On Thursday, Zagreb Airport welcomed their 3 millionth passenger this year, which came 34 days earlier than last year. 

November 15, 2018 - Zagreb once again plays host to Europe's largest games convention, InfoGamer. From November 21 until 25, Velesajem will see 20,000m2 thronged with guests from all over.

That's 5 days of software, hardware, merchandise, cosplayers, competitions, not to mention several on-stage esports tournaments such as CS:GO and League of Legends.

TCN will be there, to talk with Croatian games developers Gamepires, known for their mega-hit SCUM and with Studio Spektar, responsible for Viktor, a Steampunk Adventure, and who are in the process of completing their latest work, General Horse and the Package of Doom. And these are only two of the Croatian games companies that will be on display this year. Perhaps Croatia can make its mark on the world as a games design hub... time will tell.

You'll also be able to see more mainstream companies, such as Blizzard, Warner Brothers, X-Box, Playstation, and a hundred more...

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Tickets can be purchased online, HERE, and details on how to get there are HERE.

You can take a look at last year's event below. 

With the acquisition of numerous shopping centres, is Croatia entering a new European retail market?

As Ana Blaskovic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 15th of November, 2018, the consolidation process continues on the domestic real estate market; with Austria's Immofinanz announcing the takeover of two shopping centers, STC Osijek and STC Valpovo, as part of a larger regional transaction worth about 90.5 million euro.

Immofinanz is also taking over eight ''retail'' parks in Slovenia and Serbia, as well as here in Croatia, totaling about 68,000 square metres. The value of the part of the transaction pertaining to the Republic of Croatia has not yet been published, but the entire package, Croatia's part relates to the smallest surface area of approximately 13,500 square metres, from which the Austrian MID group is leaving, the group is probably best known for its relations with the Garden Mall in Zagreb, which was sold to Supernova earlier.

In addition to Croatia, the MID group handed over three ''retail'' parks in Maribor, Krško and Ptuj in neighbouring Slovenia to Immofinanz, totaling 22,000 square metres. Owing to that, Immofinanz's Slovenian portfolio has risen to 52,300 square metres of rentable surface.

The Serbian retailer is MPC group, founded by Serbian businessman Petar Matić, and according to the latest available data, a third of the company was sold to Atterbury Europe back in 2015. Acquisitions in Serbia include 32,000 square feet of rentable land in Subotica, Borčija, and Smederevo. Stop Shop, Immofinanz's brand of retail parks, will in the future operate in nine locations and across 83,600 square metres.

Among the dealers are very well known names like Deichmann, H&M, C&A, Takko, KiK and Jysk, and the shopping centres will soon undergo rebranding, after which they will operate under Immofinanz's Stop Shop concept.

"These acquisitions reinforce our position as the leading European ''retail'' park operator, and, when speaking about Croatia, this marks our entry into a new European retail market that is extremely interesting to our international leasing companies. Good locations, excellent business, good competitiveness of local situations and classical ones, and a healthy mix of tenants are the main features of these attractive investment opportunities,'' said Dietman Reindl, the executive director of Immofinanz in a statement.

The reporters say that the exit of MID from two more centres (after leaving Zagreb's Garden Mall and centres in Koprivnica and Sisak) is the expected consequence of the pace of the new cycle on the market given the fact that its strength lies in project development, and for it to be the operator.

Click here for more business news from Croatia.

Click here for the original article by Ana Blaskovic on Poslovni Dnevnik

November 14, 2018 - It has been confirmed that Ryanair is in talks with both Split and Zagreb as the Irish low-cost carrier looks to expand its operations in Croatia.

An interesting development in the budget airline market in Croatia, as it has emerged that Ryanair is in discussions to bring routes to both Zagreb and Split. The Irish carrier, which brought budget flights to the Dalmatian coast with the opening of Zadar back in 2007, had fallen behind some of its competitors in recent years in the Croatian market, with easyJet in particular establishing itself on Croatia's Adriatic coast.  Zagreb has limited options currently regarding the budget market, and for an idea of how Ryanair can change things, our interview earlier today with Budapest Airport CEO Jost Lammers explains how Ryanair quickly established itself in the wake of the collapse of Malev back in 2012. Ryanair has been trying to get into the market in Dubrovnik, with the possibility of year-round flights, but the main sticking point was the financial concessions which Dubrovnik was reluctant to give. 

"In a statement to EX-YU Aviation News, the airline said, "Ryanair has held positive discussions with the Minister regarding longer-term traffic growth and route development at its existing Croatian airports as well as potential new airports like Zagreb and Split". The development comes just weeks following reports that Zagreb Airport's operator requested for the Croatian government to lower its annual concession fee. The operator argues that as a result of the concession fee, it was forced to increase its charges, which has in turn deterred low-cost airlines from flying to Zagreb. This winter season, only one low-cost carrier, Eurowings, will maintain services to the Croatian capital."

For the full story from ExYuAviation with more information about Split and Zadar, click here.

