July the 9th, 2021 - Croatian political stability is key to sending out the message to the world that it is safe and worthwhile to invest in the country, as small countries like Croatia have little other choice in such a big proverbial pond.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Vecernji list writes, inventions and innovations should be strongly encouraged in all sectors, and it is naturally necessary to accelerate the digitalisation of industry and the state at all levels, initiate rapid and effective public administration reform, reduce bureaucratisation, state apparatus costs and corruption, and shape a long-term strategy.

All of the above, and basing it firmly on activities related to blossoming sectors in Croatia such as robotics, biotechnology, artificial intelligence and applied cognitive science, is one of the conclusions of the recently held and fourth Rings of the Business Forum Zagreb 2021, where the Ring (Prsten) Association of Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina discussed how to quickly and efficiently adapt and continue doing business in coexistence with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Pavo Zubak, president of the Ring, which brings together more than 230 businesses operating across Croatia with about 11,000 employees and generating 5.5 percent of Croatia's GDP, said they were acting affirmatively, looking to the future, and trying to build partnerships with representatives of the executive branch and harbour a relationship full of trust.

"Behind us is a difficult and challenging period, and before us lie new challenges and opportunities that we can and must take advantage of. Therefore, it's important to communicate openly in order to jointly prepare projects that can mostly be co-financed from European Union (EU) funds,'' Zuban stressed, emphasising the importance of Croatian political stability for further economic progress.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic (HDZ), the patron of the forum, said that Croatian political stability was the goal of the Government because it was the first indicator that investments could be safely made here.

On the topic of this year's Ring Forum Opportunities and threats facing the Croatian economy in the post-pandemic period, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Tomislav Coric said that there are many challenges that we must overcome. One of them is the absorption of more than 200 billion kuna in various financial envelopes, available over the next ten years.

For more, follow our dedicated politics and business sections.

June the 15th, 2021 - Is the Croatian state playing God by making it easier for some to invest than it does for others? In any case, a safe business environment stimulates economic growth, and without creating that, the Croatian economy won't be moving anywhere up any time soon.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, establishing a predictable and reliable business environment is a prerequisite for any sort of economic growth and the application of new technologies through the Industry 4.0, it was said at the Industry Day conference held on Friday in Zagreb, organised by the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP).

Mihael Furjan, President of HUP, pointed out that only investments in new technologies can lead to the creation of products and services of higher added value, and then to the accelerated growth of the economy.

Croatia doesn't produce the necessary staff

All enterrpises must change their mindset and turn to new technologies and modern business models, agreed the interlocutors of the panel.

Kristian Krpan warned that here in Croatia, we have the biggest problem with large companies because they're often neglected in relation to small and medium-sized companies, to which all EU funds are directed.

"The Croatian state is playing God, where it is decided which companies will be helped out and their investments and digitalization facilitated, and which will not get that help. Now we have a situation on our hands in which there is a much smaller difference between small and medium-sized companies in Croatia and Germany than larger ones,'' said Krpan.

He added that productivity among large Croatian companies is four times lower than it is in similar ones in Germany, and that this is a problem that affects salaries, staff and everything else. Jelena Festini Ugrina complained about the fact that the Croatian state has used bureaucratic maneuvers to allocate almost all the money from EU funds and the Recovery Plan to the public sector, while merely throwing a few crumbs to the private sector.

Zoran Gligoric pointed out the problem of an inadequate education system, which is almost in no way connected with the economy and the labour market and doesn't produce the staff that companies need - whether it is secondary vocational education or higher education.

Sergio Galosic said that it is difficult to precisely quantify digitalisation because it is a multidimensional process, and that we need to work harder to eliminate the gap between old and new

“We've been in Industry 4.0 for a long time now and we're comparable, perhaps even better in some cases, than EU companies. From my own experience, I can say that digitalisation has enabled us to grow by 25% and increase our levels of competitiveness. However, we're also aware that it isn't necessary to digitise absolutely everything, but only those processes for which it makes sense to do so,'' concluded Galosic.

