ZAGREB, 12 March, 2021 - Croatia and Israel have started talks on travel and protocols for tourists from the two countries, Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac said on Friday, hopeful an agreement would soon be reached.

Brnjac and Israeli Ambassador Ilan Mor met on Thursday to discuss the travel protocols with the aim of reaching an agreement that would facilitate travel for tourists from both countries during the pandemic.

The minister expressed satisfaction with the meeting at which she informed the ambassador of other activities of her ministry, including a project with the website "Safe stay in Croatia", which provides visitors to Croatia with information on locations and epidemiological restrictions in force as well as recommendations for health safety.

She spoke of special safety protocols which anyone applying for the "Safe stay in Croatia" certificate must comply with and explained how businesses with that certificate would be monitored.

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ZAGREB, 29 January, 2021 - The Conflict of Interest Commission on Friday launched proceedings against Tourism and Sport Minister Nikolina Brnjac for her failure to declare a speed boat her husband owns in her Declaration of Assets in a timely fashion.

The complaint notes that Brnjac and her husband obtained a valuable asset without a loan and failed to declare the Jeanneau Leader 805 speed boat registered in her husband's name on her Declaration of Assets.

The applicant of the complaint claimed that Brnjac's husband only declared a small vessel while failing to declare the new vessel purchased in 2018 that is valued at €85,000.

In an explanation to the commission Minister Brnjac presented a sales contract noting that she had omitted to note that the proceeds from selling the smaller vessel went to purchase the new boat.

The commission confirmed that in 2019 Brnjac reported the new vessel in her Declaration of Assets, which meant her declaration had not been adjusted to the real state of affairs for a year and a half.

Brnjac added that she did not intentionally fail to declare the vessel as she did not consider it necessary to declare the new vessel as its value was the same as the vessel sold.

ZAGREB, December 4, 2020 - The government is aware of the problems and challenges faced by tourism and sports, and to additionally help those sectors, it has been working on a programme of support for tourism and related services to be implemented in 2021, Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac has said.

The new programme, which envisages government subsidies for tourism and related sectors, will focus on small, medium and large entrepreneurs and it will amount to around HRK 1.5 billion, the minister said in an interview with Hina.

"The subsidies will cover many activities, such as food and drink preparation and serving, travel agencies, tour operators, booking and related services, equipment and property leasing, sports, entertainment and recreation activities, etc. Businesses in the health tourism and businesses connected with the health system, such as general practitioners' and specialist practices, dentists and other healthcare-related businesses that are part of tourism services and earn their revenue mostly outside the public health system, will also benefit from the new measures," the minister said, among other things.

She noted that the government had so far secured aid in the amount of some HRK 20 million for sports associations and as much for sports events, as well as that it was working on measures for additional aid to the sports sector.

ZAGREB, November 20, 2020- Tourism and Sport Minister Nikolina Brnjac proposed on Friday in an online meeting the establishment of a joint working group for tourism to Italian Culture and Tourism Minister Dario Franceschini, the Ministry of Tourism and Sport (MINTS) has said.

Minister Brnjac and Culture and Media Minister Nina Obuljen Korzinek held an online bilateral meeting with Franceschini, ahead of the fourth plenary session of the Coordinating Committee of Croatian and Italian Ministers, the ministry said in a press release.

Brnjac said that during Croatia's presidency of the Council of the EU a quality discussion had been initiated between member states in the tourism sector, and the need to find a joint plan for overcoming the crisis had been identified.

In the difficult circumstances that hit tourism this year, it is especially important to exchange experiences on the use of EU funds, encourage private-public partnerships and interregional and cross-sectoral cooperation to ensure recovery and resilience, as well as further development and growth of the tourism sector, the Croatian tourism minister said.

She also said that the initiative to better position tourism within the EU, which Croatia had presented in 2018, had attracted great interest and support of Italy and other EU member states.

According to her, Croatia is open to presenting and promoting itself together with Italy in third markets, as well as to sharing knowledge and experience on the technological, legislative and organisational aspects of Croatia's award-winning eVisitor system.

The ministers also agreed that education in tourism was key to strengthening and further developing the sector, and that the exchange of knowledge and good practices in the training of tourism and hospitality staff was very useful for both sides, MINTS said.

ZAGREB, Sept 11, 2020 - In the first eight months of this year, 6.8 million tourists visited Croatia and generated 47.5 million overnight stays, which was at 41% and 53% respectively of last year's levels.

YTD tourism results are better than expected following the outbreak of the coronavirus infection, according to a statement made by Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac and the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ) director Kristijan Stanicic at a news conference in Zagreb on Friday.

Of those 47.5 million overnight stays, the lion's share, 84%, were made in July and August, and in those two months, Croatia registered 5.2 million holidaymakers.

Addressing the news conference, Minister Brnjac thanked the stakeholders and businesses in the tourism sector for those results.

