April 6, 2023 - A total of 755 prices remained unchanged compared to December 31, 2022. Prices in Croatia have been recorded as stable after March 31, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development claimed on Tuesday, referring to data from their website Kretanje cijena.

"After the last entry of data with prices from March 31, it is still visible on the website that prices in the largest retail chains in the Republic of Croatia are stable," the ministry said in a statement, as reported by Poslovni.

At the same time, it is stated that of the total number of prices for products monitored on the website, 253 were reduced compared to December 31 last year, of which 157 were reduced due to promotions.

"Noticeable price reduction is visible in Persil laundry detergent in Konzum and KTC and Lay's chips in Konzum. Among local producers, laundry and dishwashing detergents Faks and Likvi and Podravka jams and pasta have become cheaper," says the press release.

The latest update on the site on March 31 also shows 71 price increases compared to December 31, 2022. The price increases are said to be mainly for seasonal fruits and vegetables, Nivea shower gels, Barilla pasta, and Elseve shampoos.

On February 17, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development put into operation the application solution Kretanje Cijena with the primary goal of providing citizens with an overview of price movements in retail chains in one place and a comparison with prices as of December 31, 2022, for targeted product categories that are part of the standard consumer basket.

The partners of the "white list" project since its inception have been the shopping chains Konzum, KTC, and Tommy. For those retail chains, the consumer basket values for the observed products as of December 31, 2022, are shown on the website.

As of March 24, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development completed the website with new prices of the other seven major retail chains for the 365 items tracked on the site.

Since the launch of the website until April 3, it has recorded more than 730,000 views, according to the ministry.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.

January 8, 2022 - High prices in Croatia won't work for the upcoming tourist season as Mediterranean competitors came back into the game. 

Croatian travel agencies are once again facing another challenging tourist year. Boris Žgomba, president of the Association of Travel Agencies at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), said that Croatian tourism hopes for better results in 2022 than last year, but a fight awaits for every guest as other Mediterranean countries return with possible lower prices than Croatia, reports Novi List.

"Behind us is a very bad 2020 and surprisingly good 2021 compared to what was expected. However, this year is uncertain, partly due to the spread of the virus in the first days of the year, and partly due to the expected return of our closest competitors in the market," says Žgomba. Namely, he said that apart from Croatia, most other destinations and countries are preparing for better results, including returning traffic to the level of approximately 2019. Furthermore, according to the announcements, strengthening air traffic is expected. This means that Croatia cannot afford the high price jumps in 2021, which was justified by increased demand.

But also the fact that in the last two pandemic years, Croatia enjoyed a specific privileged position when it comes to epidemiological conditions, and it also positioned itself as a car destination. However, it seems that Croatia is no longer safe in that position because it is expected that other countries will be in a better epidemiological situation than they were last year. And that means that the fight for each guest will be more complex than ever.

As for tourist agencies, he said their business was significantly affected by a higher number of individual tourist arrivals during the pandemic than organized tours. Therefore, in 2022, the agencies would welcome job preservation measures, at least until the end of March and the beginning of April, to bridge the time until spring and the beginning of stronger tourist traffic.

According to the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies (UHPA), UHPA member agencies in the first ten months of 2021 recorded a decline in traffic of about 70 percent compared to 2019, which is a slight recovery compared to 2020 when the drop was about 90 percent. But it is far from recovering, and agencies remain among the hardest-hit part of the tourism sector.

Therefore, they are still on state support and hope that the continued impact of the pandemic on business will continue to help preserve jobs at least until April 2022.

"Most agencies have survived the corona crisis, primarily with government action, but many have exhausted a variety of financial options, from loans to property sales, so we still need action, at least until April 2022, to survive until spring when we expect some tourist traffic," said the UHPA at the last annual Assembly.

However, the agencies also expect that traffic will be difficult this year, especially since the pandemic is raging worldwide and thus throughout Europe, which has already been felt in reservations and payments for skiing and winter holidays through agencies, which went well in the autumn. Skiing was expected to return to pre-pandemic figures, but as the epidemiological situation worsened, bookings fell, and there were last-minute cancellations.

It should also be added that the specificity of agency business is based on the tourist offer and services created for specific market niches whose realization is related to periods outside the tourist season, such as group travel, congress tourism, and school travel, which were also in sharp decline last year.

Also, many agencies specialize in creating and providing services for specific foreign markets from which, or according to which, due to travel restrictions, it was not possible to realize trips such as Asia, Australia, Canada, and so on. 

For more, check out our dedicated travel section.