This year will see the third edition of the 3T - Tourism, Travel and Tech conference. This conference has the goal of connecting tourism and IT professionals, and this year, the main focus of the conference lectures is smart tourism.

The share of tourism in Croatia's GDP is close to 20 percent, which is the highest percentage in the European Union. Tourism and IT are the two fastest growing and successful sectors in Croatia and therefore should collaborate more and use each other's strong points. Tourism should use innovative start up solutions and follow the trend which implements technology's role in travel and vacation. The role of smart tourism is growing and tourism businesses should use it, technology is here to support all of this.

The first keynote speaker is Miikka Rosendahl, who will explain how Helsinki obtained the prestigious title of the Virtual Capital of the World and what Croatian tourist destinations can learn from this practice and experience. The keynote speech will be followed by a panel discussion on the topic “What really generates bookings” which will be moderated by Ilija Brajković.

Finally, another keynote speaker, Natalija Havidić from the Ministry of Tourism will present a digitalistion project for public services in the tourism sector. The conference will see about fifteen other lectures, presentations and discussions.

“Helsinki recently won the European Capital of Smart tourism competition and I’m happy to have the representatives from Helsinki here to let us listen to their experience in using the technology to improve their tourism offer. When we organised the first 3T conference in 2017 in order to connect the IT and tourist sector, it was a bit of a risky move. An excellent response to the first and the second edition of the conference proved we offered professionals and visitors what they wanted. This year will bring various content”, said Oleg Maštruko, director of the 3T conference.

The third 3T conference will take place on March the 12th in the Kaptol Boutique Cinema in Zagreb. Make sure to get your tickets in order to keep up to date with all of the rapidly developing technology trends in tourism.

For more information and tickets, click here.

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Plešivica is an oasis for lovers of traditional gastronomy and wine-making, a longtime favourite destination for many of Zagreb's residents, Plešivica is famous for its many vineyards, wineries, sparkling wines and traditional food. Several Croatian family wine stories are attracting attention even from across the Atlantic.

As Marta Duic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of January, 2019, the Šember Winery, located in the village of Donji Pavlovčani, is famous for its sparkling wines that have been produced in their vinery for years. Ivanka Šember, the wife of a winery owner who helps him run the family business, says their sparkling wines are produced from old varieties which grow only on Plešivica. They have an old vineyard with fifteen different old and almost forgotten varieties, to which winemaker Zdenko Šember gives his special attention. He inherited this vineyard from his late grandmother and has since turned it into a flourishing business.

This year, this Croatian family winery business also produced a variety of new wine sparkling wines, a white sparkling wine from a black pinot, a sparkling wine of the old varieties which were kept in clay pots originating from Georgia. The production of amphora wines deeply buried in the ground is an extremely old tradition over in Georgia, and today many Croatian winemakers use this method. This method of wine production makes each wine, including sparkling wine from the assortment of this winery, completely different in flavour when compared to others.

"My husband loves experiments, and some of them also get to see the market!" said Ivanka Šember. The Šember Winery is one of the few in the Republic of Croatia which manually produces its sparkling wines, each step done with their own hands and without any machines. As the Croatian family say themselves, everything has been made even easier since they obtained a new 320m cellar. In the construction of the cellar, which was co-funded through the National Wine Sector Support Program, this wine oriented Croatian family invested more than two million kuna, and their plans for this year are to further expand their vineyards by another three hectares.

"When it comes to our sparkling wines, our best sellers are rose, this year we have doubled our production, and we're currently producing 40,000 bottles. We're the first winery to have been producing sparkling wines from old Plešivica varieties, explained Ivanka Šember.

Located in the village of Lokošin Dol, the Braje Winery is known for its homemade food served with homemade wine. Robert Braje is the winemaker in this Croatian family, and his wife, Sandra, is an expert in local gastronomy and has been the chef in their restaurant for the last eight years. In this Croatian family business, their son shows interest in wine production, and Robert says that if this continues, he will soon expand his vineyards, which today already stretch to 3.5 hectares.

