Get your wallets and credit cards ready as something new opens its doors Sesvete near the Croatian capital city of Zagreb, breathing life into an old building and potentially the local economy, too.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 17th of April, 2019, the brand new Five Star Outlet has officially opened its doors in the place of the former Europatrade building and has a great many leading international brands in its rich assortment.

Otherwise, Sesvete's new Five Star Outlet is the very first cosmetics outlet in the Republic of Croatia, covering 1200 square metres of space in total.

Customers from Sesvete and beyond will now be able to purchase products designed for all generations and all kinds of needs in just one place, and the assortment of offered items for sale in the new centre will be constantly changing and being updated so that all the necessary supplies can be obtained at the lowest possible price at any given time without any deteriorated quality in any of the available segments.

Sesvete's new shopping outlet will be the new home to very many hugely popular leading international brands such as Loreal, Nivea, Max Factor, Vileda, Make Up Revolution and Rossman, a high quality and extremely popular German brand that will be found for the first time on the shelves of some Croatian stores.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for much more. If it's just Zagreb and the surrounding area you're interested in, give Total Zagreb a follow or check out Zagreb in a Page.

ZAGREB, April 17, 2019 - Experts in physical education from China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries gathered in Zagreb on Wednesday for the first international Belt and Road forum to discuss cooperation opportunities.

A total of 120 participants - rectors, deans and senior officials of 35 institutions from 22 countries - arrived for the event, hosted by the Zagreb Faculty of Kinesiology.

The University of Zagreb, Beijing Sport University and Beijing Normal University signed an agreement on mutual understanding and cooperation and Zagreb University and Beijing Sport University signed an agreement on launching university sport games.

Beijing Sport University vice-president Gao Feng called on the forum to openly share education resources, research new ways of cooperation and approaches to cooperation and develop mechanisms of bilateral and multilateral long-term exchanges and cooperation in line with principles of mutual respect, learning and joint development.

He called on other universities to join the forum and become a host of the annual forum with Beijing Sport University and contribute to the development of higher education and sports science.

Zagreb University Rector Damir Boras promised that Zagreb University, where close to a half of all students in Croatia study, would promote cooperation and development of new projects.

The first Belt and Road Physical education Forum is taking place in Zagreb from 16 to 19 April.

More news about relations between Croatia and China can be found in the Politics section.

In the first quarter of the year, Zagreb saw 405,300 overnight stays, more than any other destination in Croatia, and one per cent more than in the same period last year. The tourist growth has continued in April, and the positive trends are expected to continue until the end of the year, according to the Zagreb City Tourist Board (TZGZ), reports Večernji List on April 17, 2019.

“The year started well for Zagreb, and we are particularly pleased that it had the best results among all the destinations in the first three months. In March, we had an 8 per cent increase in the number of overnight stays. Importantly, the average number of days spent in Zagreb by individual tourists has grown to two. After the first 15 days of April, the total number of overnights increased to nearly 500,000 this year, or 2 per cent more,” said Martina Bienenfeld, the TZGZ director.

Confirming that more and more tourists are coming to Zagreb due to its improving reputation as a “city break” destination, the TZGZ announced that this year it would launch online and offline campaigns that will promote Zagreb as a city break destination, highlighting the most important events in the city and specific types of tourism.

“We are currently implementing a campaign for the InMusic festival in the Austrian market, because the organisers consider this market to be a market of interest, taking into account the attractiveness of the performers, the closeness of the festival and the prices. We are also working on a health tourism campaign, given superior service and affordable prices. We will focus this campaign mostly on the German market, as well as the Croatian diaspora,” said Bienenfeld.

The Zagreb Summer Tour campaign is also being prepared, which will promote capital as a city of culture, accessible and fun, which lives in the open during the summer. It will focus on Germany, Austria, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Spain and Scandinavia.

“We plan to cooperate with Dubrovnik, with the Dubrovnik in Zagreb programme which will include the autumn performances of the best Croatian and European artists from this year's 70th Dubrovnik Summer Festival. We will continue to cooperate with the Ministry of Interior through a successful project launched in 2018, which involves training policemen in using English and getting to know the local landmarks,” announced Bienenfeld, adding that later this year the Advent in Zagreb marketing campaign would be launched in the 15 targeted markets.

The TZGZ will take part in 34 tourism fairs this year, and the budget for all these activities is 80 million kuna, or 5 per cent more than last year. “In the last five years, Zagreb has seen great results, positive shifts are visible at every step, and we look forward to the opening of new hotels and ongoing infrastructure projects. We are also approaching the EU 2020 presidency, which will position Zagreb even better on the EU map," Bienenfeld said.

