January 5, 2020 – Thanks to the imaginative coverage of local portal Fiuman.hr, more than half a million people visited Kvarner Christmas online over the 2020 holidays. From the spectacular lights of Opatija and Rijeka, to toy bears in Rijeka cafe bars, this is what they saw...

Everyone will remember the Advent of 2020 as unusual. Many were separated from friends and family. Others weren't able to travel nor visit the places or people we wanted to. The difference was noted significantly in Croatia, where family means everything, especially at Christmas.

Over recent years, Croatia has become one of the best-known places in Europe to visit for the Advent season. Zagreb's award-winning Advent celebrations have spurred on efforts elsewhere in the country and many towns and cities in Croatia now pull out all the stops during Advent, gloriously decorating their streets and holding events that draw thrilled visitors.

Under the unusual constraints of 2020, one Advent season in Croatia imaginatively continued to draw the crowds. Although, it wasn't so much the streets that were jammed as it was the internet servers. With the considerable help of local news portal Fiuman.hr, Kvarner Christmas Online welcomed tens of thousands of visitors.

Thanks to the imaginative coverage of Fiuman.hr, Kvarner Christmas Online was visited by well over half a million people in 2020. While many bars in Europe remained closed to human customers, Rijeka cake and ice cream cafe Cacao took the opportunity to fill its empty chairs with toy bears during Kvarner Christmas Online. Fiuman.hr's video of the scene was viewed almost 245,000 times.

Their video of the Advent lights in the Gradina part of the city fared even better. Always a spectacular highlight of Kvarner Christmas online, Fiuman.hr's video of Gradina got more than 300,000 views.

With its beautiful city centre parks, peaceful walks and promenade, the Advent season of nearby Opatija has become an increasingly popular choice for visitors over the winter holidays. And, in 2020, that was still the case during Kvarner Christmas online. Fiuman.hr 's video from the Opatija park near Šporer generated over 190 thousand views.

It just goes to show that while the Advent of 2020 may have been curtailed in unexpected ways, there's no dampening of the love of Christmas and the festive spirit. Fiuman.hr's video viewers will surely be lining up to visit Kvarner Christmas in person as soon as they can.

August 23, 2020 – 21 films are in competition at Liburnia Film Festival, the country's leading festival promoting Croatian documentaries.

Liburnia Film Festival (LFF) returns this week to showcase the very best in Croatian documentary films. Held in the beautiful surroundings of Opatija, this is the 18th annual occurrence for Croatia's original documentary festival.

Opatija's small Summer Stage will host the festival's main competition programme, with an off-programme taking place at Villa Antonio in Opatija you will find. 21 films are this year competing for jury and audience awards, of which 9 are receiving their premieres at Liburnia Film Festival.


A scene from 2020 feature-length documentary 'Storkman' by Tomislav Jelinčić. The film follows Slavonski Brod widower Stjepan Vokić and his two famous, adopted house guests, the storks Malena and Klepetan. The film opens outdoor screenings on Monday 24 August at 20.15 © Transmedia Production

This year's international film programme is titled 'State of Emergency' and features 7 movies which focus on extremist movements in Europe. Part of this year's Liburnia Film Festival schedule is being run in conjunction with Rijeka Capital of Culture 2020.


A scene from 2020 film 'My Universe' by Zagreb-based filmmaker Yuliya Molina. Russian immigrant mother Galja and her feminist street artist daughter Nastja appear to be worlds apart, but actually have more in common than they'd like to admit. The 28-minute movie won Best Slovenian Film at the recent FEKK Film Festival in Ljubljana and will be screened outdoors, after 22.30, on Monday 24 August © Akademija dramske umjetnosti Zagreb

Educational programmes and discussions with filmmakers in competition make up the afternoon sections of the festival. Screenings begin at around 18.00 each day at Villa Antonio for the off-programme, with outdoor screenings usually beginning at 20.15. The festival is adhering to epidemiological guidelines and as a result, there are a more limited number of seats than in previous years.

The Liburnia Film Festival begins on the evening of Monday 24 August and ends late on the night of Friday 28 August.

Over the last few days, Croatian media reported that Opatija had rejected a 50 million euro investment by Malta company AX Holding, who had planned to build a complex of accommodation units for seniors, i.e., a five-star apartment-hotel and 200 apartments, on the site of the former hospital in Ičići, reports Novi List on January 23, 2019. 

The Ministry of Tourism even backed the idea.

“It's about investing in the segment of senior tourism, which we expect will be even more developed in the future. During 2018, the Ministry made new legislative changes in the framework of additional quality development for health tourism, which is closely linked to seniors. What we are constantly pointing out is that we want our tourism to be the result of thoughtful, responsive and sustainable tourism policies and that tourist activity continues throughout the year, creating many benefits to our society, from employment and income to other economic activities. Selective forms of tourism, such as for senior citizens, contribute to year-round tourism,” emphasized the Ministry, but the City of Opatija did not share their enthusiasm.

The story stems from Opatija’s urban plans for a project that includes 75 percent allocated for hotel rooms in the area, which investors did not fit into the vision.

Namely, according to the Urban Plan, the area should see construction exclusively for tourist purposes, or a minimum of 75 percent for hotel accommodation and a maximum of 25 percent for apartments, while the potential investors proposed an investment of 200 apartment units.

The Mayor of Opatija, Ivo Dujmić, says that they do not want new apartments, but investments that will increase hotel accommodation units.

“A lot has been said recently that the City of Opatija rejected a ‘valuable 50 million euro investment’ for an apartment-hotel in Ičići on the plateau of the former hospital. You have the right to wonder why we would reject such a valuable investment. The construction of an apartment-hotel, i.e., buildings with only accommodation units, opens the possibility of selling individual apartments on the market, given the inadequate regulation of the issues in question by Croatian regulations, and in practice, they get housing dormitories instead of hotel facilities. According to the Urban Plan of Ičići, in this area, the urban plan approved by the City Council foresees the construction of hotels exclusively tourist purpose - i.e., a minimum of 75 percent for hotels and a maximum 25 percent for apartments. We do not want additional apartments in a valuable area. The investors from Malta projected around 200 accommodation units, which is contrary to the existing UPU and could not be accepted," said Dujmić, adding that in the meantime, the Ičići City Council demanded that further conditions be set for that location.

“In particular, for the location of the hospital in Ičići, all construction conditions should be returned to at least the level of 2013, and not lower. The hospital should not be converted for residential use, but should be exclusively for hotel and tourist purposes with amenities that would represent the center of the area,” mayor Ivo Dujmić concluded. 

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