''This is just the very beginning of a strategic reflection on the future of our tourism and hospitality industry,'' state the majority of those working in Croatia's hospitality sector when referring to the Croatian Government's decision to slash VAT in the hospitality sector down to thirteen percent.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of July, 2019, the co-ordination of Croatian Hospitality Workers welcomes the government's announcement that it will reduce tax on business operations by reducing VAT on food preparation in the hospitality industry from 25 down to a much more reasonable 13 percent.

''The goal of reducing the rate for us is the beginning of creating conditions for increasing wages for workers in the hospitality industry. The departure of high-quality and skilled labour, and when we say that we're referring to the domestic workforce, is one of the biggest problems of hospitality and tourism in Croatia and that's why we have appealed so much to the government for such reductions,'' they stated.

''We'd like to say thank you to the Croatian Government and to the Minister of Finance, Zdravko Marić, for announcing a reasonable decision that will save us at the very last minute. The difference that will remain with us by reducing VAT will be redirected to employee salaries and we intend to negotiate this with trade unions intensively, because we want to formalise everything through collective bargaining.

In addition, we plan to redirect this money to buying domestic, quality and non-imported food products and to further raise our services at all levels,'' said Vedran Jakominić, President of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Hospitality Association.

"Now is the time for a strategic reflection on the future of Croatian tourism and hospitality, and the adoption of measures for the general social benefit in cooperation with the institutions. It's time for the money that will remain us to be used reasonably for the employment of Croatian people. We need to educate our hosts, our members, to bring our services up to the highest level. We're grateful to the government for the fact that they have heard and acted on our appeals, and now it's up to us to show what we know, and do that on the market,'' concluded Marin Medak of the aforementioned association.

Follow our dedicated lifestyle page for much more. Follow our politics page for more information on the VAT rates in Croatia.