November the 9th, 2021 - Rijeka Port signed a very significant contract recently, and it seems that this Northern Adriatic port could become the largest and indeed one of the most important in this part of Europe in a relatively short period of time.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, by signing a 50-year concession agreement for the Rijeka Gateway, APM Terminals and ENNA have formally entered the project of designing, building and operating a new container terminal in Rijeka Port, ENNA said, stating that it is a joint investment of two companies on the Croatian side of the Northern Adriatic.

The estimated value of the concession on the 400-metre coastline stands at about 20.5 billion kuna, and the concessionaire's obligation in the first two years is to realise a container turnover of two million TEU units (equivalent to a twenty-foot container).

Two million kuna is a permanent part of the concession fee, a variable part of 4 or 6 percent of the gross annual revenue of the terminal, and the concessionaire will need to procure and install equipment at the terminal, and in the second phase build an extension of another 280 metres of coastal wall.

The third phase is optional, ie if all of the necessary conditions are met, another 320 metres of coastal wall will be built. The new terminal will be equipped with three ship-shore cranes, and at the end of the second phase with a total of four cranes, currently the largest available on the market, and the Rijeka Gateway will therefore be able to accommodate vessels up to 24,000 TEU.

The total investment is estimated at around 250 million euros, or in the first phase at around 100 million euros. The concessionaire is their joint company: Rijeka Gateway d.o.o. based in Vukovar. It was established by a partnership agreement with 51 and 49 percent membership shares by members of the consortium APM Terminals and ENNA Logic, a component of the wider ENNA Group, which is one of the fastest growing Croatian companies at this moment in time.

The offer of this consortium was selected back in June at an international public tender, while the conclusion of the concession agreement starts the realisation of the project, which means the long-awaited upcoming, rapid development of the Rijeka traffic route.

This means the expansion of intermodal transport, new direct employment - in the first phase about 400 jobs with more to come, concluding with the goal of positioning Rijeka Port on the logistics map.

According to the director of Rijeka Port, Denis Vukorepa, the co-signatory of the contract by the concession grantor, on January the 1st, 2024 the terminal will be operational, and after the completion of the second phase of the ''Zagreb coast'' project, including the activities of Jadranska vrata, Rijeka Port will be the largest container port in the Northern Adriatic with about 1.5 million TEU units (500,000 TEU refers to the Adriatic Gate).

The total turnover of Rijeka Port in 2021 will be, he says, at about 360,000 TEU, or about 5 percent when compared to 2020.

For APM terminals, the world container shipping company A.P. Moller - Maersk, which operates about 80 terminals in the world, the development of a new terminal in Rijeka is in line with their strategy "Safer, better, bigger". According to Morten Engelstoft, CEO of APM Terminals, the investor recognised the growing need for efficient, well-managed and modern terminals that serve as entry points to local and regional markets, bringing container goods closer to end consumers.

Therefore, they're convinced that the Rijeka Gateway, with a good location in Rijeka and a strong connection with the hinterland, will become an important point on the map of port logistics in Croatia, but also in the wider Central European region.

The same belief is shared by Pavao Vujnovac, President of the Management Board of ENNA Group, who believes that this joint investment project in the Zagreb coast (the Rijeka Gateway) will become the basis for growth and sustainability of port operations and logistics sector for Rijeka and the Republic of Croatia as a whole.

According to Vujnovac, the Rijeka Gateway and modernisation of railway infrastructure is the largest Croatian national project that will connect Rijeka Port with continental Croatia and other Central European countries, facilitating business opportunities and rapid economic growth not only in logistics but in all services and industries.

According to PM Andrej Plenkovic, this concession agreement creates the preconditions for Rijeka to take a leading role in cargo transhipment in the Northern Adriatic and become the most important sea exit for Central and Southeast Europe.

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As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 2nd of May, 2019, with the launch of Hilton in the Costabella resort between Opatija and Rijeka, Kvarner has gained its first global hotel brand and Hilton is entering the market for summer resorts in the Republic of Croatia for the first time.

As we reported recently, last week, Hilton confirmed that they signed a contract with JTH Costabella on the management of Hilton Costabella Beach Resort & Spa, which should open before the 2020 summer season, and the investment poured into the project by a Czech investor is worth about eighty million euros. The investment was announced as a luxury product since its very inception, and when in search of an operator last year, the investor negotiated with the well known Hard Rock Hotels group. Eventually, the results of the negotiations ended with Hilton entering the resort. The company has more than ten resorts in Europe.

Siniša Topalović, a partner at the Horwath HTL consulting house, believes that opening of Hilton's new resort in Kvarner is a very positive move for a number of reasons.

"The internationalisation of the Kvarner tourist offer, the strengthening of traffic in the pre and post [tourist] season, the raising of the quality of the tourist destination's offer, as well as transferring the knowledge of the workforce and internal education are just some of the expected positive effects of this cooperation," Topalović stated.