A great opportunity to finance new technologies lie in European Union funds, and Natasa Cueic Martincevic from Apsolon tried to explain how we can better cope with the forest of European rules and sources of capital.

She pointed out that Croatia has almost 24 billion euros at its disposal over the next seven years, and mechanisms and opportunities must be created to use as much of that money as possible.

Marin Bek from Ascalia said that it must be clear that digitalisation in the industry will not necessarily increase, double or triple production for everyone, but that it will first of all give us more information from the production process itself. He added that in Industry 4.0, it is primarily necessary to eliminate the gap between new technologies and traditional production, and that everyone must assess what is optimal for production in their respective situations.

Dusko Radulovic from Sensum tried to demystify the term “adaptation to climate change” and explain how knowledge and management of our carbon footprint can reduce operating costs and the consumption of raw materials.

"The economic effects of climate change are already visible - insurance companies have more expensive premiums for houses closer to the sea due to floods, and also due to irregular rainfall, energy and water management interventions are changing," said Radulovic.

He added that the circular economy and energy efficiency will be the postulates of the industry in the coming years.

For more on the Croatian state and investments in Croatia, either from at home or from abroad, make sure to follow our dedicated business section.

ZAGREB, 11 June 2021 - More than six billion kuna were invested from national funds into different activities and projects for the islands in the 2016-2020 period, the Regional Development Ministry's State Secretary, Spomenka Đurić, told the Croatian parliament,on Friday.

In addition, projects have been agreed whereby seven billion kuna will be withdrawn from EU funds for the development of Croatian islands, Đurić said while presenting draft amendments to the Islands Act under which the amount of water for island inhabitants at subsidised prices would increase from 45 to 85 cubic metres per year.

The government-sponsored draft amendments also provide for state subsidies covering up to 50% of the cost of transport of the water supplied to individuals and legal entities in communities still without connections to the public water supply network.

This state subsidy covers 4,234 households with more than 7,200 members, and in 2020, HRK 17 million was paid for that purpose, she said.

Croatia has 1,244 islands,  and 45 islands are permanently or temporarily inhabited, with 51 maritime routes, 58 community health centres, 102 primary and 13 high schools, and 23 care homes.

For more news about Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

May the 29th, 2021 - The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to investments in Croatia, but could the Croatian private sector ever truly manage to reach planned goals, despite how unrealistic they might seem?

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Jadranka Dozan writes, as is more than usual for the pre-election period, the past few weeks have bore witness to a mini-review of recent investment projects with occasional "ribbon cutting" taking place. The first estimate of GDP for the first quarter is expected, which will show how things are with the level of investment activity compared to the end of last year, as well as the comparable quarter of last year.

Gross fixed capital formation in the last quarter of last year, after an annual decline in the previous two, recorded a 4.2 percent increase. Thus, the decline in investments in 2020 was reduced below three percent, which is more favourable than the Government's expectations from the revisions of the projections with the outbreak of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

In the May rebalance, the original plan for investment growth in 2020 was turned into an expectation of a 9 percent decline, and in October a reduction of six percent was expected. The final minus 2.9 percent is primarily due to the double-digit growth of general government investment of as much as 18.7 percent

In contrast, Croatian private sector investment, which has lagged behind the state sector for some time now, sank by a concerning 8.5 percent last year. For this year, the Government's projections envisage 9.9 percent growth in terms of such investments, with a slightly smaller, but still double-digit growth in state ones (15.5 percent), counting on the recovery of Croatian private sector investment, at a rate of 8 percent.

Investment plans, and especially their implementation, are difficult to think of, let alone see in the business sector. Despite that, from some large companies, plans are on track to increase capital investment. Thus, for example, the Fortenova Group, which recently now finally includes Mercator, has planned to realise 125 million euros or close to one billion kuna in capital investments this year alone.