For the latest flight news from Croatia, click here.

November 14, 2018 - The Korean love affair with Croatia continues, with very strong numbers posted on the new Seoul to Zagreb route, almost 10,000 in the first two months.

One of the more unexpected success stories of Croatian tourism in recent years has been the surge of interest from South Korea, where tourist arrivals have rocketed from 17,000 in 2011 to more than 400,000 a year. As is often the case with Croatian tourism, this success is quite accidental and has its roots in Croatia being the setting of a popular reality TV show, The Romantic. Learn more about the Korean love affair with Croatia via reality TV. 

With such strong interest, Korean Air decided to initiate direct flights between Zagreb and Seoul recently, a decision which has been more than vindicated by early results, which show that almost 10,000 passengers used the service, and Zagreb. According to ExYuAviation:

"Korean Air has carried close to 10.000 passengers on its flights between Seoul and Zagreb during its first two months of operations. The airline handled 4.771 travellers in September and a further 5.148 passengers in October. The carrier's average cabin load factor on the route stood at over 80% for the two-month period, while flights were close to completely full in late September during the Chuseok festival, a major three-day thanksgiving holiday during which demand for travel on the Korean peninsula increases significantly. In September and October, Korean Air maintained three weekly flights between the two capital cities with its three-class 218-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft."

Read the full story on ExYuAviation.

Seoul is one of an increasing number of direct intercontinental connections Croatia has established in recent years, as it expands its tourism reach. Emirates, Qatar Airways, Transat from Canada all offer direct flights, while American Airlines will fly direct to Dubrovnik from the United States next summer, the first direct US connection in 28 years. 

For the latest flight news to Croatia, click here.

There are no longer any tickets available for the highly anticipated UEFA Nations League match between Croatia and Spain on Thursday at Maksimir stadium in Zagreb. 

The new Canopy hotel by Hilton has 151 rooms, a restaurant and bar, a fitness room, a retreat room, a transfer room, and two meeting rooms.

Zlatko Dalić announced the game between Croatia and Spain for the UEFA Nations League in Zagreb on Thursday. 

The 14th round of the Croatian First League was played from November 9 to 11, 2018, which saw Hajduk finally make the jump up to 6th place. 

Could less be more for Advent in Zagreb this year? This year's five-week-long Advent celebrations in the capital are set to have a smaller offer and less ''cottages'' in order to reduce consumerism and improve the overall quality of what is on offer.

As Marta Duic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 11th of November, 2018, at the presentation of this year's Advent in Zagreb, which has held the title of the best in Europe for three years now, it has been announced that the emphasis of the event, which will last from the 1st of December to the 6th of January, will be placed more onto cultural events in order to reduce the atmosphere of consumerism and restore the true Christmas spirit.

The novelties this year will be the city's various locations,  Advent in Maksimir, Advent on Old Tkalča, where traditional crafts will go hand in hand with the spirit of some of Zagreb's oldest townhouses in Gradec and Kaptol, and the ''Film Advent'' in Kino Europa will be presented. As they say from the Zagreb Tourist Board this year, there will be three locations less than last year, and although they couldn't precisely quantify the number, there will be a decrease in cottages in the city.

During last year's Advent, 110,707 people spent up to half a billion kuna in Zagreb alone, with most of them spening as much as 139 euros per day, the number of overnight stays and arrivals was also 23 percent higher in the first thirty days of Advent in Zagreb than in 2016. Poslovni Dnevnik asked those who earn their money during Advent in Zagreb what they think about reducing the number of cottages, but it seems that everyone involved understands the good intentions of the organisers, as they themselves think the crowds are by far the biggest problem.

Saša Frid, who for three years at Advent in Zagreb recalls that the sheer wave of people is what is causing "chaos" for those working, and most of those with stands and/or cottages simply cannot produce the right quantities to meet the wishes of all of those visiting.

"The first three weekends are a real hit, and only when that crowd goes down is there any room to improve the offer, since it was physically impossible and technically hard to do before then. It would be great to have as few industrial and as many domestic products as possible, but I think it will be difficult to change all of that because to most, Advent still looks like a chance just to make money,'' noted Frid.

Matej Đorđević, co-owner of the Time restaurant, who will also take part in Advent in Zagreb this year, argues that the problem is not really to do with stands or Advent cottages, but the fact that this event in Zagreb brings "a sea" of people into Zagreb from all over Croatia and Europe.

"Our city is simply incapable of dealing with such a massive inflow of people and it's therefore necessary that the city infrastructure itself is gradually adapted. However, the fact remains that Advent in Zagreb has ''made'' the city (in touristic terms) and that's an immense tourist achievement for this city, for which the leadership of the Zagreb Tourist Board is the most deserving,'' stated Đorđević.

Want to keep up with what's going on across Croatia for Advent this year? Make sure to follow our lifestyle page. If it's Zagreb you're interested in, make sure to follow Total Zagreb.

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