They purchase only a very small amount of their grapes, and from varieties that have a special emphasis on Red Waltz, an Austrian variety which is only offered by very, very few here in Croatia. As is the case with many Croatian wineries, the Braje Winery also serves numerous homemade dishes which pair well with the selection of wines that they produce and offer to their guests.

"From the very beginning, we've been doing everything business-wise as a real family. We produce 15,000 to 18,000,000 litres of wine, and a third of all that is sold right here at our very door. We also prepare meals from either our own or other locally grown vegetables, we make our own apple and pear juices. We have ducks, chickens, pigs, and a cow,'' explained Braje.

Their goal is to locally produce food and wine for their guests, in order to get them to notice and appreciate the distinct differences. "I cook and prepare everything, which is almost all made from local ingredients, we have a cow so that we can have our fresh cheese, cream and milk, eggs from our chickens, sausage and bacon from our pigs, and if we don't have enough of our own vegetables, we buy it from other producers in the neighbourhood. I make homemade bread, pasta, noodles... Our guests come either individually or in small groups, and we have many guests from the USA,'' noted Sandra Braje.

Režek Winery is yet another traditional Croatian family business that Damir Režek inherited from his father, Drago. "Our story began with my great-grandfather Roko, who had 40,000 vines, and the most famous type he had was a Portuguese variety. That Portuguese variety is the very story of my family and I'm glad that this slightly forgotten variety has now been revived, and my grandfather later brought new varieties, such as sauvignon, and was one of the largest producers in this region,'' stated Damir Režek.

The last vineyard was planted back in 2005, so now they have four hectares and about 20,000 vineyards.

Vinarija Kolarić in Hrastje Plešivičko is known for its rich homemade food, wines, and sparkling wines. Franjo Kolarić has a restaurant and since 2009 a mini hotel with sixteen rooms in which he has invested more than three million kuna. As he says, he's typically full from May to October. A warehouse for sparkling wine was built back in 1997 and Franjo is currently working on a new line of sparkling wines, in which he planning to invest 1.5 million kuna.

Thanks to the extension of the restaurant there is now seating for more than 170 people, and in addition to the sixteen rooms currently available, he plans to build an apartment this spring. In addition to all of the above, one of his plans is to build a small brewery and produce small quantities of craft beer.

Make sure to stay up to date by following our dedicated lifestyle page. If it's just wine you're interested in, give Total Croatia Wine a follow.

Click here for the original article by Marta Duic for Poslovni Dnevnik

We're sure that a disgruntled huff can be heard across various platforms when greeted with the unwelcome news that the Dubrovnik city walls' entrance fee has risen once again.

Dubrovnik is a bit of a paradoxical city. Known for being shamefully expensive yet also boasting some of the cheapest lesser known locations in all corners of the city, many tourists consider the sheer beauty and history that makes Dubrovnik what it is to be overshadowed by its often extortionate prices.

Having lived in Dubrovnik for several years before relocating to Zagreb, I can say with some confidence that this talk of everything being ultra-expensive isn't entirely true, and that Dubrovnik's story certainly isn't that black and white.

Regardless, seeing the price of enjoying a cold beer on Stradun is enough to make anyone jump to such rash conclusions about the famed Pearl of the Adriatic and its continuous descent into the almost Disneyland-like misery of its own wild success.

The Dubrovnik city walls, a truly magnificent medieval structure surrounding the heart of the UNESCO protected old city, are by no means left out of this age old conversation on pricing, having faced several price hikes over the past several years, it comes as no real surprise to learn that the City of Dubrovnik has raised the entrance fee yet again.

As Morski writes on the 6th of January, 2019, the Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities, in agreement with the City of Dubrovnik, have introduced a new price tag for the entrance to Dubrovnik's city walls. As of January this year, visitors will need to fork out 200 kuna per person for the visit, instead of the previous amount of 150 kuna, which was already met with complaints by many.

The new decision has also abolished discounts for groups. The Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities, in addition to the Dubrovnik city walls, manages several other historical sites across the wider Dubrovnik-Neretva County, and each location managed by the society, growth in visits has been recorded. Otherwise, about 1.3 million visitors visited the Dubrovnik city walls in 2018, according to a report from RTL.

