December 9, 2020 – One of the leading American daily newspaper, the Washington Post, published an article about Croatia attracting digital nomads from the USA while the rest of Europe banned all travel.

The Washington Post wrote about digital nomads who spent several months in Croatia and Dubrovnik during the coronavirus pandemic, said Ina Rodin, the Croatian National Tourist Board director in the United States.

The article states that many Americans decided to travel thanks to the first direct airline between Croatia and the United States, namely between Dubrovnik and Philadelphia, introduced in June 2019. According to the Croatian National Tourist Board, Americans were the second most numerous guests in Dubrovnik last year, with almost 160,000 arrivals and more than 442,000 overnight stays, writes the Washington Post.

Sarah Morlock, a freelance writer and social media manager from Indiana, who worked remotely and spent October and November in Dubrovnik with her partner, shared her experience with readers. She pointed out that when choosing a place to stay, she is looking for historic cities with preserved nature and a good internet connection, and in that sense, Dubrovnik has fulfilled all her expectations.

Binational couples attracted too

Apart from digital nomads, Croatia is also attractive for binational couples who, due to the coronavirus pandemic and limited travel opportunities, organized their meeting in Croatia.

One of the couples who did so was Justin Leung from the USA and Katja Lau from Germany. They were supposed to meet in San Francisco, but the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown thwarted their plans. Therefore, they decided to find a place that welcomed both Americans and Germans and thus chose to meet in Croatia, where they spent one month.

The Washington Post points out that Dubrovnik is trying to attract digital nomads, so a project to introduce ultra-fast broadband Internet was presented in February. Also, a virtual conference "Dubrovnik for digital nomads" was held in October to encourage them to choose Dubrovnik for their remote office.

Washington Post covers this topic right when the introduction of the digital nomad visa in Croatia is increasingly likely. Namely, TCN reported a new update about digital nomad visas in Croatia today, as the Croatian Digital Nomad Association has officially been founded.

At the beginning of 2021, Croatia will introduce a digital nomad visa, which will make it the second country in Europe and the fifth in the world to welcome digital nomads from all over the world.

It isn't unusual to see Croatia's stunning coast being talked about, the natural beauty and the sparkling Adriatic sea are enough of a winning combination for any wordsmith. But it's somewhat different when someone outside of Croatia recognises and talks, or writes rather, about the success and the renaissance history of a city, especially in a publication with as much international respect as the Washington Post boasts.

As Morski writes on the 19th of January, 2019, this is exactly what the historic Dalmatian city of Šibenik has experienced on multiple occasions in recent years, and the city was written about once again on Friday in one of the world's most highly respected daily journals, the Washington Post. The journalist who wrote about Šibenik is Anja Mutić, who has Croatian roots. She is the daughter of legendary sports journalist Boris Mutić and lives in New York, she has written for the likes of Lonely Planet, the Wall Street Journal and Conde Nast Traveler for a number of years.

Anja's vivid description of Šibenik for the Washington Post begins with her gazing upon the Adriatic sea from St. Michael's Fortress, describing how the late September bura has cleared the skies. Her comments about the scent of Cypress trees in the air is enough to fill the senses of anyone who has spent any time on the Dalmatian coast.

Anja continues, talking about how the fortress upon which she is standing as she takes in the views was all but an abandoned place not so long ago, and how Šibenik itself was much more of an industrial place, which saw the majority of tourists skip right over it in favour of the glitz and the glamour of the arguably more tourist-developed south of Dalmatia. Touching on the 1980's, when tourism and leisure came a firm second to industry, she details how the war changed Šibenik's industrial ''look'', altering its direction permanently. With that being said, as Anja correctly states, the city only really got its first city beach, Banj, in 2012.

Going back to Šibenik's very roots, Anja takes the reader through a proverbial maze of time, detailing Šibenik's glorious renaissance, the foundation of the city by King Petar Kresimir IV in 1066, the later Venetian era, Juraj Dalmatinac's touch on the city, all the way to UNESCO recognition and the city which it has become today. Anja speaks in depth about how Šibenik, unlike southern Dalmatian cities, has adopted a culturally sensitive way of developing its tourism.

''Taking small measured steps, respectful of the ground it walks on, immersed in heritage and tradition, Šibenik is on the slow rise to Croatia’s hall of fame,'' Anja concludes.

Make sure to stay up to date by following our dedicated lifestyle and travel pages.

Click here to read the Washington Post's entire lowdown on Šibenik

Croatia and Russia meet in the quarterfinal of the World Cup at 20:00 tonight in Sochi.