May the 4th, 2022 - Who exactly can access Resilience and Recovery cash from the Croatian tourism sector? This huge amount of money, intended to be paid out to help EU member states get back on their feet with respective plans following the coronavirus pandemic, can be obtained by a select few within Croatia's main economic branch.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, within a maximum of two weeks, the Ministry of Tourism will send its proposals for e-counseling related to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Croatian: NPOO), with specific criteria that will need to be met by all those who want to get their hands on a chunk of this large amount of money.

This was revealed by Sandra Herman, State Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism at the Days of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies (UHPA), which has been being held in Opatija. The Croatian tourism sector has been waiting to hear what these criteria are for a long time now.

"We'll send our proposals for calls related to the NPOO, namely 900 million kuna for public tourism infrastructure and 1.2 billion related to the private sector. These are two separate calls, especially public infrastructure, and especially the private sector. Travel agencies will be able to find space for their candidacy through the allocation for the private sector, which refers to clusters and innovations, and which is worth 180 million kuna. This money will be directed mainly towards capital projects,'' explained Herman.

Hoteliers will also find space for their own candidacy in the amount of 1.2 billion kuna, but this involved many different allocations and it will depend on whether the company is small or medium. However, what will surely interest potential users of this cash sum is that there will be a difference in criteria for developed and underdeveloped tourist areas.

"The money is focused mainly on the renovation, ie raising the quality of existing accommodation capacities in tourist developed areas, while on the continent or in undeveloped areas it will be possible to use funds to build new accommodation capacities," explained Herman.

The e-consultation will include a concrete call for proposals, as has been agreed at the moment with the European Commission (EC). After the e-consultation, possible changes will be made and the EC approval will be sought again, and a call will be published in the second half of this year.

For more on the Croatian tourism sector and funding from the NPOO, make sure to check out our politics section.