Make sure to stay up to date by following our dedicated lifestyle page. If it's just Dubrovnik you're interested in, keep up with all you need to know by following Total Dubrovnik.

In line with the fact that the Croatian National Tourist Board's budget is facing an increase, the plan is to allocate a hefty amount to strategic promotional campaigns, as well as to joint advertising.

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of December, 2018, the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) has announced a tender for the selection of PR agencies and media agencies on as many as sixteen different broadcasting markets.

The aforementioned tender launched by the Croatian National Tourist Board for the selection of PR and media agencies will last from December to March.

The total lease budget for all broadcasting markets included in the 2019 tender amounts to more than a massive 42 million kuna, as was decided by the Croatian National Tourist Board's Tourism Council during a recently held session.

As is already well known, there are concrete plans to increase the Croatian National Tourist Board's budget during the coming year, the increase is expected to be one of around 14 percent and will amount to an enormous 331 million kuna, which is a result of the increase of the tourist tax revenue in accordance with the government decree.

Approximately 41 million kuna will be allocated for the implementation of the Croatian National Tourist Board's strategic promotional campaigns across various broadcasting markets, i.e, for strategic cooperation with numerous air carriers and tour operators who have organised programs for Croatia in their packages and offers.

When it comes to joint advertising, as much as 24.6 million kuna will be allocated. After the session of the Tourism Council, the ninth Croatian National Tourist Board parliament session was held, where the aforementioned budget for 2019 was adopted.

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

Greek investor Petros Stathis has been visiting numerous institutions in order to complete the most luxurious tourist project in the Republic of Croatia, Amanresorts Cavtat, in Croatia's southernmost county of Konavle which borders Montenegro.

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 13th of December, 2018, Greek investor Petros Stathis has re-activated matters over more recent days in regard to the eventual realisation of the Amanresorts project in Cavtat, otherwise being hailed as the most luxurious tourist project in the whole of Croatia, which could even end up making the list of strategic projects in the Republic of Croatia, which would be a useful move in terms of resolving the outstanding issues of spatial planning, among others, as soon as possible.

As a result of the large amount of paperwork involved in the process, the aforementioned investor has been heavily engaged in all of the required fields, from the state administration to the local administration, as Poslovni Dnevnik has unofficially published. The reactivation of the Amanresorts Cavtat project comes after more than three years after Amanresorts Cavtat was supposed to open its doors, but unfortunately encountered several stumbling blocks, mainly typically administrative ones, although Stathis never once gave up on it.

"I'm convinced that the Amanresorts Cavtat project will be successfully completed, and together with other Aman projects in the vicinity, Amanresorts Venice and Sveti Stefan (Montenegro), will become the star of the tourist sector of South East Europe," said Petros Stathis in the spring of 2015, when he explained why he was suddenly closing the Cavtat construction site.

He then stated that there were problems with the Bonvena Hotels company which was due to take care of the Cavtat project, which Stathis took over in the meantime, and that the entire chain of Amanresorts luxury resorts had gone through the process of ownership change.

For the realisation of the project, the investor is supposed to adapt the spatial planning documentation, and it's necessary to reach an agreement on various other factors, considering that the investor is seeking the closure of the beach below the area with his 30 million euro project.

The Municipality of Konavle didn't respond to Poslovni Dnevnik's question of what exactly they are willing, or unwilling, to offer to the investor in order to realise the Amanresorts Cavtat project. In addition, not even the investor himself, who has been investing in Montenegro in the meantime, has spoken publicly on the subject.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle, travel and business pages for much more.

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

Government spending has risen since 2009, citizen spending has slowed down, and employers continue to express their heightened anxiety about the emigration of Croatia's domestic labour force. Despite issues, a good Croatian tourist season has seen the economy boosted in the third quarter.

As Ljubica Gataric/VL/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 28th of November, 2018, the Croatian economy grew by 2.8 percent in the third quarter of this year, which is better than the previous expectations of domestic economists, but slower than the economy grew during the same period over last three years. A good Croatian tourist season has of course done its job well, and along with tourism, this positive contribution to economic growth has also been boosted by the further export of goods.