He also recalled the fact that Hilton recently updated its concept, and this would be the first regional resort to adhere to the globally respected company's brand new philosophy and standards. Sanja Čižmar also emphasised that the entry of Hilton into Kvarner will contribute to deepening the global recognition of the Croatian tourist offer as a whole.

Josipa Jutt Ferlan, the director of the cluster of Hilton Hotels in Zagreb and the director of Zagreb City Hotels revealed to Poslovni Dnevnik what Hilton had brought to the Croatian capital.

"Hilton brought with it a higher quality perception of Zagreb as an international destination, because with the entry of Hilton, Zagreb gained the presence of yet another, globally strong hotel company. The diversity of hotel deals through the presence of various brands, strengthens the destination compared to its international competition,'' explained Jutt Ferlan.

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Click here for the original article by Marija Crnjak for Poslovni Dnevnik

As Morski writes on the 25th of April, 2019, over the Easter holidays, 28,500 guests stayed in Kvarner, accounting for 99,000 overnight stays, which is a massive 100 percent increase when compared to the same period back in 2018, according to the Kvarner Tourist Board.

According to the official data from the eVisitor system, 28,500 guests spent 99,000 nights in Kvarner over four Easter holiday days (from Friday to Easter Monday).

The numbers from not only last year, but also from 2016 and 2017 prove the fact that during the Easter season this year, Kvarner was visited by a record number of guests. Thus, this year, 37 percent more overnight stays were realised when compared to 2017, when the Easter holidays fell during the same period of April, and even more incredible 147 percent more than 2016 were recorded, when the Easter holidays fell earlier, at the end of March.

In more than 100 of Kvarner's hotels and in as many as 25 camps, as well as a large number of holiday homes and private apartments, guests from Germany, other parts of Croatia, Austria, Italy and neighbouring Slovenia made up large numbers. German guests realised 25 percent of the total number of overnight stays, while domestic guests and guests from Austria realised 14 percent of the total number of overnight stays, with guests from Italy making up 11 percent.

Most of the overnight stays were realised on the island of Krk (32,300), followed by the Opatija riviera (23,400), the island of Lošinj (15,500), the Crikvenica-Vinodolski riviera (10,000), Rijeka and its surroundings (6,300), on the island of Rab (5,500), the island of Cres (5,300) and Gorski Kotar (850).

Nearly half of the overnight stays (49,000) were realised in hotels across Kvarner, most of which open on the Opatija riviera. 23,000 overnight stays were spent in private accommodation and in camps, most of them on Kvarner's numerous islands, account for 22,000 overnights.

In the spirit of the Easter holidays, Kvarner's hosts across the region prepared a large number of events for guests, from traditional cultural and entertainment events to gastronomic, religious and nature-related activities.

''In the last eight years, if we only look at the [main tourist] season, we're talking about a jump of as much as 90 percent, while in terms of the total number of overnight stays for the same period we've seen an increase of 50 percent. This marked increase in the number of guests, both foreign and domestic, shows us that we have a well-established development strategy based on our activities and programs, with the emphasis on filling out the period outside of the main summer tourist season.

The performances at this year's fairs and presentations on our strongest markets - Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia - gave us a good insight into the beginning of this tourist year and what those employed in tourism in Kvarner can expect,'' stated dr.sc. Irene Peršić Živadinov.

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Just how close are we to a real digital Croatia? The answer is unclear and as varied as ever, but some Croatian cities have shown promise with some rather impressive and encouraging results.

As Novac/Gradonacelnik.hr writes on the 23rd of April, 2019, although more and more cities are gradually digitising their business and investing in smart city solutions, and some of the most advanced have almost completely switched to doing solely digital business, generally speaking, Croatian cities are only in the very early stages of the much needed digital transition, just as Croatia is, as a country, at the very bottom in Europe in terms of the digital readiness of general society and the economy.

As the methodology for ranking cities in terms of digital readiness is only at its very beginning even at the European level, stories and analysis of the "smart city" concept development here in Croatia are still very much based on individual experiences, examples and projects.

That is why, in order to gain a real elementary insight into the digitalisation of Croatia's services and the communication of the country's many city administrations with citizens, experts from Apsolon, a consulting company specialising in digital business development, has undertaken the very first major study of the ''digital readiness'' of twenty of the largest cities across Croatia. This study, according to project manager and smart management director at Apsolon, Ivana Novoselec, is the basis for the further development of research tools and methodology that will track the development and progress of Croatia's cities on an annual basis.

In its study, Apsolon divided the cities into three categories - large (Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Osijek), middle (Zadar, Velika Gorica, Slavonski Brod, Pula and Karlovac) and smaller cities (Sisak, Varaždin, Šibenik, Dubrovnik, Bjelovar, Kaštela, Samobor, Vinkovci, Koprivnica, Đakovo, Vukovar.)

