ZAGREB, 4 Dec, 2021 - Hotels in Zagreb as well as hotels open in December elsewhere in Croatia expect the Advent season and the Christmas and New Year festivities to contribute to hotel occupancy figures, however, the pandemic is likely to cut guest turnovers by 40% compared to 2019.

These figures were presented by the chairwoman of the hoteliers' cluster within the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), Josipa Jutt Ferlan, in her interview which Hina published on Saturday.

Jutt Ferlan says that the epidemiological developments make it difficult to forecast the results of this year's Advent season.

She projects that in December 2022 hotels could reach the volume of their business in December 2019.

Jutt Ferlan, who is also Cluster General Manager at Hilton hotels in Zagreb, tells Hina that inquiries about the Advent in Zagreb events and bookings of accommodations hint at good results notably during weekends this December.

Commenting on COVID certificates, she underscores that many business activities and many event organisers rely on the COVID certificate and on vaccination as a way out of the pandemic and return to the normal life.

In many European countries the COVID certificate mandate has already been introduced also for hotels, restaurants and cafes, she says adding that there are more and more foreign visitors who  ask why hotels or spa facilities in Croatia have not yet imposed the mandatory certificates.

If all other countries, our competition, introduce this requirement, then our "safe stay" designation will become meaningless, if we do not impose certificates, too, she explains.

Jutt Furlan added that the government's job-retention grants had made it possible for hotels to keep doing business and keep their workers during the lockdown.

She says that that during the last summer season, Zagreb hotels fared well, explaining that a good summer season along the coast also means a good summer season for Zagreb.

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ZAGREB, 20 Nov, 2021 - Several thousand people from all over Croatia arrived in Zagreb on Saturday for a protest against mandatory COVID-19 certificates and epidemiological restrictions in force.

The Zagreb city police department said earlier in the day that the protest had not been announced.

"I believe scientist Gordan Lauc", "No to blind belief in authorities", "Live and let others live" were some of the messages on banners carried by the protesters who gathered in two squares, Trg Francuske republike and Trg žrtava fašizma, before starting their march towards the city's central Trg Bana Josipa Jelačića square.

Participants in the protest, which is also called the Silent White March on social networks, want the government to abolish COVID-19 certificates, which prove one's vaccination against or recovery from COVID-19 and which have become obligatory for employees of government and public institutions as well as everyone else entering those institutions.

Zagreb police said the organisers of the protest had not asked for permission to stage the event so the police would film its participants.

Before the protest, some of its participants said that citizens who do not have COVID-19 certificates are being unconstitutionally and unlawfully excluded from public life and prevented from going to work or school.

"It is our civic duty to oppose discrimination against any person, social divisions and the use of this discriminatory certificate as grounds for that," reads a statement whose authors identify themselves as citizens, participants of the Silent White March.

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ZAGREB, 12 Nov - Ombudswoman Tena Šimonović Einwalter on Thursday called on the government and the national COVID-19 response team to urgently publish their decision on mandatory COVID certificates considering that it should go into force in a few days and that its text and details of its implementation are unknown.

"The information is necessary to bodies and institutions so they can implement the decision, to their employees who must comply with it as well as to citizens whose many rights depend on their physical appearance at those places. The Ombudswoman has therefore recommended that the decision be urgently published, with complete and clear instructions regarding its implementation," the Office of the Ombudswoman said on its website, giving recommendations regarding the expansion of the use of the certificate to the entire government and public sector.

"The introduction of this measure has led to an increase in vaccination interest and that requires a faster and better response since we are witnessing queuing for vaccination. Citizens waiting to get vaccinated, however, will not be able to obtain a COVID-19 certificate right away and they will have to get tested in the coming period," Šimonović Einwalter noted, adding that it was necessary to make vaccination and testing broadly available as well as explain to citizens how they can exercise their rights before bodies of public authority until they meet conditions to obtain the certificate.

She warned about the need to ensure, at least during the transitional period, free testing for destitute citizens as well as those who cannot get vaccinated due to medical reasons.

The purpose of the recommendations is to contribute to the readiness of the system to implement the announced decision, the ombudswoman said, recalling that it was necessary to make sure the restriction of citizens' rights was proportional to the desired outcome - prevention of a further increase in the number of infections and deaths and alleviating the pressure on the health system by a growing number of patients requiring hospital treatment.

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ZAGREB, 3 Oct, 2021 - Interior Minister Davor Božinović announced on Sunday that everything was ready for the introduction of mandatory EU digital COVID certificates in the healthcare and welfare systems.

"Everything is ready. ... I am confident that the people working in the healthcare and welfare systems will do their best and that the interests of patients are their priority. I think they will continue to observe the professional and ethical principles as they have so far," Božinović told RTL television during a visit to Velika Gorica, just south of Zagreb.

Commenting on the request by the nurses' union for assessment of the constitutionality of this decision, Božinović said that the purpose of decisions like this was to protect the health of the most vulnerable people, adding that the decisions by the national COVID-19 response team were in line with the constitution and law.

"Mandatory testing of staff before coming to work was in place before. Drawing a parallel between COVID certificates and mandatory vaccination is completely wrong and untrue," Božinović said, adding that the Constitutional Court had confirmed the constitutionality and legality of decisions made by the national coronavirus response team before and "that is what is going to be this time as well."

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