While a good Croatian tourist season is the main thing ''holding up'' these positive results, data following the first GDP estimate reveals that the domestic construction sector recovered more (by about seven percent in surplus), while the manufacturing industry's impact on GDP was negative (minus two percent) since industrial production collapsed that bit more this year.

"Taking into account the possibilities and the framework we're currently facing, particularly the labour market situation and the challenges we have in industrial production, GDP growth of 2.8 percent is a relatively good result, almost at the maximum limit," commented employers around Croatian Employers' Association (HUP), which claims that regardless of the good results in the third quarter, they feel a slight slowdown in growth and a general sense of anxiety and nervousness among employers owing to problems with finding staff and the continuous fall in overall production.

HUP has also used this opportunity to become louder and louder still in its call on the Croatian Government to further ease the economy so that companies can raise employee salaries and thus prevent further migration of the country's young and highly educated people in an ongoing and extremely concerning demographic crisis. Croatia entered winter with 147,000 unemployed people registered on the labour market, as well as 15,000 job vacancies.

In addition to the fact that movements being made in the Croatian economy aren't in support of the current global trends, especially in terms of the dynamics of growth in the European Union, analysts from the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) have noted that relative to the first half of this year, slight changes in growth trends have indeed occurred in some categories of particular demand.

Personal consumption growth has slowed down as the category which has the highest share in the structure of total demand, while when it comes to government spending, investment in fixed capital and especially the export of goods and services, growth has been accelerating.

Looking at the figures, domestic demand during the first six months of 2018 had three and a half times greater impact on the growth of gross domestic product than in foreign countries. RBA analysts note that government consumption at a 3.9 percent rate rose more this year than in the first quarter of 2009, and growth in gross fixed capital investment continued to grow quarterly, an increase of 3.7 percent in the third quarter, which may indicate the increased utilisation of funds from the European Union.

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Click here for the original article by Ljubica Gataric/VL on Poslovni Dnevnik

An economic boost could well be on the cards for Croatian tourism as one of the country's most successful companies within that sector raises employee wages and aims for further expansion for 2019's tourist season.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 5th of November, 2018, after a successful seaso, one of the most successful tourist companies in Croatia, the Jadranka Group from Lošinj, is investing in the salaries of its employees and is looking for reinforcements for next season.

Jadranka Group's education program includes in-house workshops, theoretical lectures and practical training. Among them, the Gastro Academy stands out, and employees are encouraged to focus on improving the skills needed for high-level service at a five-star level.

With internal education, employees have the opportunity to expand their knowledge and skills and thus attend specialised programs held in external institutions for highly specialised professions such as those in concierge and bartending, to name a couple. Therefore, it comes as no real surprise that in Jadranka hotels, the daughter company of the Jadranka Group, the number of employees has doubled since 2009.

"We believe that salary increases are a logical step in developing the group's business and employee relationships, which are key factors for successful business operations. In the hotel and camping industry, we're constantly increasing from year to year so that along with the improvement of living and working conditions, we give a kind of acknowledgment and gratitude to our employees for our collective success. In addition, this year, we've increased the basic salaries in our commercial sector, for retail, wholesale and food production,'' said Sanjin Šolić, the CEO of the Jadranka Group, who celebrated 30 years of work in Jadranka last year.

When speaking about an economic boost, raising salaries and improving employee conditions come above all else.

Mr. Solić emphasised that one of the group's priorities is to ensure the proper conditions for seasonal employees as soon as possible. With this aim, the raising of the level of the tourist facilities to a four-star level began, in a move which will provide the employees with adequate accommodation and ensure much more enjoyable living conditions during their stay and time spent working there in Lošinj.

Jadranka Group's good attitude towards their seasonal workers speaks volumes in support of the fact that the group is by far one of the most desirable employers on the Croatian coast and islands.

In a further economic boost for the workers and the company, at the end of the season, they offer those workers a type of permanent status, which is a guaranteed job for the next year, as well as all of the rights enjoyed by permanent employees. Jadranka Group employs some 700 permanent employees, while during the tourist season the total number of employees stands at about 1,600, a large number of those employees are deployed in the group's daughters-businesses.

