May 29, 2021 - According to the eVisitor system, there are currently 85,000 tourists in Croatia. Germans in Croatia take the lead, who are already Croatia's most loyal and most numerous foreign guests. Namely, there are more German tourists in Croatia than all other foreigners combined!

To put things into perspective, of the 85,000 tourists in Croatia, as many as 40,000 are Germans. As of Saturday, Slovaks, Hungarians, and Czechs will arrive en masse, and 30,000 have already bought tickets to the Adriatic, 24 Sata reported on Friday.

Last week, the daily number of tourists in Croatia was around a modest 45,000. Last weekend and the Pentecost, as expected, brought growth and another 40,000 new guests, and the good news is that they are all still staying on the Croatian coast.

Croatian tourists come in second, with 12,000 currently in Croatian tourist destinations, followed by Slovenes (5,500), Austrians (5,000), Poles (4,000), Czechs (3,000), and even, which is somewhat unexpected, 1,200 American tourists! 

There are still much fewer guests than the record 2019 when 230,000 tourists were registered in Croatia on the same day in May, but it is much better than last year when Croatia counted only 22,000 guests on the same day in May.

Many, therefore, consider the current result a good start and confirmation that in 2021, more guests and overnight stays can be expected than last year and at least 60 percent of tourist traffic than what the hosts had in the best tourist year (2019) so far.

As of Saturday, this will be supported by mass arrivals from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. Namely, the first train with Czech tourists left Prague on Friday - with about 400 tourists. RegioJet trains will regularly bring them on holiday to the Adriatic this summer! 

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

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

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

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

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

Credits: Dubrovnik Tourist Board

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

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

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

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

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

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes on the 25th of June, 2019, although he's a German in his head, he's a Croat in his heart, as Ivan Barjašić says for and about himself, and he's grown particularly fond of the Croatian market, for which he has great plans as he brings his business over to Croatia.

Barjašić has been in the consultancy business for years now, and during his time working with two major German consultancy companies, he also met with the world of Croatian business, including Croatian companies like AD Plastik and Viro from Virovitica.

"It was precisely the decision of a German company in which I worked to withdraw from the Croatian market and cease cooperation with local clients was a turning point, which led to the establishment of Frontem Consulting last year, which has offices in Munich and Manchester, and soon I hope in Zagreb,'' explained Barjašić.

At one year old, this German businessman who was born in the Dalmatian city of Zadar moved with his family to Dusseldorf, Germany, and his private and business career has always been linked to two very similar and powerful European countries, who share the same work ethic and ideals - Germany and the United Kingdom.

In his youth, Barjašić dreamed about having a career as a professional athlete, and he even made several moves up the ladder in that world, but he soon realised that he wasn't made from the same material top football player are, and he devoted his time instead to studying economics and business in several universities across Germany and the UK, where he recently did his doctorate.

His consultancy team, Barjašić points out, is different from the big players already on the market owing to the fact that he's totally involved in the entire project he's working on, from defining goals to eventual implementation.

"Large consulting companies have a brand, and corporations lease them for prestige or to create an illusion that the corporation is working at the highest possible standards - you have an example of that and one huge company in Croatia which hired exactly that type of corporation to ''run its business'' and well... what happened, happened,'' stated Barjašić, likely referencing the Agrokor crisis, the mess of which still isn't fully cleaned up.

''It's often the case that big players don't have enough time. They usually do an analysis and study what they should do as a company and then they usually just stop there. People, especially in smaller companies, often lack the time or the professional knowledge to implement such studies. There's space for smaller and specialised companies like ours who have the knowledge, experience, and will to take over such projects and do them properly, all the way to the end. In our business, there's often a clause that in case of failure of the implemented project, fifty percent of contracted fees will be cut,'' added Barjašić.

He and his team have had the most experience in the automotive and food industry so far, but they do work on other projects as well. Their specialisation is the digitisation of business processes and the introduction of industry 4.0, something which Croatia so desperately needs across all sectors, from industry to state institutions.

"It's difficult to observe Croatia and Germany in a general manner. Of course, the whole system in Germany works better, but you do have very good and successful companies in Croatia and those that are not so good in Germany. Generally, when digitisation is in question, I can say that the way processes are done in Croatia are a generation below the way they're done in Europe, and here I see a great opportunity, both for the work of companies like ours, and for the development of Croatia's industry as a whole,'' stated this innovative Croatian-German consultant.

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