The results of the extensive Visitor Survey, conducted in 2017 and 2018, show the above-average positive opinion of the city's tourists. They gave the highest marks to the staff in the accommodation facilities, the feeling of security, the overall experience and the value for money received in the accommodation. They described Zagreb as a spotless and beautiful city with accessible information for tourists.

According to this survey, visitors mostly stay in four-star hotels, have between 26 and 45 years, and most often travel with their partners. Among tourists visiting Zagreb in December, 93 per cent visited Zagreb Advent and stated the festival had prompted them to visit the city again. Almost 90 per cent of tourists would recommend to friends and acquaintances to visit Zagreb.

Translated from Večernji List.

More Zagreb news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

In Zagreb, the Zagreb 80's Museum was recently open, with the idea to show the spirit of the time that was, over 30 years ago.

It's one apartment, a place where an imaginary ordinary Zagreb family would've lived in the eighties, and it's a kitchen, a living room, a study, a bedroom and a kid's playroom. The museum is the idea of two young Zagreb entrepreneurs, Anastazija Knežević and Ksenija Babić. The idea came to them during their travels, especially to Berlin where they saw the East Germany museum, but they wanted their museum to be different. So, Zagreb 80's museum is interactive, you can touch and feel any of the exhibits, to get more of a sense what life in the eighties felt like. You can listen to the cassettes and the vinyl records, you can drive the little Zastava 750 car (commonly called "Fićo"), you can play games on the Commodore computer, use the typewriter, see the footage from the Universiade games held in Zagreb in 1987.

There are, of course, old dishes in the kitchen, and a legendary Walkman with headphones. In the living room you can find the vinyl records, magazines, comic books and even a porn magazine popular back in the day, the Erotika.

There are around 500 exhibits in the museum, and all of them are authentic, in very good condition and functional. They collected those for over a year, from private collectors to the flea market, and they are still accepting donations from anyone who has something that might belong in the museum. People gladly donate stuff to the museum, as those are things that are left by their parents, they don't want to throw them away but they have no real value today - so a museum is a perfect place for them! Anyone who donates gets free entrance to the museum.

You can also organize your event at the museum, parties, promotions, shootings. In July the Zagreb 80's Museum goes to Shanghai to be presented there, so the entire current set-up of the museum will undergo massive change during June.

Museum is located in Zagreb centre, in Radićeva street, and entrance is 40 kuna for adults.

ZAGREB, April 16, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić on Monday signed a framework agreement on cooperation in preparing the project "Building the national children's hospital," which is the first step in implementing the project for the construction of the hospital in Zagreb's Blato neighbourhood.

The government-sponsored project is worth 42.3 million kuna, of which 85% will be financed by the European Regional Development Fund. The rest of the funds will be secured from the state and Zagreb city budgets.

The new children's hospital will also provide care in gynaecology and obstetrics.

After signing the framework agreement, Plenković said this strategic government project was aimed at providing the youngest patients with the best possible care.

Health Minister Milan Kujundžić said the new national children's hospital would provide all forms of treatment of children's diseases in one place.

More health sector news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

As most of you are already aware, Croatia and the United States will be connected for the first time in almost 30 years thanks to the new American Airlines seasonal line connecting Dubrovnik and Philadelphia. However, this new route is only the beginning for connections to the USA. 

Namely, Zagreb Airport’s current long-haul flights to North America and Asia are not enough, and the capital's airport hopes to connect with New York, reports Ex-Yu Aviation on April 15, 2019. 

"New York is a destination we are focusing on. We are in talks with airlines and we expect for the route to be launched. However, a bit more patience is required for a final agreement to be reached on when the flights will commence and who will be the operating carrier,” said the airport's General Manager, Huseyin Bahadir Bedir. 

Bedir added, however, that Zagreb Airport is in no rush to secure new long-haul flights given their difficulty to sustain. 

"Long haul flights are very demanding for airlines, both operationally and financially, and therefore they must be carefully planned. There are some airports in Europe which are two or three times larger than ours but have no long haul flights operated by some of the world's leading carriers. We have set the bar high in attracting some of the world's best airlines to Zagreb, with nonstop services to North America and Asia. We aim to have a quality and long-term relationship with each airline we cooperate with,” Bedir added.

You might also recall that just last month, the new organization VisitUSA Croatia is working on boosting flight connections between Croatia and the US, and is primarily looking at a route between Zagreb and New York. 

But Zagreb Airport isn’t only looking west. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is also optimistic that nonstop flights to Croatia are on their way.