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Investment in tourism is a machine boasting many wheels which must keep turning and following world tourism trends on a constant basis.

Stagnation in the tourism sector has been threatening Croatia following a few record tourism years, and while many expected such a drop as more of the country's older tourism rivals recover respectively, just how can Croatian hotels keep their rooms full and their offer hot in the face of strong competition from long-time tourism kings like Spain and nearby Greece?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 6th of November, 2018, over the now rapidly approaching winter period, the well-respected Adriatic Luxury Hotels hotel group will continue its massive investment cycle and focus on properly restoring and redoing some of their highest category hotels located in one of the country's most popular tourist destinations, southern Dalmatia's Dubrovnik area.

After the luxurious ''doing up'' of two top Dubrovnik hotels, Hotel Kompas (Lapad) and Hotel Excelsior (Sveti Jakov area), Adriatic Luxury Hotels have announced that the same will be done to another of their high-end hotels, Hotel Bellevue, which closed its doors to guests on October the 31st this year, in order to prepare for the huge renovation works of the hotel's accommodation facilities and part of the hotel's interior which are due to begin during the winter.

Adriatic Luxury Hotels will invest more than 400,000 kuna per room in the upcoming complete re-doing of the top hotel's rooms and apartments, representing the first significant investment in Hotel Bellevue since its inauguration over a decade ago, back in 2006.

The Portuguese design studio Tereza Prego is heavily engaged in the project, specialising in the interior design of exclusive hotels and other high-end residences.

As things currently stand, it seems that the redesigned Hotel Bellevue will be ready by the spring of 2019.

Click here to see just how the hotel will look upon opening its doors early next year.

Want to keep up to date with Croatia's investment in tourism and see if any hotels in an area you're planning to stay in are about to undergo makeovers? Make sure to follow our business page.

Croatian Telecom rides on the back of a good tourist season as their profitability continues to grow.

As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 1st of November, 2018, an excellent and highly successful summer is now behind Croatian Telecom. The communications company can now freely boast of its significant increase in profitability, as well as a change in the revenue structure which also aided the increases.

The widely used operator, which has the most liquid share of all on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, concluded that its net profits rose from 19.1 percent to 864 million kuna, or 18.6 percent to 872 million kuna in the first nine months of this year alone, when the the non-controlling share is also accounted for.

More importantly, Croatian Telecom's operating profits grew by 6.5 percent compared to the same period last year, to a massive 2.39 billion kuna. This also means that the operating margin has risen to 41.9 percent from last year's recorded 38.8 percent. The only indicator that continues to stagnate is the company's revenue. Croatian Telecom's total revenue for the first nine months of 2018 fell by 0.1 percent to 5 billion kuna and 897 million as a direct result of a good tourist season.

Although operators have been somewhat negatively affected by the abolition of mobile roaming this season, Croatian Telecom has seen its revenues slightly increase in the third quarter, from 2.15 billion kuna last year to 2.16 billion kuna this year. Profits gained before tax has also increased, from 388.4 million kuna last year to 516.3 million kuna this year.

When it comes to alterations within the revenue structure, the main news is that Croatian Telecom has started to rely more on mobile telecommunications again. In the first nine months of last year, fixed telecommunication within the company was stronger than mobile communications by nearly a quarter of a billion kuna. This year, mobile communications grew by 5.3 percent to 2.61 billion kuna, while fixed communication fell 4.7 percent to 2.57 billion kuna.

Croatian Telecom states they have invested up to 1.24 billion kuna in the modernisation of both fixed and mobile infrastructure.

Davor Tomašković, Croatian Telecoms's Chairman of the Board, praised the fact that they have now achieved their best results in the past five years.

"During the first nine months [of 2018], we've achieved excellent results, and according to the growth of all key financial indicators, it is one of the best quarters for Croatian Telecom in the last five years," concluded Tomašković.

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Click here for the original article by Bernard Ivezic for Poslovni Dnevnik

Negative trends need to be taken care of and we need to change them quickly so that Croatian tourism will develop in the long term in line with the importance it has within the Croatian economy.