The digital readiness index at Apsolon was set based on several criteria - the availability of e-services (the number of administrative services and their digitalisation rate in Croatia), the availability of site service information and the development of unified services for making payments in the city, then came the availability of city data, the level of citizen participation in decision making and communication channels between the city administration and citizens, ie, the availability of data and time in which citizens receive answers to their various questions. At this stage, Apsolon hasn't entered into the internal processes in Croatia's city administrations, but rather focused on what services are offered to the city's citizens and how long such things typically take.

After this type of indexing and ranking, the title of the ''digitisation champion'' among the Croatian cities was awarded to the City of Rijeka, thus confirming its status as the best city in the Smart City category which it won last year. Apsolon pointed out that the City of Rijeka has achieved the greatest advances in the systematic raising of the quality of its services, but also the opening of data and communication channels to citizens.

"Rijeka as the most advanced city in Croatia in terms of digitisation and is characterised in particular by the emphasis on openness and communication with its citizens. Its administration is oriented towards clear communication (a very clear centralised e-services approach with well-organised access to all automated services and available forms), openness and participatory management," said project manager Ivana Novoselac.

In many categories, especially those relating to the functional aspects of digitisation (advanced digital services, e-citizen connectivity, etc.), Rijeka is followed closely by the City of Zagreb.

The city of Pula is the most advanced middle-size city in Croatia, which also presents its services and available information to its citizens in a systematic and very detailed way, raising standards in terms of transparency and interaction with citizens, and is certainly a champion among cities with between 50.000 and 100.000 inhabitants.

In relation to the criteria relating to specific functional and technological solutions, Karlovac, Velika Gorica and Zadar follow. For the City of Karlovac the large number of available administrative procedures on its website and responses to citizens' inquiries are generally quick made it stand out from the crowd.

Among the small cities in Croatia, there is no distinctly dominant digital champion, but according to research findings in different aspects of digitisation, Dubrovnik, Samobor, Sisak, Koprivnica and Varaždin appear to be the most successful ones, according to this research. Among the prominent representatives of this category, Dubrovnik is strategically trying to profile as Smart City and has a high quality City Card, e-Visitor platform, is very active on social networks and it continuing to develop innovative application solutions. When it comes to the number of digitally available services, Koprivnica ranks above all.

Samobor, which is particularly active on social networks and is the category winner for social networking, has a very comprehensive and interactive website which separates the site accordingly and has adjusted all of the information for citizens and for visitors, as well as separating foreign visitors from domestic ones.

It should also be noted that Bjelovar is extremely proactive in the field of the digitalisation of its administration, it is working on applicative transparency solutions as well as on internal digitalisation processes. What is particularly commendable is Bjelovar's focus on the digitalisation of its internal processes.

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Click here for the original article by Novac/Jutarnji/Gradonacelnik.hr

As Suzana Varosanec/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 25th of March, 2019, under its new administration and new owners, the popular Jadran hotel group from Crikvenica is expanding rapidly and after taking over Club Adriatic, it is continuing to introduce new facilities in Baško Polje, and is now expanding to the Kvarner region.

Based on the ten-year lease of the Hotel Delfin in Omišalj, business for Jadran is beginning on the island of Krk. The offer was favourable, as can unofficially be revealed. The Crikvenica-based hotel group also signed a long-term lease for three pavilions in Crikvenica. Owing to these business moves, Jadran's accommodation capacities will increase by a significant 139 accommodation units, in Baško Polje there are about 440 new units, and this season Jadran will be able to boast about having a 36 percent higher capacity compared to last year.

And while Hotel Delfin can't be renewed this season for various reasons, this is thankfully not the case for the three pavilions that were once owned by Jadran. Since they are situated at the location of a common entity whose renewal is already in full swing, a makeover awaits.

Namely, from the Adriatic highway to the coast, Jadran's property in Crikvenica is having works carried out at Hotel Ad Turres and on thirteen pavilions, each with 27 rooms as well as works at Hotel Omorika, which will be completed in ten days.

Last year, this hotel group grew by 10 percent more than it did back during 2017, and realised an impressive 416,000 overnight stays, in 2019 they're planning for 437,000 overnight stays, marking an increase of about 6.6 percent. Slovenian guests and Croatian guests have primarily been the main group to stay in Jadran's numerous accommodation facilities, followed by those from Austria and Germany, and a similar tourist structure is expected this season as well.

Congress tourism is still being developed, and after the completion of the welcome renovation of the Omorika and Katarina hotels, Jadran is expecting an increase in those niches, too. In the health sector, however, Jadran has some big plans in synergy with some local health institutions.

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Click here for the original artice by Suzana Varosanec for Poslovni Dnevnik