Among other things, with the integration of Mercator, significant investments in the retail network await them. After 192 million kuna of capital expenditures last year, Podravka intended 40 percent more than that for investments this year, ie 272 million, and for the next two years - about 200 million.

The Croatian Employers' Association (Hrvatska Udruga Poslodavca/HUP) points out that their members, in addition to the investments that will be encouraged by the recovery programme, have launched their own investment cycles that are taking place now or will be completed at some point this year.

One of the most attractive investments in the eyes of the Croatian media at this moment in time is that of Rimac Automobili, Mate Rimac's remarkable company which is in the phase of building a new campus, a factory and a test site. At the same time, HT and A1 are continuing their projects of modernising their network and embracing the much talked about 5G.

Following some tribulations, AT has been busy with work in Kanfanar and has invested over 200 million kuna in new lines for the production of heated tobacco products, and Vetropack Guard has started a new investment cycle. It is planning a greenfield investment on the HUM-Zagreb stretch, which will increase their production capacities, and it also intends to complete the project this year.

Furthermore, in the Porec zone, Pical Valamar will realise investments in the total amount of 1.5 billion kuna by the end of the year. This includes the Pinea Hotel, the largest single investment in the Croatian tourism sector worth a massive 790 million kuna, the construction of which began back in the autumn of 2020. Algebra is also completing investments in advanced IT infrastructure and international networks, and is also building a new University campus.

The above speaks volumes about the state of investments, at least those which have been pre-planned, in the Croatian private sector when compared to Government hopes and projections. That being said, the coronavirus pandemic continues to hold the keys to everything, and epidemiological changes for the worse could throw a proverbial spanner in the works.

"Part of the already prepared investments for this year have been stopped due to the coronavirus crisis, and members of the Croatian Employers' Association have expressed a total readiness for about 40 billion kuna of investments in high value-added projects that will stimulate economic growth and development, as well as create 100,000 jobs in the Croatian private sector,'' they pointed out from HUP.

However, as they have been warning for months now, they reiterate that without encouraging investment through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO) and the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), many planned investments will not start because our country's investment climate is still not good enough to attract significant foreign eyes, and as such foreign investment. That is why, they say, the NPOO is an opportunity like no other that Croatia must not and cannot afford to miss.

Government projections

These sources of funding were also taken into account in the projections recently presented in the Government's Convergence Programme. In addition to the expected capital inflows from EU funds, and especially new instruments financed primarily by funds from the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, it also envisages significantly faster growth of investment activities next year - at the general government level of more than 30 percent, and in the Croatian private sector, about 13 percent.

The Ministry of Finance expects, as they say, the continuation of favourable dynamics in the construction sector in the short term, largely due to the need to renew the housing stock after the earthquakes which rocked both Zagreb and Sisak-Moslavina back in March and December 2020.

"As a result of the projected effects of the NPOO, but also of the favourable base effect due to decent achievements from back at the end of 2020, expectations for the remaining types of investments have been significantly raised," the Programme states.

However, the ongoing coronavirus crisis has placed the focus primarily on preserving financial stability for many and threatening the balance sheets of many others. This is especially true for small and medium-sized enterprises. In any case, in the corporate sector, the forthcoming period will impose the need to strengthen those enfeebled balance sheets for many, if not for the vast majority.

Doing business in a global pandemic

When it comes to large companies, one of the largest Croatian investors for years is of course INA, with annual investments at the level of between 1.5 and two billion kuna in the last ten years alone. Last year was one of the most challenging for this massive company, as it was for the global economy amid harmful lockdowns and difficulties with imports and exports.

According to INA, business operations during 2020 were adjusted to preserve the company's financial stability and thus protect their long-term strategic investments, such as the project of building a processing plant in Rijeka, which will ensure the sustainability of INA's business in the future.

This is an investment worth about four billion kuna, and thanks to the new plant, the product structure of the Rijeka refinery should be improved in such a way that the share of profitable white products, ie motor fuels, will increase. Work on the plant is underway, they say, and completion is expected by the end of 2023.