"Clearly, nobody finds this situation easy, however, the sector has shown that it has been well prepared and we thank everyone for these results," she said.

The minister says that the government adopted the right measures in a timely fashion to help keep jobs and liquidity in this industry.

The gradual reopening of the borders paved the way for the arrival of tourists, and the results are better than expected in all types of tourist accommodation, she added.

"Nautical tourism is one of the segments that has fared well, and currently there are about 300 mega-yachts in Croatia. We hope that this good season will continue."

Government assistance schemes for the tourism and hospitality industry will be in effect until the end of this year to help the sector make good preparations for 2021, and the minister recalls that part of the money will be ensured from the European Union's funds.

She announced the preparation of a strategy for sustainable tourism with the engagement of experts in drawing up the document.

About 200,000 tourists currently vacationing

HTZ director Stanicic said that about 200,000 tourists were currently vacationing in Croatia.

He said that HTZ campaigns on social networks had registered hundreds of millions of visits.

Stanicic also commented on some negative campaigns on foreign markets that were unfavorable for Croatia.

We tried to respond to that "with certain positive and fact-based messages," he said.

When asked about the financial effects of the tourist turnover, Stanicic said that one should wait for the end of the year.

The director of the Croatian Association of Tourism (HUT), Veljko Ostojic, said that given the circumstances, the results in the sector were the best possible.

In hotels, overnight stays in the first eight months were at 30.4% of the levels in the corresponding period last year, Ostojic said, warning that the financial effects would be even lower.

Ostojic and the head of the Association of the Croatian Travel Agencies (UHPA), Tomislav Fain, agreed that the assistance provided by the government had been essential to keep the sector in motion.

The head of the association of marinas within the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), Sean Lisjak, told the news conference that marinas were satisfied with this year's results.

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ZAGREB, Sept 2, 2020- Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac said on Wednesday that all options for helping the hospitality and tourism sector were "on the table", recalling that restaurant and bar owners were the first to receive help from the state when the corona crisis started.

We talked with the entire hospitality and tourism sector about how to continue with the measures, all options are now still on the table, said Brnjac in front of the government building while answering reporters' questions about the continuation of aid and whether the state has the funds to help restaurant and bar owners requesting it because they are facing bankruptcy and liquidation.

Asked about the continuation of measures for the hospitality and tourism sector in terms of the recent statement by Finance Minister Zdravko Maric that aid must come to an end one day, Brnjac reiterated that all of them were being taken care of and that possibilities for the continuation of the aid were discussed at meetings every day.

She recalled that through the recovery and resilience facility guidelines would define which funds would be in the forms of grants and which in the form of loans. "That will be the source of most funding," she underscored.

Asked whether that meant it was possible that the state would continue financing the hospitality sector, she underlined that "we have to have all options before us," that the hospitality sector had been the first to get help from the state, and that viability had to be taken into account. She underscored the importance of preserving jobs.

Asked about aid for transport operators working on an occasional basis, who on Wednesday demonstrated outside the government calling for urgent aid because the corona crisis has left them with almost no income and numerous jobs are in danger, Minister Brnjac confirmed that transport operators, as well as travel agencies, had seen a slump in turnover, which is why representatives of agencies had been to the Ministry last week.

"We have also discussed with employees from other ministries about how to help them and provide measures for business viability," she added.

"It is important for us that the season continues in September because the situation is not the same in entire Croatia, and the promotional campaign will be adjusted to that," the minister noted.

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ZAGREB, Aug 24, 2020- Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac said on Sunday that she was satisfied with this year's tourist season, with tourist turnover standing at 50% of last year's turnover, or 20% more than expected. 

"According to our projections as well as those of the World Tourism Organisation, we should have been at 30% of last year's result. But we are currently at 50% and realistically speaking, we can be satisfied with those figures," Brnjac told reporters in the Istrian town of Barban, where she attended a local equestrian tournament.

She noted that neighboring countries and other Mediterranean countries had seen a drop in tourist turnover of 70-80%.

Brnjac went on to say that all countries, including those that have put Croatia on the list of epidemiologically unsafe countries, followed the epidemiological situation, and revised their measures every two weeks.

"Epidemiological measures need to be maintained so that the good figures we have had until now could continue. But we must be aware of the fact that in March, April, May and the first half of June we did not have the kind of tourist season we had expected," Brnjac said, adding that she expected good tourism results to continue in September.

"We expect the season to continue, it is not over, but only if we have good epidemiological measures in place and good weather," she said, adding that the epidemiological situation in Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties was very good, which was why they were having good results.

Asked how one should prepare for 2021, which would not be an easy year, Brnjac said that it was of the utmost importance to preserve jobs and stability in the tourist sector.

"Tourism has always been a branch of economy where the situation changes quickly and which adapts to those changes quickly. Making sure Croatia is recognizable as a safe destination that takes care of its guests, along with the continuation of good results, is what gives us the impetus for next year," Brnjac said.

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