ZAGREB, November 26, 2018 - Members of the striking committee in the 3. Maj shipyard said on Monday the strike will continue in the Rijeka shipyard, as will their fight for the bailout of 3. Maj.

A member of the striking committee, Juraj Šoljić, said the striking committee's news conference was prompted by a press release and threats from the management of the Pula-based Uljanik dock. The Uljanik management as well as the management boards of all members of the Uljanik Group on Friday accused the striking committee of obstruction of the conciliation process in the 3. Maj dock and violation of a number of laws and internal regulations.

The Economy Ministry is expected to submit a restructuring programme for Uljanik on Tuesday, a programme that workers and trade union representatives know nothing about.

"We will not stop, or back down on our demands and payout of salaries, we demand information from the Uljanik management, we want them to inform us of their intentions regarding the salvaging of 3. Maj," Šoljić said.

He also said that representatives of Croatian metal workers' trade unions would meet their colleagues from Fincantieri and the Fincantieri management in Trieste on Tuesday. The Fincantieri shipbuilding company has been mentioned as a possible strategic partner in 3. Maj.

The 3. Maj shipyard is part of the Uljanik shipbuilding group.

For more on the Croatian shipbuilding industry, click here.

While Volotea has significantly increased operations to Croatia in recent years, next summer, the Spanish low-cost carrier has made an even more significant leap forward with their new route from Athens to Dubrovnik. 

November 22, 2018 - Ready to give the gift of your smile for the smile of others?

Smiješak! is an all-day humanitarian event that is held annually every December at the Cukarikafe Bar in Rijeka, and offers all people of good will a chance to be photographed together with their family, friends, and pets in exchange for a symbolic donation, each year for a different cause.

Ever since it first took place in 2010, Smiješak! has been repeatedly supported by countless citizens of Rijeka and its surrounding area, as well as a number of other intentional and accidental visitors.

So who are the people behind the project?

The Smiješak! team includes a number of incredibly enthusiastic volunteers and talented professional photographers. More precisely, they currently count 12 photographers and 4 "print Fräuleins," as the rest of the team endearingly calls them, so in total, that's 16 active members. Sometimes that number changes a little, depending on who is available for participation.

At the 2018 edition of Smiješak! you will be greeted by: Dalibora Bijelić, Vladimir Mudrovčić, Viktor Pravdica, Karlo Čargonja, Ivan Vranjić, Aleksandra Đorđić, Ivana Kutni Mihić, Damir Plavotić, Davor Pavlović, Mateo Udovičić, Tomislav Rašetina, Tanja Kanazir, Martina Perković, Sanda Hunjak, Mateo Antić, Jana Rajnović, and Nataša Slavić.

 Year after year, these guys are so invested and driven by the desire to help others and raise not only money but also awareness for different charitable causes, inspiring everyone around them with their amazing positivity. Investing wholeheartedly their time, skills, and energy, so far they have managed to raise quite a significant amount of funds for the Ivana Brlić Mažuranić children's home and various other non-profit organizations like Rijeka 21 Down's Syndrome Association, Šarolija, Koga Briga, Lovran's Lunjo & Maza and Rijeka's Animal Protection Association, and Kitten Safe House, among others.

With the 8th edition of Smiješak! coming up, we'd like to remind everyone not to miss this year's event. Photos are usually developed and printed on the spot, though additional copies can be ordered post-event, and all you have to do is arm yourself with a smile and come make memories with the Smiješak! crew in downtown Rijeka.

More details are yet to be announced so to keep informed about all the upcoming events, you can follow Smiješak! on Facebook and Instagram, where you can also check out photo galleries from past years.

And make sure you stay tuned for more heart-warming stories like this by following our dedicated lifestyle page.

The Rijeka Carnival, the largest top event of Croatian tourism in the tourist preseason, has won an award for excellence, creativity and inventiveness. It uses the traditions and customs of the local community to form a unique national manifestation that significantly enriches Croatian tourist offer, especially outside the main tourist season, reports Lokalni.hr on November 22, 2018.

As part of the 20th PUT Business Travel Exchange held in Varaždin, the Simply the Best Awards were presented. This traditional annual award for creativity, innovation, development and promotion of tourist destinations has been presented for the tenth year in a row by UHPA – Association of Croatian Travel Agencies and the Way to Croatia travel magazine.

The awards were presented in five categories: catering, events, travel agencies, new tourism projects and individuals who contributed to the tourism development.

Based on the application submitted by the Rijeka Town Tourist Board, three awards were presented in three different categories.