This project is part of the INA R&M New Direction 2023 programme, which envisages the concentration of oil refining in Croatia at the Rijeka Oil Refinery.

At the same time, sustainable alternatives are planned to be developed at their Sisak site, including bitumen production, a logistics centre and a solar power plant and potentially a bio-component refinery, all of which fit neatly into the European Green Plan and increasing global aspirations towards a low-carbon society.

''The biorefinery is a strategic project with an estimated value of around two billion kuna. We're currently working on "further development and opportunities for additional co-financing of this project, which is a key prerequisite for making a final investment decision," they said from INA.

For more on the Croatian private sector, follow our business section.

ZAGREB, 23 May, 2021 - Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Sunday it was very good for Croatia that Fitch had affirmed its investment rating.

Fitch Ratings on Friday affirmed Croatia's rating at 'BBB-', with a stable outlook, highlighting big short-term risks related to the pandemic as well as the medium-term outlook for economic growth thanks to the EU's financial support.

Fitch also upgraded the projection for Croatia's economic growth in 2021 from 3.8% to 5.5%, forecasting GDP growth to accelerate to 6.1% in 2022.

"That's very good news, that according to the Fitch credit agency too Croatia's credit rating continues to be in the investment zone with a stable outlook," Marić told the press.

He said he was pleased that Fitch's report summed up objectively and well all the key circumstances that impacted the rating.

The agency's emphasis is on the process of joining the Economic and Monetary Union, he added.

"The report says what introducing the euro means for the credit rating. It would mean a jump of two notches up, which would bring us into a comfort zone. On the other hand, there's the National Recovery and Resilience Plan," Marić said, adding that emphasis was put on its implementation, which he expects to begin towards the end of the year.

Public finance is the third segment and it's good that rating agencies underline that in this crisis fiscal stimulants should last as long as necessary so as to save jobs and people's health, he said.

"When the pandemic is behind us, we will sum up the effects. When you look at it all together, the deficits, notably on the public debts of the EU member states, including Croatia, the debts are not small."

He said the effect of one year of the pandemic in Croatia had neutralised the four years when the public debt was being reduced, by about three percentage points every year.

Last year Croatia's public debt grew to over HRK 36 billion, mainly because of the costs of fighting the pandemic.

Fitch raised the public deficit forecast from 3.5 to 4% of GDP in 2021 and forecasts a fall to 3% in 2022, up by 0.8 percentage points from the forecast made last December. Public debt/GDP should fall to 82.7% of GDP in 2022 from 88.7% in 2020, Fitch said, forecasting Croatia's eurozone entry for 2024.

COVID aid for businesses in line with circumstances, trends

Asked if aid for businesses affected by the pandemic would continue after June, Marić said the measures were adopted in line with the circumstances and that trends both in Croatia and abroad were being followed.

Speaking of aid for travel agencies, the event industry and occasional transport, Marić said the coverage of fixed costs in force since December would be applied.

For those that are closed, other solutions are being sought and the relevant ministries are working on programmes to help them, he said, adding that the idea was to give them some incentive once the summer tourist season started.

Asked about reforms related to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, notably in health, Marić said the Plan referred to the period until 2026 and that he hoped Croatia would be prompt and efficient in implementing it. He expects 13% of the advance to be drawn by the end of this year.

Speaking of budget revenues, Marić said they were as expected at the moment and that some tax revenues were very good.

Fiscalisation is at 99%, one percent less than at the same time in 2019, he said, adding that the indices in retail were over 100%, with some categories recording growth from five to eight percent.

Tourism and hospitality are markedly below and the key topic at the moment is expenditures, he said.

Asked about this year's possible inflation rate, Marić said that last year it was 0.1% and that some inflationary pressure could be expected, both globally and in Croatia, adding that in Croatia inflation had always been within sustainable levels.

Commenting on an economist's proposal to use European funds for new tax cuts in all segments instead of projects, Marić said the rules were set by the European Commission.

