As Dora Koretic/Novac writes on the 4th of September, 2020, it seems that the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) will have to write off a debt of 14,864 kuna, which it owed the recently bankrupt company Kompas, due to the fact that this organisation failed to file a claim for bankruptcy in time in accordance with the appropriate regulations. The Kompas bankruptcy officially occurred early last year.

Namely, the company Kompas formally and legally went bankrupt on January the 3rd, 2019, and the deadline for filing creditors' claims was prescribed by March the 4th at the latest.

The Kompas bankruptcy debt left to the Croatian National Tourist Board by the collapsed company Kompas referred to the organisation of the tourist fair in Madrid, Spain, and the Croatian National Tourist Board sent the claim by mail on the last day of the prescribed deadline. However, it was established that the application was actually sent to the wrong address - instead of the bankruptcy trustee. as formally and legally prescribed, the application was sent by mistake to the address of the bankruptcy debtor.

''Immediately after learning that the application was sent to the bankruptcy debtor's address, the Croatian National Tourist Board informed the bankruptcy trustee in writing by sending them a letter stating that the application was sent to the bankruptcy debtor's address instead of the bankruptcy trustee. The said letter was sent on the 5th of March 2019, the day after the bankruptcy claim was sent, and was received by the Bankruptcy Trustee on the 7th of March 2019. Therefore, the bankruptcy trustee was informed without delay that the consignment in question had been sent by mistake to wrong address,'' they explained from the Croatian National Tourist Board.

A new mail with the filing of the Kompas bankruptcy claim was then sent to the address of the bankruptcy trustee on March the 12th, but the bankruptcy court still issued a Decision rejecting the filing due to the aforementioned missed deadline.

After that, the Croatian National Tourist Board appealed the decision, but a cold shower arrived from the High Commercial Court: this body, namely, assessed that sending the application to the address of the bankruptcy debtor, and not the bankruptcy trustee is to the detriment of the tourist board, and the claims of this organisation are far from further helped by the fact that the bankruptcy trustee was informed that they could pick up the application at the address of the bankruptcy debtor.

"Unfortunately, given the fact that the Bankruptcy Law no longer recognises the subsequent filing of bankruptcy claims and that the court didn't take into account the fact that the Croatian National Tourist Board tried to act in good faith, although it informed the bankruptcy trustee representing the Kompas bankruptcy debtor, a decision was made to reject the appeal. Considering that this is a decision of the High Commercial Court, it is no longer possible to file a regular appeal against it,'' they explained from the Croatian National Tourist Board.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

Less than a month before sending his Fleet Rent-a-Car company to bankruptcy, and a few months after he ended Compass Zagreb travel agency’s operations in the same way, Matko Bolanča left the Kompas Cruise project, leaving it to his former partner Roman Reicher, who is determined to develop a business with luxury cruises in the Adriatic Sea. One of his partners is DIV Cruises, owned by Tomislav Debeljak, reports Poslovni.hr on January 7, 2019.

Reicher admits that such a start to doing business is not easy, which is why he is thinking about changing the name of the company. Still, he believes that eight Kompas Cruise employees can launch projects they have planned. “We have founded Kompas Cruise with the intention of developing the incoming segment in the luxury cruise business. From the very beginning, we started open communication with partners who have shown understanding, and the start of the 2019 booking gives us reasons to be optimistic. Of course, every start is difficult, especially in the circumstances in which we find ourselves, but I hope we can justify the trust of all our partners,” explained Reicher.

In a few weeks, the new website of Kompas Cruise will be launched, offering luxury cruises in the Adriatic. Reicher revealed that they would be the first Croatian company to operate international tours through four or five countries, from Venice to Kotor and Albania.

They will sail from April to October with a total of six ships with guaranteed departures, including three vessels owned by Debeljak. The tours will be sold to distant markets in the United States, New Zealand, Australia.

DIV Cruises is a relatively young company, resulting from the desire of the DIV Group to expand its operations in the sector of luxury cruise ships. The partnership agreement with Kompas Cruise will be implemented in such a way that both companies will sell and book their partner’s ships. "In this way, both our and their ships will be booked faster. Because of the synergy and the fact that ships will reach a larger number of potential customers, this will bring a win-win effect,” explained Robert Sedlar, the CEO of DIV Cruises.

His company cooperates with numerous other Croatian companies like Katarina Line, Amathus Travel and Unlimited Croatia. “Almost all of our agencies which deal with the incoming side of the business have all our ships in their offer. We are particularly pleased to see that they have all recognized the uniqueness of our ships. Another reason for satisfaction is the fact that we have managed to enter the offer of most serious foreign partners in 2019, which was very difficult because such deals are usually made a year or two in advance,” explained Sedlar. They have also fulfilled the goal of having year-round operations of their ships in 2020 and 2021.

More news about sailing in Croatia can be found in our Travel section.

Translated from Poslovni.hr (reported by Marija Crnjak).

In Croatia, leaving debts with an old company and establishing a new one is not unheard of.

Kompas is one of the major travel agencies in Croatia.

Inspire Fusion investment fund has bought one of the leading Croatian travel agencies.