The Rijeka Carnival received an award for excellence, creativity and inventiveness in the category of Multiday Thematic Events. The particular importance of the event is that it takes place outside of the main tourist season, significantly contributing to the tourist offer during the preseason.

The Travelana Travel Agency won the award in the category Travel Agency - Cooperation with Local Community, for the cooperation with the local tourist board on the development of new tourist products that have contributed to the attractiveness of the particular destination and its greater tourist prominence.

The Marina Botel has won the award in the category Catering – Accommodation Facilities with Added Content. The award was given for innovative design, quality of service and creative approach to the design and production of programmes which enhance the tourist offer of a destination.

The Rijeka Carnival is held each year before Lent. It was established in 1982 and has since become the largest carnival in Croatia. The main carnival march is held on the last Sunday before the Ash Wednesday. If the weather is good, tens of thousands of spectators may line the streets and attend the carnival.

For more on the Rijeka carnival, click here.

Translated from Lokalni.hr.

ZAGREB, November 15, 2018 - After a meeting between Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the management boards of the 3. Maj dock and the Uljanik shipbuilding group, shipyard workers and unions on Thursday, union representative Juraj Šoljić said that workers will continue striking until their demands are met and workers, who received the minimum wage for September, are paid their full wage.

"Even if workers at 3. Maj were to stop their strike, they don't have anything to do," Šoljić said, underscoring that there is no material for them to work with that would enable the continuation of production at that Rijeka-based shipyard. He added that during the meeting with Prime Minister Plenković, workers' representatives reiterated their stance.

Workers are demanding the replacement of the 3. Maj Supervisory Board and the appointment of a new one, comprising two members from Pula and two from Rijeka in addition to the current workers' representative. They are also demanding that the dock's director, Maksimilijan Percan, be replaced, an emergency administration appointed, and all sectors that used to be part of 3. Maj, including the engine factory, be restored as part of the dock, as well as that workers' representative be included in preparing a restructuring plan for the Uljanik Group.

Workers also want the 3. Maj shipyard's separation from the Pula-based Uljanik to be included in the restructuring plan and that it be prepared carefully so that 3. Maj can continue working and contracting new jobs.

Šoljić said that workers want to know what will happen to the ships currently being built at the dock. Over the past two days, we had informal contact with the ships' owner regarding the completion of those ships because they mean life for 3. Maj, he added. He said that workers were told at the meeting that they would be able to participate in preparing the restructuring plan.

The unionist underscored that workers' representatives said that they would not back down from their demand that the Supervisory Board be replaced and a new one appointed, adding that if an agreement was not reached on that point, the state would have to step in.

Šoljić said that the management board had still not prepared the restructuring plan for Uljanik even though it was said that it would be completed by the start of the week. "As far as I understood, the potential partner for Uljanik has to prove its financial capacity for the programme to survive," he added.

He added that they were assured at the meeting that 3. Maj would not be shut down and that negotiations were being held with various partners.

With regard to separating 3. Maj from Uljanik, Šoljić said that it can't be done overnight and that it is necessary to regulate Uljanik's repayment of a 523 million kuna loan given to it by 3. Maj, the completion of the four ships under construction, investment into technology and injection of fresh capital by a new partner, as well as the sale of shares.

I believe that the bids also offer something and I trust that a model will be found for 3. Maj's survival and that if nothing else, it will be privatised and operate independently, Šoljić concluded.

For more on Croatia’s shipyards, click here.

Rijeka Airport has added yet another new airline to the list for the upcoming season. 

The 14th round of the Croatian First League was played from November 9 to 11, 2018, which saw Hajduk finally make the jump up to 6th place. 

November 10, 2018 - The latest flights to Croatia roundup, with El Al starting direct flights to Dubrovnik, Ryanair expanding, Volotea moving into Rijeka, and more records smashed at Croatian airports.

New Direct Flights to Croatia - El Al from Tel Aviv to Dubrovnik

Isreali interest in Croatia has been steadily increasing in recent months, with Croatia's controversial US$500 million purchase of Israeli F16s, a shift in the Croatian position in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, as well as a raft of business announcements. The latest strengthening of ties comes with the announcement that El Al will start the first-ever direct flights to Dubrovnik from Israel, starting on June 4. The weekly Tuesday flight will run under the tourist brand Sun d'Or until September 24, and the new route will be in addition to the longer running connection between Tel Aviv and Zagreb. The flights to Zagreb will be three times a week from April 2 to October 23 - all details of timetables can be found via Avioradar. 

Flights to Rijeka - Welcome Volotea!