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May the 5th, 2021 - A new investment in Croatia totalling a massive 557 million kuna has been started on the path to fruition regarding the Senj power plant.

As Darko Bicak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, HEP recently signed a valuable contract with a community of Croatian bidders involved with Koncar for the reconstruction of the Senj power plant (hydropower plant).

Recently in the City of Zagreb, Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP) signed an agreement on the replacement of the primary equipment of the Senj power plant with a community of Croatian companies led by Koncar-engineering for energy and transport and Koncar-generators and engines. The contract is worth as much as 330 million kuna and is part of the main project for the reconstruction of the Senj power plant worth 557 million kuna, which will increase the power plant by 20 MW.

Work on the Senj power plant will begin in 2022 and end in 2026. HEP expects that this large investment will increase the reliability and availability of the Senj power plant, extend the life of the power plant for the next fifty or so years and ultimately reduce the costs of maintaining and operating the plant in general.

Otherwise, the Senj power plant is located seven kilometres south of the town of Senj itself, not far from Sveti Juraj, and was initially put into operation back in 1965. The total available capacity of the power plant is 216 MW, and the average annual production stands at 970 GWh, which makes up about 20 percent of the production of hydropower plants in the Republic of Croatia, or 10 percent of HEP's total production.

In addition to electricity generation, the Senj power plant, as part of the Senj hydropower system, provides a secure water supply to part of the northern Littoral, including the islands of Rab and Pag. The reconstruction and revitalisation of the Senj power plant is being done as part of the cycle of the reconstruction, extension and revitalisation of HEP's hydropower plants, with a total value of 3.9 billion kuna, which began back in 2012 and includes 12 of the total of 26 hydropower plants owned by HEP.

For more, follow our business section.

January the 14th, 2021 - When it comes to getting the economy moving again, things are going slowly. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and in Croatia's case, being hit with multiple devastating earthquakes has certainly thrown a spanner in the works, but in certain areas of the country - things are starting up. The construction of an aircraft parts factory in the Jakovlje North 2 zone has begun.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the construction of an aircraft parts factory in the Jakovlje North 2 has now begun, in which 450 employees will be employed in the first phase. This information was confirmed by the mayor of Jakovlje, Sanja Borovec, adding that two more new investors in this zone are expected in the near future.

"Although there have been rumors for months that nothing will come of the construction of the aircraft parts factory, the machines on the construction site show that we were on the right track. The effort we've put in over the last three years has paid off. In early December 2020, the Austrian aeronautical company FACC (Fischer Advanced Composite Components), began the construction of a factory in the Jakovlje North 2 zone that will produce parts that will be installed in the world's most famous aircraft. According to the business plan, the company will employ 450 employees in the first phase,'' said Sanja Borovec (HDZ).

She added that this investment, worth a massive 33 million euros, means providing jobs to the residents of this area, a better livelihood, but also a spring in the step of the further economic development of the Municipality of Jakovlje. The arrival of the FACC in Jakovlje began back in mid-2019, when the greenfield investment of this Austrian aeronautical company was initially announced. In the first phase alone, the plan was to invest around 30 million euros and create 600 jobs, and in the second phase, FACC planned to open another factory for the production of interior parts for aircraft with a total of one thousand employees.

Given the coronavirus crisis that hit the aviation industry hard in 2020, it is difficult to estimate the exact volume of the total FACC investment and its dynamics, and the investors themselves haven't issued any comment on that. Upon arrival in the Jakovlje North 2 zone, it was pointed out that the pool of skilled workers was the most important for choosing the location for this large investment. For almost two years, the company negotiated the best location for its factory, which was supposed to be located within the EU, and all Eastern and Central European countries except Croatia were considered. In the end, Croatia was ahead of Slovakia and Poland.

Jakovlje was not the only location in Zagreb County, but it was chosen because of good traffic connections. A plus for Croatia was a good ten years of business experience with local companies, with which it will continue to cooperate intensively after the start of production. FACC is also satisfied with energy costs and other operating costs in Croatia, as well as investment incentives. In the first phase, the production of parts for Airbus is planned, namely parts for the interior of the aircraft from the luggage compartments and ceiling panels to the entrance part of the interior.

