ZAGREB, November 9, 2018 - The 2019 budget proposal which Finance Minister Zdravko Marić delivered at a government meeting on Friday envisages higher budget allocations for all ministries except for the Tourism Ministry, the funds of which will go down by 16.8%.

Expressed in absolute numbers, the biggest winner is the Finance Ministry as its allocation will increase by nearly 7.5 billion kuna from its allocation in the original 2018 budget, and in 2019 it will rise by 21.8% to 41.9 billion kuna.

Expressed in the percentage, the State Assets Ministry's allocation will increase the most, by 47.5% to 108.7 million kuna.

The office of the government can count on 424.5 million kuna in 2019, which is 19.7% more than its budget allocation in the 2018 budget.

The 2019 draft budget envisages funds for the Office of the Croatian President in the amount of 37.7 million, down by 1.1%, and the budget allocation for the Parliament will be reduced by 9.9% to 168 million kuna.

The budget revenues planned for 2019 are expected to amount to 136.1 billion kuna, up 5.5% in comparison to the 2018 budget.

The budget expenditures are projected at kuna 140.3 billion, 6.9 billion more than in the original budget for 2018.

 VAT on OTC drugs to be lowered to 5%, tax-free bonus amount to rise to 7,500 kuna

The government on Friday sent to the parliament a set of nine final bills on taxation envisaging amendments to the Value Added Tax legislation, including a lower, 5% rate on prescription drugs as well as on over-the-counter drugs, and a rise in the tax-free amount of annual bonuses for employees from 2,500 kuna to 7,500 kuna.

The final set of draft laws envisages that all medicines, including prescription and OTC drugs, should be taxed by a 5% rate, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said, recalling that currently the tax rate for prescription medicines is 5% and for other drugs 25%.

The VAT rate on the services of writers, composers and artists and the related copyrights is to be lowered from the standard 25% rate to 13%.

The same reduction can be expected regarding the VAT on fresh meat and fish, fruit, vegetables, eggs, live cattle delivery and nappies.

Marić said that those were the most important items of the consumer's basket.

Also, the legislative changes envisage a threefold increase in tax-free annual bonuses to employees such as Christmas and Easter bonuses, holiday allowances and extra monthly wage. Thus the non-taxable amount of the bonuses will be set at 7,500 kuna.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković described that as good news. "I think that this is what many employers had hinted at when it comes to tax changes," he said about the changes that are to take effect on 1 December.

For more on taxes in Croatia, click here.

ZAGREB, November 6, 2018 - The promotion of Croatia as a holiday destination for next year formally began on Monday at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, one of the world's largest travel exhibitions, which will present about 5,000 exhibitors from 185 travel destinations until November 7.

Croatia is represented by the National Tourist Board (HTZ) and 23 co-exhibitors, and their activities are followed by Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli, who will take the opportunity to meet with the most important partners on the UK market.

On the first day of the fair, Cappelli met with executives of British low-cost airline Jet2 and German low-cost airline Eurowings. He is also scheduled to meet with representatives of companies such as Ryanair, TUI, Thomas Cook and Saga, with whom he will analyse the cooperation so far and discuss ways of improving it.

"The British market, along with the United States and China, is one of the fastest-growing and most important markets for us and we are working intensively on developing cooperation and introducing more flights," Cappelli said.

He said that a further 15 million kuna (2 million euro) would be invested in the existing flight programme to increase turnover outside the summer months, adding that the present programme had produced excellent results, increasing the number of flights and extending the flight schedule.

Nearly 850,000 British tourists visited Croatia in the first ten months of this year, generating 4.4 million overnight stays, an increase of 8 percent in both arrivals and overnight stays. British tourists mostly travelled to Dubrovnik (36 percent), Split (23 percent) and Istria (20 percent), and mostly stayed in hotels.

The British Institute of Travel and Tourism will hold an annual conference in Podstrana near Split in mid-June 2019. The event is expected to be attended by over 400 British delegates who will have an opportunity to visit Split, Trogir and Hvar.

To read more about Croatia’s tourism, click here.

ZAGREB, September 28, 2018 - Since the start of 2018 to 28 September, slightly over 100 million tourist overnight stays were registered in Croatia, which is a month earlier than in 2017, the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ) reported on Friday.

ZAGREB, September 24, 2018 - Decentralisation, depoliticising, professionalization and a balanced tourism development are the main objectives of proposed amendments to the law on tourist boards, tourist accommodation taxes and membership fees, which if supported, will reform the tourist board system as of 2020, Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli and the director of the Croatian National Tourist Board Kristjan Staničić said at a press conference on Monday.

The sojourn tax, paid by all tourists coming to Croatia, will no longer be centrally decided.

ZAGREB, September 17, 2018 - Croatia and China seek to expand their cooperation in the tourist industry, which will require direct flights between the two countries, services tailored to Chinese tourists' needs and simplified visa procedures, Croatian Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli and Chinese Ambassador Zhaoming Hu said ahead of a tourist conference in Dubrovnik.

ZAGREB, September 10, 2018 - This year Croatia could make 12 billion euro from tourism, about a billion more than in the record 2017, Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said on Monday, adding that Croatia was aspiring towards quality tourism.

ZAGREB, August 23, 2018 - Summing up results in the tourism sector so far, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said at the start of the government session on Thursday that this year's very successful tourist season would be better than last year's record season.

Even local tourist boards admit that the holiday home zone is a grey area where commercial activity is suspected.

ZAGREB, March 30, 2018 - Tourism revenues in 2017, when 9.5 billion euro was earned from services provided to foreign guests, are the best proof of how much the Croatian tourism sector has advanced, Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said on Friday.