Volotea's steady expansion in the Croatian market continues, and the Spanish low-cost carrier has announced its first flight to Rijeka, European City of Culture in 2020. And if you are quick, promotional tickets are just 9 euro. The new route will be once a week from Marseilles, and it will run from June 6 to August 28. 

New flights to Pula from easyJet and Volotea

More easyJet love for Istria, as the famous orange and white livery will be connecting Pula with Amsterdam next summer, as already reported by TCN. 

It is not the only new route to Pula to be announced this week. Having already established Nantes to Pula, Volotea will commence direct flights to Pula from Bordeaux once a week on June 5, reports Avioradar.

More flights to Split with Wideroe

No market has opened up to Dalmatia as much as the Scandinavian market with the arrival of budget flights, and national carrier Norwegian can be credited with a major part in establishing the market. Where one goes, others follow, and yet one more option for Norwegian tourists next summer, as Wideroe has announced another charter option from Oslo Torp to Split. 

Cheap Flights to Croatia - Ryanair to add more Zadar Routes

Despite being the first to enter the low-cost market in Croatia back in 2007, Ryanair has not expanded as much as easyJet, Norwegian or some other competitors. It seems that some efforts to addressing this will come next year. 

"The budget airline, which last year held a 5% capacity share in Croatia and was well behind rivals such as easyJet and Eurowings on the market, will strengthen its seasonal base in Zadar next year with the launch of up to eight new routes. The carrier has already scheduled new services from Hamburg, Prague, Cologne, and Nuremberg to the Croatian coastal city next summer. However, it is expected that the no frills airline will no longer have an aircraft stationed in Croatia." Read the full story of Ryanair's plans for both Croatia and the wider region on ExYuAviation.

Flights to Croatia - more record passenger numbers to Croatian airports

The records keep on tumbling. More information on record passenger numbers in two TCN reports this week - Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik airports set October record, and  Airports See 10.5% More Passengers than Last Year.

For the latest flight news to Croatia, follow our dedicated page

One Croatian company which pays its employees wages of over 1,000 euros per month has had an offer to move its business operations to Ireland. The company currently employs 100 people in Croatia and 50 people from outside Croatia.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 9th of November, 2018, the managing director of the Rijeka-based Alarm automatika company, Boris Popović, warned about the problems of entrepreneurs with employment and the retention of experts in domestic companies from the ICT sector in Osijek last week.

He said that in his Croatian company, which employs engineering teams, he always fears the departure of experts who are getting more profitable business deals. However, as Glas Slavonije reports, tempting offers are not only received by employees, but also by entrepreneurs.

Alarm automatika deals with delivery solutions in multiple segments of technical protection, ie security systems. The company buys hardware from across the world, but develops its software, creates its own brands and eventually puts it all together into a unique solution offered to customers across multiple markets. Approximately one third of the total revenue is realised by the company's export of its products, and the plan, according to Popović, is for export revenue to reach half of the company's entire revenue by 2020.

Popovic spoke in depth on the topic of how the Croatian state can assist exporters in Osijek, including examples from some countries such as Canada, which funds research and development salaries in strategic industries. He also mentioned the fact that both China and South Korea have measures in place to reward their exporters.

"The interests of the state and society are for entrepreneurs to open up new jobs and invest more in development. The state should therefore encourage those who invest and open new jobs. How can it do that? It can do so by covering part of the costs incurred in research and development, and also with tax breaks on that work. We've seen that with the example of Romania, which has deemed their ICT industry a strategic industry, and has reduced the costs to all employees in that sector to as little possible. 300,000 foreign companies are now active in Romania. This country has become the largest centre for the development of the ICT industry and now the average salary in that sector in Romania is two thousand euros,'' Popović pointed out.

''We now have one hundred employees in Croatia, and 50 more outside of Croatia. On average, their salaries are over a thousand euros, of course, depending on the segment in which they work. It would be good if the taxes on these salaries were 20 to 30 percent lower, and that our employees' salaries were higher by that same amount. We're always in fear that the most important people will leave us, as they constantly receive offers from other companies. And not just those, but our company gets offers. We were the guest of the Irish development agency who suggested we move the entire company over to Ireland. For now, we're not going to do it, but if we end up in a situation where we're without people (staff), then what else can we do other than go there with them,'' admitted Popović.

In Croatia, this Croatian company has offices in Zagreb, Rijeka, Split, Zadar, and outside of Croatia it operates in all the countries of the former Yugoslavia, as well as in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia.

According to Popović, the best operating conditions are in Slovenia, followed by Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary. In Croatia, the highest taxes are paid on employee salaries.

Want to keep up with more news about the domestic economic climate and doing business in Croatia? Make sure to stay up to date with our business page.