in line with this year's theme, highlighted by the UN for this day: "Families and Urbanization".

The United Nations underscores on its website that "urbanization is one of the most important megatrends shaping our world and the life and wellbeing of families worldwide."

This year’s theme, "Families and Urbanization", aims to raise awareness on the importance of sustainable, family-friendly urban policies.

Slonjšak says that in Croatia, persons with disabilities are still struggling to achieve their fundamental right to a home and life in a family.

Institutionalisation and admission of persons with disabilities to institutions due to an undeveloped network of support that should enable them to live with their families has a devastating impact on entire families and denies disabled persons the right to live with their families, the ombudsman warns in her statement.

Slonjšak particularly warns about the non-availability of non-institutional social and health services in rural communities, which makes families with members with disabilities move to larger urban areas.

The ombudsman says that even though persons with disabilities are guaranteed the right to marriage, the right to found a family, the right to intimate relationships, sexual activities and childbearing and the right to be foster and adoptive parents, those rights often are unattainable for them.

In this context, she raised her voice against the negative stereotype about persons with disabilities not being able to care for children or get married.

She also calls for pro-active measures that will make it possible for persons with disabilities to exercise those rights.

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ZAGREB, 24 Jan 2022 - Two new play centres and toy libraries for children from disadvantaged families will be opened in the northern Međimurje region in February, and the project, financed with EU money, is adapted to Roma children and families.

UNICEF and 11 partners are implementing a pilot project as part of "Phase III – Testing the Child Guarantee in the EU Member States", a programme aimed at enabling children to access basic services such as health care, education, nutritious food, quality housing conditions and childcare.

It focuses primarily on children with disabilities, children from disadvantaged families and children - members of ethnic minorities.

The project is being implemented in seven Međimurje communities, where, as many as 40% of children aged 3-6 are not included in pre-school education.

Intervention focuses on three areas - services of child protection and family support, early intervention services, and access to pre-school education.

In addition to an existing play centre, the new play centres to be opened will be places for informal child education and learning through play. The play centres and toy libraries will cover more than 450 children, they will employ three education experts, plus three Roma assistants to help adapt activities to Roma ethnic minority families.

The project also includes three carefully designed training courses for 55 kindergarten teachers.

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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