"We still don't have a direct air route to connect us. This is one of the reasons why the number of Chinese tourists visiting Croatia is still below market demand. I believe that the day we will launch nonstop flights is coming soon. Both the Chinese and Croatian governments will directly support it,"  the Chinese Premier said. 

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 15th of April, 2019, this past weekend, as part of a socially responsible project, the popular JYSK retail chain held a voluntary action to plant 10,000 European beech seedlings in two zones in the Medvednica Nature Park in Sljeme, above Zagreb, which have been most adversely affected by the weather's elements over last few years.

"We got together on Sljeme so that JYSK's volunteers, together with citizens, planted 10,000 beech seedlings donated by JYSK as part of our action. We're renewing the area in two zones of the Medvednica Nature Park, which died a couple of years ago after stormy weather.

''In addition to helping financially as a company through such projects, we want to help and in a different way to keep track of nature for the next generation,'' said Vesna Kukić Lončarić for JYSK Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

The project was realised in cooperation with Croatian forests (Hrvatske šume), and the afforestation was carried out in the area around PD Risnjak within the Medvednica Nature Park. Despite the unfavourable weather conditions and even some snow, the afforestation action was supported by numerous citizens interested in the conservation of the environment who planted as many as 10,000 seedlings in the aforementioned locations. Among them was the famous Croatian singer Mirela Priselac Remi.

"We welcome JYSK's initiative and we'd like to thank them for their activities as part of their socially responsible business towards the forests. Such actions contribute to raising awareness among all citizens of the need for forest conservation and they are endangered by climate change and the irresponsible behaviour of individuals,'' she stated.

''Without the forests, there's no clean air nor is there any clean water, and such young and healthy forests as are sprouting here are our best allies in alleviating the consequences of climate change. There are multiple uses of forests, and only with responsible management can we manage to preserve them,'' said Damir Miškulin from Croatian forests.

For this project, JYSK collected funds from the sale of 50 percent of recycled plastic bags during the first three months of this year, which were donated for the purchase of seedlings for the purpose of afforestation. JYSK's objective is to raise public awareness of the importance of our forests and their development with a positive example, and continue to implement such projects throughout the year and throughout the whole of the Republic of Croatia.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for much more. If it's just the Croatian capital you're interested in, give Total Zagreb a follow, or check out Zagreb in a Page. Care about the environment? Follow Total Eco Croatia.

Want to see how Croatia works to protect its environment? Click here.

ZAGREB, April 15, 2019 - Over 3,100 professors, students and alumni of the University of Zagreb have signed an open letter against a proposal by the Zagreb Academy of Music to award Mayor Milan Bandić an honorary doctorate of Zagreb University, and three initiators of the campaign against Bandić's honorary doctorate on Monday informed a news conference about their future steps.

The open letter will be handed to the Academic Senate which is expected to hold a meeting on Tuesday.

We want to make them aware that a considerable part of the academic community disagrees with the decision to award an honorary doctorate and hope that this will serve as an incentive for the Senate to thoroughly analyse decisions of this kind, said Kosta Bovan of Zagreb's Faculty of Political Sciences.

"We believe that Milan Bandić does not fulfil any criterion for an honorary doctorate. He has made neither scientific nor artistic contributions," Bovan said, adding that the Academy of Music's new building, which the academy's dean cited as the reason for the honorary doctorate, had been paid for with money from the city budget, and was not a personal contribution by Mayor Bandić.

Furthermore, Bandić is still an active politician, his party has several lawmakers in the national parliament, and he is implicated in a series of scandals, with over 200 criminal complaints having been filed against him, Bovan said.

"He is arrogant and unprofessional towards everybody, including reporters who question his decisions, and we do not believe that he is held in high esteem, which is necessary for a recipient of an honorary doctorate," Bovan said.

In late March, hundreds of members of the academic community rallied outside the Zagreb University building for a protest against the proposal by the Academy of Music to award Mayor Bandić an honorary doctorate of Zagreb University.

Noting that the commission in charge of awarding honorary doctorates would probably cite in its decision regarding Bandić projects such as the new building of the Academy of Music, they said that it was not Bandić who had financially helped Zagreb University but rather residents of Zagreb, by paying local taxes.

More news about Zagreb mayor can be found in the Politics section.

In the upcoming summer flight schedule, which is from March 31 to October 27, 81 new routes will operate to Croatian airports, including regular, low-cost and charter lines, from 24 world markets, reports Dalmatinski Portal on April 15, 2019. 