FACC will operate in Croatia under the name FACC Solutions Croatia. FACC otherwise has more than 3,400 employees in 38 countries and with revenues of 782 million euros. It is owned by the Chinese state-owned group AVIC Cabin Systems, which has 450,000 workers worldwide and generates huge revenues of 54 billion US dollars.

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December the 2nd, 2020 - Digitisation in Croatia goes slowly. In fact it goes so slowly that it's rather difficult to believe it is progressing at all when you find yourself standing in line with a bible's worth of paperwork in your hand at Fina, MUP, or some other God forsaken office full of half dead plants and even more half dead clerks. Telemach Croatia, however, understands that this is a process at which it is paramount to be at the very forefront.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, we're still going through the tiresome motions of a very, very challenging year which has been dominated by a public health crisis and economic woes. Despite efforts to maintain stability, the pandemic has slowed down all business activities in all economic sectors, including in the telecommunications sector. The forecasts of various economic analysts are, to say the least, discouraging, and it's to be expected that the period ahead of us will bring with it even more new challenges for the Croatian and the global economy. Investors, especially foreign ones, will be very cautious indeed, which will further slow down economic recovery.

''We're seeing the greatest opportunity in the introduction of new technologies that will enable the continued digitisation of the Croatian economy, and thus the progress of society as a whole. This new situation has clearly indicated the importance of digital transformation and, on the one hand, has accelerated its implementation. We believe that this trend will continue in the future. Our society will increasingly rely on digital solutions, and a prerequisite for this will be having more advanced infrastructure. The above is particularly true for the telecommunications industry, this means that telecom operators will need to provide sufficient network capacityies to withstand the increasing growth of data traffic.

In this regard, investments in telecommunications infrastructure will play a key role. At Telemach Croatia, we want to be the leaders in the digitisation of Croatia, because we consider it the backbone of the accelerated launch of economic progress. That's why the announced investments of our parent company, the United Group, have given us a real spring in our step. This represents one of the largest foreign investments in all of Croatia.

Thus, over the next five year period, we will invest up to 130 million euros in the further modernisation of our mobile network. We'll expand our mobile network coverage, improve the quality of the mobile service we have on offer and also introduce ultra-fast 5G technology. In addition to all of the aforementioned, we intend to invest up to 100 million euros in the construction of a state-of-the-art optical network that will provide private and business users with ultra-fast broadband Internet at speeds of up to 10 gigabits. In this way, we plan to transform the business from a segment-focused operator into a fully converged company that provides customers with high-quality telecommunications services and a superior user experience,'' they concluded from Telemach Croatia.

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December the 2nd, 2020 - The coronavirus pandemic has forcibly put the key in the lock of many a previously planned investment, especially in the Croatian tourism sector as companies suffered and continue to suffer the economic fallout as a result of the anti-epidemic measures. With that being said, just how much are Croatian tourism companies willing to invest when the pandemic finally draws to a close?

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatian tourism companies have ready projects for investment worth a total of a massive 25 billion kuna, which can be realised over the next five years, in four segments, green tourism, digitalisation, the reconstruction of accommodation and last but by no means least - infrastructure.

Great help in the realisation of these projects is expected from European Union funds, and that same realisation can begin as soon as the end of the pandemic arrives and the normalisation of the tourism industry arrives, said Zeljko Kukurin, CEO of Valamar Riviera at a hotel congress which was held on Tuesday.

The congress was held, much like other events in 2020, in a semi-virtual edition for the first time, and the main focus of the participants is the return of Croatian and global tourism after the pandemic, which became likely with the announcement of coronavirus vaccine registration. The congress was opened by Minister Nikolina Brnjac, who stated that the Croatian Government just yesterday presented a new package of assistance to Croatian companies worth 2.1 billion kuna.

"We've initiated the development of a new programme for the allocation of state aid to the tourism sector and other related activities, which we will soon send for approval to the European Commission, and then for adoption by the Government," assured Nikolina Brnjac.

The Croatian tourism industry is optimistic, as are Croatian tourism companies, and the government is of the opinion that in 2021 about 60-70 percent of 2019's turnover could be realised, as opposed to 2020 in which we reached about 50 percent of that period's turnover. Invesments from Croatian tourism companies will begin when tourist traffic start bringing revenue back in. Valamar, for example, delayed its largest investment yet by 12-24 months. That investment is in the Hotel Pinea and is worth a massive 100 million euros. As such, they have high hopes in the emergence of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

"The fastest return of tourists is expected by Istria and the north of the country in general, Zagreb could see a return in the autumn of 2021, and the return of the south and east of the country, ie air destinations, will be slower. We expect to realise about 70 percent of last year’s traffic next year. The vaccine is currently the only solid point we can cling to, but the question is how the realisation of all that will go. Despite that, we're convinced that 2021 will be better than 2020,'' said the President of the Management Board of Maistra, Tomislav Popovic.

Hoteliers across Croatia are aware that a lot of improvisations will need to be done next year, plans will need to be made and bridges crossed when arrived at, there will be a lot of ''last minute'' going on, but this year a lot has been learned and implemented in business and there will be fewer surprises.

"It would be very good for us if the epidemiological picture was favourable from mid-February, on so that we could tell our guests that we're a safe destination and start working towards the Easter period. It should come as no surprise, because this year we've managed to introduce many solutions in regard to safety that would otherwise have taken several years, from the digital privacy of guests to better standards of cleaning and hygiene, which the hotel industry has strictly adhered to," said Veljko Ostojic, the director of the Croatian Tourism Association (HUT).

The CEOs of the largest Croatian tourism companies, Valamar and Maistra, confirmed that there was no coronavirus infection reported within their facilities, although they were very well filled during the season. "It's something we have to communicate to our guests next year as well," Kukurin concluded.

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December the 1st, 2020 - Croatian Roads has continued to function well despite the massive drop in tourist traffic this year, as well as the multitude of economic issues caused by the ongoing pandemic.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, it goes without saying that the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus this year has significantly affected most industries across Croatia and throughout all of Europe, especially in the transport segment. However, over the last three years, Hrvatske autoceste/Croatian Roads has been carrying out business and financial restructuring as part of the “Modernisation and Restructuring of the Road Sector (MARS)” project launched by the Croatian Government.

In a three year period, visible results have been achieved that have enabled Croatian Roads to continue to operate stably and continue with key investments that haven't had to be forcibly stopped even during this crisis year, which, after a series of successful years, was marked by a decline in traffic on the country's motorways.

''The season was uncertain due to the pandemic, but our expectations were relatively optimistic, which ultimately proved to be correct, so the drop in traffic on the highways was within our general expectations. Thanks to our modern motorways, Croatia has good transport connections to some key tourist markets. For many tourists who normally travel to more distant Mediterranean destinations by air, quality road connections have proven to be a decisive factor in choosing a destination, which has significantly contributed to the results of the tourist season. In the years ahead, we're going to continue with the projects we've started. The greatest emphasis is still placed on the completion of the Vc corridor in Slavonia, but activities for the construction of the A7 Rupa - Rijeka - Zuta Lokva motorway and the motorway to Dubrovnik remain in total parallel. Projects to increase traffic safety are also continuing, and in the coming period, activities will be launched to introduce a new toll collection system,'' they stated from Croatian Roads.

Following the Government Decision on the merger of the Rijeka-Zagreb Motorway with HAC, which will be implemented as of the 1st of January, 2021, we'll face further business restructuring next year. The merger also creates preconditions for more rational financial management and greater potential for investment in investment maintenance and also in construction. Consolidating the management of state-owned motorways will facilitate the introduction of a new toll collection system and bring savings to public procurement procedures.

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