Additionally, the first week of the summer flight began with a record 252 flights, which displayed a 30 percent increase compared to the first week of the summer flight schedule last year. Most of the flights in the first week were recorded at the airports in Zagreb, Split, and Dubrovnik.

“New airlines and increasing the number of rotations are, among other things, the result of the activities of the Croatian Tourist Board. We collaborate with airline companies through strategic promotional campaigns in important markets, aiming to position Croatia as an attractive and well-connected year-round destination. We are particularly pleased with the new intercontinental line between Philadelphia and Dubrovnik, which joins Croatia and the United States market for the first time in 30 years,” said Croatian Tourist Board director Kristjan Staničić, adding that this year he has strategic marketing partnerships with tour operators and over 40 million kuna was provided to airlines.

Looking at the markets, most of the new lines, or 14 of them, are from German cities, followed by 12 new lines from the UK market, 8 lines from France, 5 lines from Italy, and 4 lines from the Netherlands. Analyzing the summer flight schedule by the number of rotations, most rotations are planned between Croatia and Germany, the UK, France, Austria, and Switzerland. Most new lines will fly to airports in Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Pula, and Rijeka. Most Croatian airports this year also recorded an increase in the number of rotations when looking at the previous season, and according to the absolute number of new rotations, the Zadar airport has a 25 percent increase, while Pula follows with a 7 percent increase and Dubrovnik with 4 percent.

When looking at airlines, most new routes were launched by Ryanair, namely 15 of them, followed by eight new lines from Volotea, six new lines from TUI and five new easyJet lines.

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

April 15, 2019 - The 29th round of the Croatian First League was held from April 12 to 14, 2019. The fight for the ‘Top 4’ on the table is getting even more exciting, as Hajduk jumped over Lokomotiva to fourth place thanks to a massive win on Sunday. 

Check out our round 29 recap below. 

Osijek v. Rudeš (2:0)

Osijek and Rudeš opened the 29th round at City Garden Stadium on Friday, April 12, 2019, in front of 791 fans. 

Osijek scored their first goal of the game early thanks to Kleinheisler in the 11th minute. Marić was able to up Osijek’s lead in the 42nd minute for 2:0, which was the final result of the game. Marić did have the chance to make it 3:0, though he missed a penalty in the 82nd. 

Osijek is currently in 3rd place with 50 points, while Rudeš remains in last with 10. 

Istra 1961 v. Dinamo (0:4)

Istria and Dinamo met in Pula on Saturday, April 13, 2019.

Ademi scored Dinamo’s first goal in the 20th minute, which was followed by Oršić’s goal for 0:2 in the 44th minute. Olmo increased Dinamo’s lead in the 65th for 0:3, which was followed by another goal by the Spaniard in the 73rd for 0:4. 

Istra is in 9th place with 18 points, while Dinamo remains in first place with 76 points. 

Rijeka v. Inter Zaprešić (7:0)

Rijeka and Inter met at Rujevica on Saturday, April 13, 2019. 

Halilović opened Rijeka’s scoring fest with a goal in the 27th minute. Puljić increased Rijeka’s lead in the 41st for 2:0, and scored a penalty 3 minutes later for 3:0. 

Acosty scored Rijeka’s fourth goal at the start of the second half, followed by a Pavičić goal in the 58th for 5:0. Puljić scored his hat trick in the 88th for 6:0, and secured Rijeka’s blowout win with his fourth goal of the game in the 91st. 

Rijeka is currently in 2nd place with 56 points, while Inter is in 7th with 27.

Gorica v. Slaven Belupo (4:3)

Gorica and Belupo met in Velika Gorica on Sunday, April 14, 2019. 

Belupo was the first to score with a goal by Krstanović in the 9th minute, though Gorica equalized in the 27th minute thanks to Ndiaye. Gorica took the lead in the 34th minute after Lovrić scored, and increased their lead to 3:1 thanks to Dvorneković. 

Mateus brought Belupo new life after scoring in the 62nd minute for 2:3, and Krstanović equalized in the 86th for 3:3. However, Zwolinski scored a late-game winner for Gorica in the 90th minute (4:3). 

Gorica is currently in 5th place with 45 points, while Belupo is in 8th with 26. 

Lokomotiva v. Hajduk (0:1)

Lokomotiva and Hajduk met on Sunday, April 14, 2019, in Zagreb to close out the 29th round. 

The game was the battle for 4th place, and Hajduk prevailed. Though the first half went without goals, Hajduk’s Jairo scored in the 80th minute for 0:1 and the win. 

Lokomotiva has dropped to 6th place with 44 points, while Hajduk has jumped to 4th with 47 points. 

You can see the full HNL table here. 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.